In-situ monitoring of flue gas contaminants for fuel cell systems
AssigneeFuelCell Energy, Inc.
InventorsHossein GHEZEL-AYAGH, Stephen JOLLY
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A power production system includes a fuel cell separation system configured to receive a flue gas and to produce electrical power therefrom; a flue gas polishing system positioned upstream of the fuel cell separation system and configured to remove contaminants in the flue gas; a flue gas analyzer configured to measure in real-time an amount of the contaminants in the flue gas; and a plant control system operatively coupled to the flue gas polishing system, the flue gas analyzer, and the fuel cell separation system and configured to adjust operational parameters of the flue gas polishing system.
Claims20
A power production system comprising:
- a fuel cell separation system configured to receive a flue gas and to produce electrical power therefrom;
- a flue gas polishing system positioned upstream of the fuel cell separation system and configured to remove contaminants in the flue gas;
- a flue gas analyzer configured to measure in real-time an amount of the contaminants in the flue gas;
- and
- a plant control system operatively coupled to the flue gas polishing system, the flue gas analyzer, and the fuel cell separation system and configured to adjust operational parameters of the flue gas polishing system and a fuel cell in the fuel cell separation system based on feedback signal sent from the flue gas analyzer.
A method of monitoring flue gas contaminants in a fuel cell system, comprising:
- receiving flue gas from a flue gas generation system at a flue gas polishing system;
- removing contaminants from the flue gas in the flue gas polishing system and outputting polished flue gas from the flue gas polishing system;
- receiving the polished flue gas at a cathode inlet in a fuel cell assembly;
- measuring a contaminant level in at least one of the flue gas or the polished flue gas and sending a feedback signal to a plant control system based on the contaminant level;
- and
- controlling, with the plant control system, the flue gas polishing system and the fuel cell assembly based on the measured contaminant level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.