Comprehensive review on integration strategies and numerical modeling of fuel cell hybrid system for power & heat production.

Recent advances in renewable energy research have suggested the fuel cell as a promising future energy source. Compared to the conventional power generation process, which has multiple-step conversion, a fuel cell is a single-step conversion process and produces power and sometimes heat. The efficiency of the individual existing conventional system is increased by integrating with fuel cells. The purpose of hybridization is to fulfill the demand and supply of power and heat. This paper starts with the historical development of fuel cell proceed with different categorize of hybrid systems. Discuss the possibilities of integration of existing fuel cell with other existing technologies such as SOFC-PEMFC, FC-CHP, FC-GT-ST, FC-Hybrid Vehicle, FC-PV/Battery. Numerical modeling can be done for each hybrid system considering mass balance, energy-exergy balance. At the end of the paper a discussion on the technical, economical, and commercial challenges and their solutions with future possibilities is presented. [Display omitted] • Study the integration potential of fuel cell with other power generating systems. • Fuel-cell hybrid configurations are analyzed. • Modelling aspect of various fuel cell hybrid configurations were summarized. • Fuel cell behavior with power and heat generation is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]