SOFC Hybrid Plants: Experimental Analysis on a Re-Compression System

Since compressor outlet pressure is an important property in an SOFC based hybrid plant, special attention is devoted to an innovative system able to increase this parameter with a commercial device. This in an essential approach to increase system performance (especially in case of an ejector based cathodic recirculation) using commercial (and low cost) technology. In details, to avoid the re-design of a completely new microturbine, the coupling of a commercial turbine with a turbocharger has been analyzed from experimental point of view. This innovative plant layout has been studied with an emulator test rig for SOFC hybrid systems. It is an experimental facility based on the coupling of a commercial 100 kW gas turbine with a modular vessel to emulate the dimension of stack cathodic size. For these tests, a turbocharger has been included in the rig for a detailed analysis related to the coupling with the T100 machine. Special attention is focused on the rig modifications necessary to operate these tests and on the experimental results obtained with this facility. The performance obtained with this machine coupling has been demonstrated by the experimental data.