Integration of Solar dryer with a Hybrid system of Gasifier- Solid Oxide Fuel Cell/Gas Turbine: Performance Analysis

A novel approach is presented to reduce the moisture content of biomass by employing a solar dryer. The impact of decreasing moisture contents on the key parameters of the system is investigated. Also, the effect of air mass flux on drying rate of biomass is evaluated and discussed considering three alternative air mass flux rates as well as two different time periods for drying and discharging biomass, namely 15 and 30 minutes. Results demonstrate that by reducing the moisture of biomass, power output and efficiency of the hybrid system have been improved from 265 kW and 30% efficiency up to 295 kW and 57.6% respectively. The best efficiency performance of system is achieved by the 15 minutes drain time and air mass flux of 0.011 kgm^(-2) s^(-1), while the best power generation of the system will be obtained by the 30 minutes drain time and air mass flux of 0.011 kgm^(-2) s^(-1).