A thermodynamic Aspen Plus simulation model for a reversible solid oxide fuel cell (RSOFC) is composed of an electrolysis and a fuel cell module. The latter is based on an existing non reversible SOFC model and also can operatate and performance of a SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) stack on biomass syn-gas from a biomass gasification CHP (combined heat and power) plant.

The tubular SOFC technology is selected. The SOFC stack model, equilibrium type based on Gibbs free energy minimisation, is developed using Aspen Plus. The model performs heat and mass balances and considers ohmic, activation and concentration losses for the voltage calculation. The model is validated against data available in the literature for operation on natural gas. Operating parameters are varied; parameters such as fuel utilisation factor (Uf), current density (j) and STCR (steam to carbon ratio) have significant influence. The results indicate that there must be a trade-off between voltage, efficiency and power with respect to j and the stack should be operated at low STCR and high Uf. Operation on biomass syn-gas is compared to natural gas operation and as expected performance degrades.

Please find attached herewith describes the steps and assumptions made to model a SOFC stack; the model was validated with data from a 100 kWCHP SOFC stack operating on natural gas.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222575735_Computer_simulation_of_a_biomass_gasification-solid_oxide_fuel_cell_power_system_using_Aspen_Plus

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319917303579

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544210002598

Aspen Electrolytes system.

1: Simulate anode and cathode separately and connect them via a stream in main Aspen Plus environment. Thus, each reactor could be an available black including CSTR and/or PFR reactor depending on your modelling specifications and framework.

2: Do FORTRAN coding for your model and incorporate it in Aspen

3: Go with Aspen Custom Modeller to develop your own block for SOFC by solving PDEs, ODEs and ADEs.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222027829_High_temperature_solid_oxide_fuel_cell_integrated_with_novel_allothermal_biomass_gasification_Part_I_Modelling_and_feasibility_study

You can add a user defined SOFC, see this paper:

https://www.researchgate.net/deref/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Fscience%2Farticle%2Fpii%2FS0098135415001076

https://www.researchgate.net/deref/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Fscience%2Farticle%2Fpii%2FS0098135415001076

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275037156_Solid_oxide_fuel_cell_reactor_analysis_and_optimisation_through_a_novel_multi-scale_modelling_strategy

https://www.google.com/url?

sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.semanticscholar.org%2Fpaper%2FSimulation-of-SOFCs-based-power-generation-system-Pianko-Oprych-Palus%2Fbf307993ed38f49e5a5d52f19fc461a61bcc3087&psig=AOvVaw0l2Cq6p3sHF40V4jcADprt&ust=1653375154731000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjRxqFwoTCODx29OE9fcCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAk

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ajbasweb.com%2Fold%2Fajbas%2F2017%2FSpecial%2520issue%2520ICCEIB%2F143-153.pdf&psig=AOvVaw0l2Cq6p3sHF40V4jcADprt&ust=1653375154731000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjRxqFwoTCODx29OE9fcCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAw