Coal gas as a feed fuel for phosphoric acid fuel cell power plants

Abstract Westinghouse Electric Corporation has assessed the effects of a number of coal gasification systems and their gas compositions on a 7.5 MW (c) dc Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC) power plant. Both low and medium BTU synthesis gases were considered from various promising gasification processes. Degree of development or commercialization, technical complexity, availability and coal restrictions were taken into account. System studies performed on the 7.5 MW (c) dc PAFC power plant for nonintegrated and integrated fuel conditioning systems are discussed for the various gasification processes. In all cases coal gas was assumed to be purchased “over-the-fence”. Representative characteristics for the derived coal gases and PAFC system performance data are presented. The direct capital costs of the PAFC power plant are evaluated for each system.