Publication

Fueling a SOFC with agricultural waste derived biogas - Analysing the Swiss case -

2016
Student Projects

Abstract

The use of fuel cells for valorising agricultural and food-waste-derived biogas in Switzerland is studied. The Swiss agricultural case is characterised by farms with small numbers of animals (20 cows) and high feed-in tariffs for biogas derived electricity. Thus, small-scale biogas installations are reviewed and the possibility to couple them with solid oxide fuel cells and photovoltaic panels is analysed. It is shown that solid oxide fuel cells become competitive over combustion engines if the investment cost of the first decreases to 13,000 CHF/kWel with a lifetime of 10 years. However, a small-scale biogas installation is not profitable yet: the main challenge is to bring down the lifetime cost of the fuel cells and to reduce the investment cost of small-scale biogas facilities to around 6,000 CHF/kWch. The case of equipping the EPFL and UNIL sites with a digester and a solid oxide fuel cell is examined and is considered feasible from a technical and legal point.

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/5cd9c1a7-b33d-4c87-bf63-5794e52c81f5

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2016
Student Projects

Abstract

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/5cd9c1a7-b33d-4c87-bf63-5794e52c81f5

About this result

Related concepts (32)

Biogas

Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion with anaerobic organisms or methanogens inside an anaerobic digester, biodigester or a bioreactor. The gas composition is primarily methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), moisture and siloxanes.

Fuel cell

A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requiring a continuous source of fuel and oxygen (usually from air) to sustain the chemical reaction, whereas in a battery the chemical energy usually comes from substances that are already present in the battery. Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are supplied.

Solid oxide fuel cell

A solid oxide fuel cell (or SOFC) is an electrochemical conversion device that produces electricity directly from oxidizing a fuel. Fuel cells are characterized by their electrolyte material; the SOFC has a solid oxide or ceramic electrolyte. Advantages of this class of fuel cells include high combined heat and power efficiency, long-term stability, fuel flexibility, low emissions, and relatively low cost. The largest disadvantage is the high operating temperature which results in longer start-up times and mechanical and chemical compatibility issues.

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Fueling a SOFC with agricultural waste derived biogas - Analysing the Swiss case -

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