FG Thermische Energietechnik
District heating dynamic models arise as an alternative approach to in-situ experimental investigations. The main advantage of dynamic modeling and simulation is the possibility to avoid technical and operational risks that might occur during in-situ experimental investigations (e.g. heat demand is not met, damages in the energy systems etc.). Within this study, the authors present two models for an existing district heating system in Cottbus, Germany. One model is developed using the tool EBSILON Professional, while the other one is developed using the Simscape toolbox for physical modeling in Matlab/Simulink. The models were experimentally validated against measured data from the considered district heating system. The results show that the Simscape model has a better fit and better response than the EBSILON model. Yet, some discrepancies were found between the measured and the simulated data and, therefore, the uncertainties of the models were addressed. A comparative study between both tools is presented. The EBSILON models permit only unidirectional flow, whereas the Simscape toolbox permits reverse flow. Nevertheless, the EBSILON model outperforms the Simscape model in computation time. In addition, this study presents an approach for dynamic thermo-hydraulic modeling of district heating networks. This approach is utilized to examine the role of district heating networks as heat storage as an optimization configuration. The numerical results show less start-ups for additional heat sources. Yet, higher heat losses from the network are observed due to the installation of unburied pipelines.
A Lignite Fired Combined Cycle Heat and Power Plant using Presssurized Fluidized Bed Combustion
(1997)
Advancement of circulating pressurized fluidized bed combustion up to plants of the 2nd Generation
(2000)
CCT & CCS Technologies
(2009)
PEM water electrolysis is a clean and efficient conversion technology for hydrogen production and energy storage, especially when coupled with renewable energy sources. In spite of its many advantages, the high component and cell manufacturing costs of the conventional PEM electrolysis cell makes the PEM water electrolysis technology commercially less competitive vis-à-vis its peers. An alternative and cost effective cell design has been proposed which has up to a 25 % costs advantage over the conventional cell. In this alternative cell design, the flow channel plate which bears the most material costs in the conventional cell design has been replaced with a 3-D Porous Transport Layer (PTL) structure. While both designs perform comparably the same at low to mid current density (0 – 2 A/cm²), it has been observed that the conventional cell by far out performs the low cost cell at high current density operations, due to increased mass transport limitation in the cell without flow channels. Since industrial and commercial hydrogen production efforts are focused towards high current density operation (> 3 A/cm²), it thus becomes obvious that, in order for the cost effective alternative cell design to establish itself over the conventional cell design, the mass transport issues at high current densities have to be well understood and described.
This research work seeks to understand the source of, and to eliminate the mass transport losses in the cost effective alternative cell design in order to get it performing at least as good as the conventional cell design at current densities up to 5 A/cm². To meet this objective, 2-D non-isothermal semi-empirical fully-coupled models of both cell designs have been developed and experimentally validated. The developed validated models were then used as tools to simulate and predict the best operating conditions, design parameters and micro-structural properties of the PTL at which the mass transport issues in the design without flow channels will be at its minimum, so that both cells can exhibit comparable performance even at high current densities.
The models developed in this work are based on a multi-physics approach in which thermodynamic, electrochemical, thermal and mass transport sub-models are coupled and solved numerically, to predict the cell polarization and individual overpotentials, as well as address heat and water management issues. The most unique aspect of this work however, is the development of own semi-empirical equations for predicting the mass transport overpotential imposed by the gas phase (bubbles) at high current densities. Also, for the very first time, calculated PEM water electrolysis polarization curves up to 5 A/cm² have been validated by own experimental data.
The results show that, the operating temperature and pressure, inlet water flowrate and thickness of the PTL are the critical parameters for mitigating mass transport limitation at high current densities. In fact, it was found that, for the size of the cells studied (25 cm² active area each), when both cells are operating at the same temperature of 60 °C, the low cost cell design will have a comparable performance to the conventional designed cell even at 5 A/cm² current density when; the operating pressure is ≥ 5 bar, the feed water flowrate is ≥ 0.024l/min∙cm², PTL porosity is 50 %, PTL pore size is ≥ 11 µm and PTL thickness is 0.5 mm. At these operating, design and micro-structural conditions, the predicted difference between the polarizations of both cells will be only ~10 mV at 5 A/cm² operating current density.
Corrosion Processes and Carbonisation of Boiler Materials under Air and Oxyfuel Process Conditions
(2011)
Renewable energy sources are becoming a greater component of the electrical mix, while being significantly more volatile than conventional energy sources. As a result, net stability and availability pose significant challenges. Energy-intensive processes, such as chlor-alkali electrolysis, can potentially adjust their consumption to the available power, which is known as demand side management or demand response. In this study, a dynamic model of a chlor-alkali membrane cell is developed to assess the flexible potential of the membrane cell. Several improvements to previously published models were made, making the model more representative of state-of-the-art CA plants. By coupling the model with a wind power profile, the current and potential level over the course of a day was simulated. The simulation results show that the required ramp rates are within the regular operating possibilities of the plant for most of the time and that the electrolyte concentrations in the cell can be kept at the right level by varying inlet flows and concentrations. This means that a CA plant can indeed be flexibly operated in the future energy system.