DEMOSOFC [1] is a Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH-JU) funded project which foresees the installation of the largest biogas fed Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) in Europe. The SOFC will be the sole combined heat & power (CHP) generator within a medium size wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located in Torino (IT). Three SOFC modules, each rated 58 kWe, will supply around 30% of the internal electrical loads and a variable share of the thermal load depending on the season. The key objective of the project is to demonstrate the industrial readiness of SOFC systems, which are able to guarantee better performance both in terms of electrical efficiency and emission of pollutants with respect to conventional internal combustion engines. SOFC systems have a high potential for integration with local renewable fuels as biogas and/or bio-syngas from waste sources. Looking at the biogas potential in EU, the most common plant size lies in the sub-MW scale. This work aims to describe the DEMOSOFC concept, the approach followed for the design of the integrated system. Energy performance, environmental benefits, underlining advantages and barriers of this integration are presented and discussed.

New York State is expected to experience future population growth that is increasingly concentrated in urban areas, where there is already a heavy burden on the existing energy, water and waste management infrastructure. To meet aggressive environmental standards (such as that established by the State’s “80x50” goal), future electrical power capacity must produce substantially fewer greenhouse gas emissions than currently generated by coal- or natural gas-fired power plants. Currently, biogas is combusted to produce heat and electricity via an internal combustion engine generator set. A conventional internal combustion engine generator set is 22–45 % efficient in converting methane to electricity, thus wasting 65–78 % of the biogas energy content unless the lower temperature heat can be recovered. Fuel cells, on the other hand, are 40–60 % efficient in converting methane to electrical energy, and 80–90 % efficient for cogeneration if heat (> 400 °C) is recovered and utilized for heating and cooling in the community power system. This current research studies the feasibility of a community biomass-to-electricity power system which offers significant environmental, economic and resilience improvements over centrally-generated energy, with the additional benefit of reducing or eliminating disposal costs associated with landfills and publicly-owned treatment works (POTWs). Flame Fuel Cell (FFC) performance was investigated while modifying biogas content and fuel flow rate. A maximum power density peak at 748 mWcm-2 and an OCV of 0.856 V was achieved. It should be noted that the performance obtained with the model biofuel is comparable to the performances of direct methane fueled DC-SOFC and SC-SOFC. The common trends also concluded an acceptable range for optimal performance. Although the methane to CO2 ratios of 3:7 and 2:8 produced power, they are not the strongest ratios to have optimal performance, meaning that operation should stay between the 6:4/4:6 ratio range. Lastly, the amount of air added to the biogas mixture is crucial to achieving the optimal performance of the cell. The data obtained confirmed the feasibility of a biofuel driven fuel cell CHP device capable of achieving higher efficiency than existing technologies. The significant power output produced from the sustainable biogas composition is competitive with current hydrocarbon fuel sources. This idea can be expanded for a community waste management infrastructure.

A Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Combined Heat and Power system (PEMFC-CHP) fuelled by the hydrogen-rich gas reformed from biogas may be seen as an efficient and sustainable technology. This system can provide electrical and thermal energy dynamically to residential applications. In this study, an assessment of the economic performance of an integrated biogas plant and PEMFC-CHP for Swedish electricity and heat prices is presented. The economic factors considered are the capital and operation & maintenance (O&M) costs of the biogas plant and the PEMFC-CHP, the price of heat and electricity, and the value of the digestate as fertilizer. The analysis includes two cases: 1) both biogas plant and PEMFC-CHP are located on the farm. The farm sells the electricity and heat to the power grid and district heating system, respectively; 2) the PEMFC-CHP is located in a centralized-biogas plant, not on the farm. The manure is transported from farms to the plant. The plant also sells the electricity and heat to the power grid and district heating system. The results show that the farm-based and the centralized biogas plant have almost the same biogas production cost. The electricity cost of today, expected for 2020, and for the break-even of this integrated system are 530, 305 and 197 €/MWh, respectively. With the current trend of the fuel cell industry development, this break-even price may be reached in the near future.

With the ever-increasing addition of wind and solar renewable energy to the traditional electric grid, the need for energy storage also grows. A recent study projects the value of energy storage for wind and solar integration worldwide to exceed $30 Billion by 2023 [1]. Hydrogen from electrolysis is a promising technology for renewable energy capture as it has the capability to store massive amounts of energy in a relatively small volume. In addition, electrolysis can also provide ancillary services to the grid such as frequency regulation and load shifting resulting in multiple value streams. The hydrogen produced can alternatively be injected into the natural gas pipeline (thus making that energy carrier more green), in the production of high value chemicals such as ammonia, in upgrading of methanization-produced biogas, or used as a transportation fuel. Europe in particular has been committed to these pathways and making heavy investment in both materials research and system design and development as well as technology demonstration. In Germany, hydrogen is looked upon as a key part of the energy storage solution under “Energiewende,” their national sustainable energy transition plan. Hydrogen provides a unique link between the electric and gas grid infrastructures (often referred to as “Power-to-Gas”). Germany is also considered the global leader in biogas energy generation, with 18,244 GWh of generation in 2012 forecasted to grow to 28,265 GWh by 2025 [2]. Water electrolysis has benefits over other hydrogen generation technologies due to the lack of carbon footprint when integrated with a renewable source of energy. Specifically, proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis is a promising technology for hydrogen generation applications because of the lack of corrosive electrolytes, small footprint, and ability to generate at high pressure, requiring only water and an energy source. Several companies have already announced plans to develop megawatt (MW) commercial scale PEM electrolysis units in the 2014–2015 timeframe for these applications. There have also been recent announcements of large scale renewable energy storage project based on electrolysis.

The design and balance-of-plant of an integrated anaerobic digestion (AD) biogas solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) demonstration plant is presented. A notable feature of the plant is the CO 2 capture from the SOFC anode exhaust via an oxy-combustion reactor. The captured CO 2 is fed to a photobioreactor installation downstream of the SOFC where C is fixed in an algae bio-fuel. The main plant sections are described in detail including the gas cleaning unit, fuel processing, SOFC ‘hot-box’, oxy-combustor, CO 2 /H 2 O condensation unit and finally algae bioreactor. The demonstration plant is fed with biogas from AD of the by-product sludge of the greatest waste-water treatment plant in Italy, serving over 2 million population equivalents in the Torino metropolitan area. In this work, the main BoP components and engineering issues concerning the design of the SOFC plant are detailed. The as-produced biogas is firstly treated to remove moisture and then filtered to remove sulfur, halogens and siloxanes. Dry clean biogas (roughly 60–65% CH 4 , 35–40% CO 2 ) is sent to a steam-reformer. The reformate gas is thus used to feed a 2 kWe SOFC module (operated at ∼ 800 °C). The cathode off-gas is kept separated from the anode and is used to pre-heat inlet fresh air; the anode outlet stream is sent first to an oxy-combustor to yield an almost pure H 2 O-CO 2 mixture that is eventually cooled down to 300–400 °C. Steam is condensed and separated in a dedicated condenser unit. The resulting pure CO 2 is thus pressurized (8 bar) and available for sequestration or other uses. Due to the limited size of the demo plant, the choice was to feed it to bioreactors with algae, where the latter are grown with sunlight and CO 2 indeed. A tubular photo-bioreactor has been chosen with a productivity of 20 g/day/m 2 of dry algae. The outlet stream will be an algae purge that, due to its low mass flow, could be re-sent to the biogas digesters. A system analysis of a scaled-up version of the biogas fed SOFC power plant, with heat integration included, is also carried out with a calculated overall electrical efficiency exceeding 55% (LHV basis).

Generating electricity at wastewater treatment plants is a promising near-term application of fuel cell systems. The scale of most wastewater treatment plants is such that there is a good match with the scale of today’s fuel cell systems. This paper presents an exergy analysis and an economic comparison between two fuel cell systems that generate electricity at a wastewater treatment plant. The first process integrates an anaerobic digester (AD) with a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The SOFC was modeled using publicly-available data from the tests on the Rolls-Royce pressurized SOFC. The second process has the wastewater sent directly to a microbial fuel cell (MFC). An MFC is an electrochemical cell in which bacteria convert acetate, sugars and/or other chemicals into protons, electrons and carbon dioxide at the anode electrode. The MFC was modeled as a PEM fuel cell as used for vehicle applications, but with a few changes: (a) anaerobic bacteria, such as geobacter , grow directly on the surface of the anode electrode, (b) there is no anode gas diffusion layer (GDL), (c) iron pyrophyrin, rather than platinum, is used as the catalyst material on the anode, in addition to the bacteria, and (d) the Nafion electrolyte is replaced with a bipolar membrane in order to minimize the transfer of non-proton cations, such as Na + , from the anode to the cathode. The rest of the equipment in the MFC is the same as those in commercial vehicle PEM fuel cells in order to use recent DOE cost estimates for PEM fuel cell systems. In both cases, we generated V- i curves of SOFC and MFC-PEM systems from data available on a) PEM & SOFC electrolyte conductivity and b) anode and cathode exchange current densities, including the effect of platinum levels on the cathode exchange current density of PEM fuel cells. A full exergy analysis was conducted for both systems modeled. The power per inlet exergy will be presented as a function of the current density and the pressure of the fuel cell. Using various Department of Eneregy (DOE) cost estimates for fuel cell systems, we perform parametric studies for both the MFC and AD-SOFC systems in order to maximize the internal rate of return on investment (IRR). In the MFC case, we varied the platinum loading on the cathode in order to maximize the IRR, and in the AD-SOFC case, we varied the current density of the SOFC in order to maximize the IRR. Finally, we compare the IRR of the two systems modeled above with the IRR of an anaerobic digester integrated with a piston engine capable of operating on biogas, such as the GE Jenbacher. Using an electricity sale price of $80/MWh, the IRR of the AD-SOFC, the microbial fuel cell and the AD-piston engine were 9%/yr, 10%/yr and 2%/yr, respectively. This economic analysis suggests that further experimental research should be conducted on both the microbial fuel cell and the pressurized SOFC because both systems were able to generate attractive values of IRR at an electricity sale price close to the average industrial price of electricity in the US.

Biogas has been identified as an attractive fuel for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) due to its high methane content and its renewable status. Current experimental and modeling research efforts in this field have focused mainly on single-cell and small-scale systems performance evaluation. In this paper a large scale biogas source (∼15.5 MW) from a large wastewater treatment facility is considered for integration with an SOFC-based system. Data concerning biogas fuel flow rate and composition have been acquired from a wastewater reclamation facility in Denver and are used as inputs to a steady-state model of an SOFC combined heat and power (CHP) system developed with Aspen Plus. The proposed system concept for this application comprises an advanced SOFC system with anode gas recirculation (AGR) equipped with biogas clean-up and a waste heat recovery system. The system performance is evaluated at near atmospheric pressure with a 725°C nominal operating temperature of the fuel cell stack and system fuel utilization of 80%. The average biogas fuel input has a composition of 60% CH 4 , 39% CO 2 , and 1% N 2 on a dry molar basis. The SOFC-CHP system employs 80% internal reforming at a steam-to-carbon ratio of 1.2. The system offers a net electrical efficiency of 51.6% LHV and a net CHP efficiency of 87.5% LHV. The influence of the operating parameters on the system efficiency is investigated and discussed. The individual contribution of system components to the total inefficiency of the system is quantified with an exergy analysis. Exergy analysis results indicate that the system could offer a tremendous energy efficiency improvement when compared to biogas-supplied combustion turbines currently installed at the facility which operate with an average net electrical efficiency of 25%-LHV.

Biogas can be used as a fuel in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) for efficient power generation from a renewable source. However biogas is, in general, a complex fuel and much work is still needed to identify and remedy possible issues that might arise when used in SOFCs. In this study a SOFC operating on simulated biogas is modeled using an in-house computer code, namely DREAM-SOFC. The model solves for mass transfer, energy balance, electrochemistry and bulk chemical reactions inside the SOFC. Internal reforming of biogas is accounted for through both wet and dry reforming of methane. The model predictions of the cell performance curve are compared with the data from experiments also performed at West Virginia University for validation. The model is then used to predict the concentration distribution of species as well as the temperature distribution in the cell at different operating conditions.

High temperature fuel cells, such as Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC), are prime candidates for power generation using natural gas. Currently MCFC-based products are available for on-site power generation using natural gas and methane-rich biogas. These systems use the most advanced stack configuration utilizing internal reforming of methane. The in-situ reforming within the fuel cell anode provides many operational benefits including stack cooling at high current densities. Syngas from a variety of sources such as coal, biomass and renewables are anticipated to play a key role in the future landscape of power generation. MCFC is capable of utilizing syngss to produce electric power at a very high efficiency. However, because of the differences in the gas compositions between natural-gas and syngas, the fuel cell stack and system designs need to be modified for syngas fuels. The purpose of this study is to develop the design modifications at both the stack and system level needed for operation of internal reforming MCFC using low-methane content syngas without major design changes from the commercial product design. The net outcome of the investigation is a fuel cell system which meets the goals of being able to operate on low methane syngas within thermo-mechanical requirements of the fuel cell stack components. In this paper, we will describe the approach for modification of MCFC design and operating parameters for operation under syngas using both system level modeling and stack level mathematical modeling.

It is expected that fuel cells will play a significant role in a future sustainable energy system. They are energy efficient, fuel can be produced nearly locally and, when a renewable fuel such as ethanol, methanol and biogas is used, there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases. Fuel cells have during recent years various progresses, but the technology is still in the early phases of development, however the potential is enormous. In this study a CFD approach (COMSOL Multiphysics) is employed to investigate effects of different fuels such as biogas, pre-reformed methanol, ethanol and natural gas. The fuel composition and inlet temperature are varied to study the effect on temperature distribution, molar fraction distribution and reforming reaction rates within a singe cell for an intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFC). The developed model is based on the governing equations of heat-, mass- and momentum transport, which are solved together with global reforming kinetics. The result shows that the heat generation within the cell depends mainly on the initial fuel composition and the inlet temperature. The water-gas shift reaction proceeds to the right as hydrogen is consumed and water generated in the electrochemical reactions at the anodic three-phase boundaries.

This paper analyzes the dynamic behaviour of a 50 kW stack using planar co-flow solid oxide fuel cells with direct internal reforming fuelled by a biologically derived gaseous mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. The system modelled is composed by the SOFC stack, a catalytic burner, the heat recovery system and the control device aimed to keep the air temperature at the stack exit and the fuel utilization near to the set values. The model has been implemented using standard and user-defined components of an a-causal software based on the open-source Modelica modelling language. After a brief introduction to the production of the gaseous fuel derived from the anaerobic digestion of pig manure, data obtained from a case study on a pig farm situated in Lombardia (Italy) are presented, focusing on the yield of methane which can be exploited. The steady-state performance of the SOFC system fuelled by pure methane are compared with those obtained for the biogas working conditions, showing that the stack voltage is affected by greater concentration losses. Then, starting from a steady-state delivered current of 750 mA cm −2 , the dynamic behaviour of the system when a load change of −150 mA cm −2 occurs is investigated for both pure methane and biogas fuelling hypothesis. The results of the simulations show that the transient phase is only marginally affected by the composition of the fuel, which causes a delay of about 50 s in the voltage transient. Finally, the effect obtained by imposing a linear variation in the fuel composition, which can be representative of a modification in the biological degradation of the organic substrate within the anaerobic digester, is discussed. After an initial transient, which is comparable with that obtained for a variation in the load current, the SOFC system is capable to restore the initial delivered power, provided that the required amount of fuel can be supplied to the anode.

One of the main challenges to use biogas as fuel in hybrid solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cycles is variable nature of biogas composition which may cause significant changes in plant performance. On the other hand, carbon monoxide is one of the main components in gasified biomass. Therefore, it is vital to investigate the influences of CO fraction in inlet fuel on the cycle performance. This paper presents the analysis of impacts of carbon monoxide concentration in inlet fuel on the performance of hybrid tubular SOFC and gas turbine (GT) cycle with two configurations, system with and without anode exhaust recirculation. The simulation results are considered when system is fueled by pure methane as a reference case. Then, the performance of the hybrid SOFC-GT system when methane is partially replaced by CO from concentration of 0% to 90% with an increment of 5% at each step is investigated. The proposed model is intended for steady state simulation of hybrid SOFC-GT cycle and is developed in Aspen Plus ® . The system performance was monitored by investigating parameters like SOFC and system thermal efficiency; SOFC, GT, and cycle net and specific work; air to fuel ratio; as well as air and fuel mass flow rate. The results of the sensitivity analysis demonstrate that CO concentration has significant effects on the system operational parameters, such as efficiency and specific work.

Biogas is a renewable resource which comes from numerous sources, such as biomass, manure, sewage, municipal waste, green waste and energy crops. It is a variable mixture of CH 4 , CO 2 , N 2 and other gases. Ni-YSZ cermet is commonly used as the anode of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) because it has excellent electrochemical performance and is cost effective. It can utilize not only hydrogen fuel, but also a clean synthesized biogas mixture of varying CH 4 and CO 2 concentrations with steam (H 2 O) and air (O 2 ). However, trace impurities, such as H 2 S, Cl 2 , and F 2 in biogas may cause degradation of cell performance. In this work, Ni-CeO 2 coated Ni-YSZ anode-supported cells were exposed to two different compositions of synthesized biogases (biogas) with 100 ppm Cl 2 under a constant current load at 850°C. The electrochemical performance was evaluated periodically using standard electrochemical methods. 20 ppm H 2 S impurity was also added to the fuel stream during the Cl 2 impurity testing and its effect was noted. Post-mortem analyses of the SOFC anode were performed using XRD, SEM and XPS. The results show that Cl 2 did not cause any electrochemical degradation of the cell during the 200 h test. However, after adding 20 ppm H 2 S, the cell started to degrade and eventually lost all its performance. The experimental data showed that 100 ppm Cl 2 impurity in the fuel gas can postpone the degradation caused by addition of the H 2 S impurity.

Biogas-fed SOFC systems can be considered as interesting power systems in the framework of distributed generation plants. In particular, bio-methane (CH 4 /CO 2 60/40 vol.) and bio-hydrogen (H 2 /CO 2 50/50 vol.), produced from anaerobic digestion of wastes, represent renewable fuels for high efficiency electrochemical generators. This study investigates the behavior of an anode-supported (Ni-YSZ) tubular cell fed by the two fuels. The tubular geometry has been considered since it causes a complete separation of the electrodes reactants, allowing the analysis of the evolution of the fuel gas inside the tube, in terms of composition (consequence of electrochemical and heterogeneous chemical reactions) and temperature field. The experiments have been designed in order to analyse the behavior under different load and fuel utilization conditions. In particular, the fuel mixtures have been conditioned to avoid carbon build-up on the anode electrode. The experimental results have been then used to validate a 2D model (taking into account the cell axial symmetry) of the multi-physics phenomena occurring along the tubular cell. The model shows a good accordance with the experimental data, and has therefore been used to analyse the effects linked to the modification of some geometrical parameters of the tube in terms of performance of the cell.

A biogas coming from anaerobic digestion of urban sewage has been used to feed a SOFC planar anode-supported cell. The sewage is produced from the urban area of Torino (IT), and eventually collected and treated by SMAT (the municipal company managing the potable and waste water of the city). The biogas is produced by the thermophilic fermentation of the sludge which remains after the several treatments the sewage goes through in the above-mentioned plant. The biogas is of a high quality: it has on average a a methane content around 65% (the balance being essentially CO 2 ), and the only significant impurity measured is H 2 S in a range of 70–80 ppm. The as-produced biogas has been used for feeding a planar Ni-YSZ anode-supported SOFC with a LSCF cathode. The biogas desulphurization was accomplished flowing the gas in a fixed-bed reactor, filled with activated. The fuel processing with POX has been assessed to avoid carbon deposition into the Ni-YSZ anode and convert the CH 4 into H 2 and CO. Short tests to check for eventual anode degradation were performed under typical operating conditions. The cell voltage was always stable under load with the tested mixtures. A cell electrical efficiency around 45% has been measured at 800°C and 80% FU. System simulations have performed as well to assess the whole system configuration under a biogas feeding. Optimization routines have been implemented to predict the best net AC efficiency achievable by a SOFC system running on biogas. Additional considerations on the management of poor LHV biogas mixture have been also assessed, showing how dry-reforming of CH 4 with the CO2 already available in the biogas stream would be an excellent option needed to be investigated with further detail in the next future.

This paper presents the sensitivity analysis of tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) stacks. The macro level modelling implemented in AspenPlus™ for the simulation of hybrid SOFC-gas turbine systems. The macro level thermodynamic first law analysis was previously performed on the same model. This sensitivity analysis is the continuation towards investigating the effects of different fuel compositions and turbine and compressor efficiencies on cycle efficiency and other parameters. The model is 0-dimensional, can accept hydrocarbon fuels with user inputs of current density, fuel and air composition, flow rates, temperature, pressure and fuel utilization factor. The model outputs the composition of the exhaust, work produced, heat available for reformer, etc. The model was developed considering the activation, concentration and ohmic losses within SOFC and mathematical expressions for these were chosen based on available studies in recent literatures. In this paper different fuels such as reformed natural gas, biogas with different compositions are considered to investigate the effect of fuel composition on the performance of the hybrid SOFC-gas turbine systems. In order to monitor the performance of the system parameters such as thermal efficiency, cycle specific work, SOFC specific work, gas turbine specific work, and work ratio (SOFC work / gas turbine work) are investigated. Furthermore, for specific fuel the effect of turbine and compressor efficiencies on system’s overall performance are studied for entire range from 50% to 100%, keeping gas turbine efficiency constant and increasing compressor efficiency by 5% and vice versa. For instance, if the fuel is switched from natural gas (with 100% CH 4 ) to biogas (with the composition of 70% CH 4 , 25% CO 2 and 5% H 2 ) and the other parameters are kept constant (isentropic efficiency 85% for both turbine and compressor) the overall thermal efficiency will decrease by 1.4%, whereas the cycle specific work will increase by 36.7%. In addition, the work ratio will increase by 25.1% showing that more power is generated in SOFC in comparison to gas turbine. In addition, if the efficiency of turbine and compressor increase from 85% to 90%, the efficiency and cycle specific work of the system will increase by 3.1% and 3%, respectively whereas, the work ratio will decrease by 5.6%, due to the more power generated in gas turbine.

Catalonia (Spain) has a significant potential of biogas production from agricultural activities and municipal waste. In addition, there are plenty of industrial cogeneration plants, but most of them use conventional fuels such as natural gas, and conventional energy conversion devices, such as internal combustion engines. Molten carbonate fuel cells are ultra-clean and highly efficient power generator devices capable of converting biogas into electricity and heat. Located in Lleida (Catalonia), Nufri is a fruit processing company with a long tradition on biogas production and cogeneration, with an installed capacity bigger than 4.5 MW. This study analyzes the economic viability of a fuel cell operating on biogas in Spain, on a real case basis (Nufri). Different fuel cell capacities are analyzed (from 300 kW to 1200 kW). A parametric study of different fuel cell prices ($/kW installed) is performed. Additional biogas cleanup requirements are taken into account. The results are based on the Spanish legislation, which establishes a special legal framework that grants favorable, technology-dependent feed-in premiums for renewable energy and cogeneration. Results show that the payback period ranges from 5 to 8 years depending on the fuel cell capacity and installation price.

This paper presents the state of the art and the perspectives of the use of molten carbonate fuel cells with renewable energy sources. The molten carbonate fuel cell is the only technology that can use fuels containing carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the anode gas. It has been even shown in experimental tests in single cells that carbon monoxide can be considered as a fuel in this type of fuel cell. The fuels that can be used in MCFC are landfill gas, biogas from anaerobic digestion processes and syngas from gasification of biomass and waste. The commercial size of MCFC stacks (125 to 250 kW) is the right size for use with such fuels which are generally not available for power plants with output larger than some MW. All the above fuels are characterized by the presence of contaminants that need be removed before their use in the fuel cell. Among the contaminants hydrogen sulfide and chlorine compounds seem to cause the worst damage. To be used with such fuels, MCFC still need to be deeply investigated and duration tests are needed to determine the highest tolerable concentrations in the anode gases.

Wastewater treatment facilities operating with anaerobic digesters produce a methane-rich gas as by-product of the process. In most cases, this gas is released into the atmosphere, thus increasing the greenhouse effect, due to the presence of methane. At the same time, the methane content makes the biogas an interesting source of energy. An efficient energy recovery presents the dual benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and of producing a usable form of energy (typically electric current or heat), using a renewable source of energy, thus diminishing fossil fuel consumption. Due to the high operating temperature, Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFCs) and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) present the advantage of being able to operate with a wide variety of fuels, of achieving high energy efficiency and of releasing near-zero emissions. In the present study, the possibility of integrating an anaerobic digester with a high temperature fuel cell is presented. The result of the study illustrates the options, opportunities and the relative benefits and disadvantages related to this energy recovery option.

One of the main uses of fossil fuels is in the transportation sector, leading to environmental consequences such as climate change and smog. In order to move towards a more sustainable energy infrastructure, a transition must begin between fossil fuels and renewable fuels, such as biogas and hydrogen. One possibility to drive this transition is through the application of reforming technology to the automotive sector. The objectives of this project were to experimentally validate a computational fluid dynamics model, while at the same time analyze the data and model in order to improve the design of the bench-scale reformer for use in automotive applications. The model was validated through the experimental data generated through the use of a series of thermocouples and gas chromatography. The highest lower heating value efficiency and dry molar percentage output of hydrogen were 58% and 43% respectively, with conversion percentages approaching 100%.