LAUSR

Abstract A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a promising technology for generating electricity and heat with high efficiency and environmental friendliness. The use of a bio-oil as a renewable and low-cost feedstock for an external reforming SOFC system can reduce fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. From a technical perspective, high-purity hydrogen (H2) for SOFCs can be produced from the sorption-enhanced steam reforming (SESR). In this study, an economic analysis of a bio-oil SESR and SOFC integrated system (160 kW alternating current electricity production) is performed to evaluate the feasibility of the designed process. An economic comparison of the systems with different configurations, i.e., SESR-SOFC integrated systems with and without anode gas recirculation and a conventional reforming-based SOFC system (CON-SOFC), is presented in terms of their net present cost (NPC) and levelized cost of energy (LCOE). According to the results, the SESR-SOFC system with anode gas recirculation is more favorable than the CON-SOFC system and SESR-SOFC system without recirculation. Nevertheless, it remains economically infeasible because its NPC in the 20th year is approximately 6.13% higher than that of the combined heat and power (CHP) system (a base case). However, it can attain economic equivalence with the CHP system when a carbon tax of at least $15 t CO 2 − 1 is considered or when the SOFC capital cost, interest rate, and bio-oil cost are separately reduced by 14%, 21%, and 37%, respectively. In addition, an increase in feed-in tariff has the highest impact on the NPC reduction of the renewable bio-oil SESR-SOFC integrated system with recirculation.