Design of a residential SOFC-based CHP system using DME as fuel

MSc. Student: Andrew Clapp

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells are fast emerging as high efficiency devices for residential CHP applications.  Dimethyl Ether (DME) is considered as a fuel with high energy density, easy to process and widely available. It also can be derived from biomass.  However, DME based CHP systems are not available in the market.  Design and development of such systems require in depth thermodynamic evaluations in order to come up with efficient designs.  Suitable system components will have to be selected in order to minimize the exergy destruction at component level. This assignment will focus on the detailed thermodynamic evaluation of different system concepts (with employing different components) in order to identify the most efficient CHP system designs.

Chair:
Energy Technology

Facilities used:
Fuel Cell Laboratory