A hybrid molten carbonate fuel cell and parabolic trough solar collector, combined heating and power plant with carbon dioxide capturing process

Highlights: • Electrical and overall exergy efficiencies of the power plant are 37.68%, 71.29%. • Effect fuel and oxidant flow rate, outlet turbine and control valves are analyzed. • Parabolic trough solar collector is used for supplying a portion the thermal load. • Molten carbonate fuel cell is used in the hybrid energy system. -- Abstract: In this paper, a combined heating and power plant consisting of molten carbonate fuel cell and parabolic trough solar collector with the carbon dioxide capturing process is investigated. Electrochemical model of the fuel cell and numerical modeling of the solar system is done using MATLAB software and thermodynamic model of the power plant is done by HYSYS software. In this plant, solar system is used as a heat exchanger with a capacity of 10.4 MW. The gas turbine and molten carbonate fuel cell are able to produce 640 MW and 81 MW of electrical power, respectively. The results show that, the electrical, overall and exergy efficiencies of the power plant are 37.68%, 71.29% and 45.13%, respectively. Also, total exergy destruction of the process and carbon capture ratio are 346029 kW and 91%, respectively. The impacts of other parameters such as fuel and oxidant flow rate, outlet pressure of the turbine, air compressor and control valves and capacity of the solar farm on the performance of the process are also investigated.