SOFFHICE aims to investigate the retrofit of a (operating in lakes or among Italian minor islands) with a short-distance ferry high efficiency NG driven SOFC+ICE energy system for propulsion and hoteling. Integration goal will be dual: i) to operate ICE+SOFC jointly in open-sea navigation, maximising ICE efficiency and reducing emissions/fuel consumptions; ii) to operate SOFC mostly in port/coastal areas, reducing pollutants emissions (e.g., NOx, SOx, PM).
SOFFHICE has 3 main objectives:
1) carry out a pre-feasibility study for a NG fuelled SOFC+ICE ferry;
2) model and study the interaction of the two technologies (from a thermodynamic/control point of view);
3) develop replication/scale up guidelines for optimal sizing of the two energy systems in order to ensure their proper behaviour also targeting different type/size of vessels (thus having different volume/space capabilities – lake/sea vessels).
TPG role
TPG-UNIGE will be involved in the modelling of the SOFC system and the integrated SOFC-ICE concept. Thanks to the long experience of the TPG research group in fuel cells systems, SOFC can be modelled at different levels, i.e. stack or system, including SOFC stack and BoP, performed by means of in-house tools (TRANSEO) or Matlab software. Starting from dynamic models developed in TecBia National Project and in Bio-Hypp H2020 EU project, UNIGE will develop the SOFC-ICE system management installed onboard throughout a model-based approach to investigate the dynamic behavior for different operating conditions for the vessel (i.e. maneuvering, navigation in port, hoteling). UNIGE will analyze the thermal energy integration between the hot gases exiting the SOFC for utilization in the ICE for different navigation conditions, targeting the minimization of fuel consumption and pollutant emissions.