Applicability of a fuel cell for primary energy saving in a liquid desiccant and evaporative cooling assisted 100% outdoor air system

Abstract

A fuel cell is a device that produces an electric and heat from the oxidation of a fuel, usually uses hydrogen by oxygen. The main purpose of this paper is to estimate primary energy savings and CO2 reduction potentials applied to the installation of fuel cell systems. Based on the measured data of electricity and heating demand required for the liquid desiccant and evaporative cooling-assisted-100% outdoor air system (LD-IDECOAS), applicability of fuel cell system which provides electric power and hot water simultaneously is evaluated by detailed simulation. Using the measured load profile of the pilot system, the required electric capacity of the fuel cell system was designed at 10 kW. The performance of the previous systems using conventional gas-fired boiler and purchased electricity are compared with that of the proposed system to evaluate energy saving potential. The results show that the designed fuel cell provides electricity and heating energy recovered from stack at 34.4% and 49.5% of efficiency, respectively. Consequently, the fuel cell system can save about 30% of primary energy and CO₂emission compared with the conventional system.