Wood gasification integrated with fuel cell-microturbine hybrid power plant

A system showing great promise is integration of gasification with a fuel cell. The fuel cell also produces very high-temperature exhaust gases that can either be used directly in combined-cycle applications or used to drive a gas turbine. Fuel cell-microturbine combination has the potential to achieve up to 60 percent efficiency and near-zero emissions. Fuel flexibility enables the use of low-cost indigenous fuels, renewables and waste materials. The characteristics of gas from biomass gasification may vary significantly. Traditional control design approaches consider a fixed operating point in the hope that the resulting controller is robust enough to stabilize the system for different operating conditions. On the other hand, robust control incorporates the uncertain parameters of the model.