Thermodynamic evaluation of a SOFC-based hybrid system integrated with HDH desalination unit

A new unified system that runs with solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) is proposed. Thermodynamic laws have been used to describe and analyze system performance. For this purpose, the reported system is simulated by the EES (Engineering Equations Solver) software. The calculations of this study show that the introduced hybrid system generates net electricity, and distilled water of 460.3 kW, and 307.368 kg/h, correspondingly. Also, the total energy and exergy efficiencies for the whole system are obtained as 81.87 and 55.26, respectively. It was also found that increasing the pressure and using the gas turbine in the fuel cell cycle would increase the SOFC energy and exergy efficiency from values 53.88 and 51.97 to energy and exergy electrical efficiency values of 56.76 and 54.75. Additionally, the heater, afterburner, and SOFC stack are recognized as the utmost destructive constituents by 61.22, 58.75 kW and 5.46 kW, correspondingly. Also, the influence of influential factors on system performance including solid oxide fuel cell current density and its inlet temperature, high desalination temperature, humidifier effectiveness, compression ratio, dehumidifier effectiveness and desalination flow ratio has been studied.