Design and analysis of solid oxide electrolysis-based systems for synthetic liquid fuels production

During the past decades, considerable attention has been dedicated to renewable energy systems. This is due to the increased awareness regarding greenhouse gas emissions as well as limits of the future availability and reliability of conventional energy and power systems. Renewable energy can be considered as free, nearly infinite, and clean; however, such resources have their own drawbacks. Renewables face challenges in meeting instantaneous electricity demand and for utilization as transportation fuels. One of the main challenges of renewable energy sources like solar and wind is due to their variability, making them incapable of meeting the required energy demands at all the time. Therefore it is beneficial to add energy storage for handling supply and demand. The current study is dedicated to the design and analysis of an integrated system for production of synthetic fuels as a way of renewable energy storage. The proposed system integrates solid oxide electrolysis, entrained gasification, and Fischer-Tropsch process. The main product of system is Fischer-Tropsch diesel which is produced from steam, CO2, and different renewables, namely: lignocellulosic biomass, solar PV electricity, and wind electricity. This approach has the benefit of storing the excess electrical energy from renewables in the form of chemical energy of the hydrocarbon fuels for further usage during peak hours. Also, using these synthetic fuels results in an increase of the renewable energy share in the transportation system while utilizing existing distribution and conversion technologies. The proposed system is analyzed from thermodynamic, economic, and environment perspectives. This study addresses several different research questions, from finding the optimum operating condition of precursor syngas producing subsystems to evaluating the theoretical potential of integrated systems in different locations