The purpose of this work is to investigate the integration of an hydrogen production process based on coal pyrolysis with an SOFC-GT pressurised Hybrid System. Plant layout is defined and different options are analysed. The results of thermodynamic and economic assessments are reported, as well as the thermodynamic details of the most significant streams of the plant.The hydrogen production process is referred to an existing 800 kWth ENEL’s coal-fed pyrolysis plant placed in Bastardo (Perugia, Italy). The pyrolyser is simulated taking into account the effects of the main operating conditions, such as temperature, residence time, particle size and coal properties on hydrogen yield.Starting from an Hybrid System with tubular SOFC fed by natural gas, the work estimates the performance of the reference plant when fed by coal pyrolysis syngas. Moreover, to obtain a low CO2 emission SOFC-plant scenario, a CO2 separation technology is applied to Hybrid System fed by natural gas and compared with the same plant fed by decarbonised syngas obtained through coal pyrolysis. Thermodynamic and thermoeconomic analyses of the systems are carried out too.The results were obtained using WTEMP software, developed by the TPG of the University of Genoa, showing the performance attainable by integrating an existing pyrolyser plant with a representative SOFC-GT Hybrid System.
