A Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Hybrid System consists of three principal parts: the fuel cell system, including the stack and anodic-cathodic recirculations, the turbomachinery and the auxiliary components (heat exchangers, fuel compressor, valves, etc.). The design, construction and operation of pressurised MCFC Hybrid Systems (MCFC-HS), which are still not commercially available, requires the synergetic merging of chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and plant management skills. The lack of operational experience of such a plant and the high technological level of the components involved (especially the fuel cell system) has led the authors to theoretically design and study the performance of anMCFC-HS physical simulator (“emulator”), with the aim of solving problems that may arise in an the actual hybrid system “in advance”, without having detrimental effects on the cost intensive part of the plant (i.e. the stack).This paper presents the layout of the emulator plant, and the analysis of the start-up of the system using the TRANSEO code. The time to achieve full load is estimated in almost one day, which classifies the plant as a long-term response system.
