International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 13, Number 10 (2018) pp. 7772-7778 © Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com 7772 Thermodynamic Performance Evaluation of SOFC Based Simple Gas Turbine cycle Anoop Kumar Shukla 1* , Sandeep Gupta 2 , Shivam Pratap Singh 3 , Meeta Sharma 4 , Gopal Nandan 5 Department of Mechanical Engineering, 1,2,3,4,5 Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India-201301 Corresponding Author Orcid: 0000-0002-6744-0292 Abstract The Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) is the prominent technique of fuel cell to convert chemical energy into electrical energy, through an electrochemical process. The features of SOFC which led it to be considered as an effective method for the future hybrid power plants to generate power is its high operating temperature, expected to generate clean electrical energy at promising conversion rates with lower emissions of poisonous gas (     ). Present paper studies the thermodynamic analysis of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell based on simple gas turbine cycle utilizing the waste heat of gas turbine to preheat the air entering the SOFC. Natural gas is utilized as fuel for this system. Heat recovery systems are used in the cycle to utilize the waste heat from SOFC and GT exhausts. Released gases from SOFC, are also utilized as secondary supply for the combustion chamber. Due to SOFC high operating temperature, less fuel is used to burn inside the combustion chamber that enhances its efficiency. The thermodynamic model for the proposed system for its major components of the cycle has been made and analyzed. The effect of the different operating parameters such as current density, fuel recirculation ratio, and fuel utilization factor on the cycle performance are investigated. Keywords: Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC), Hybrid framework, Natural Gas, Gas turbine (GT) INTRODUCTION Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are of great interest on these days. The features of SOFC makes them appropriate for the hybrid cycle since they operate at high working temperature, which led to achieving high efficiency when combined with the gas turbine power plant. It is viewed as an excellent device for future hybrid power plants, anticipated that would offer clean electrical energy at high conversion rates, low emissions of poisonous gas and low noise levels [1]. Since SOFC deals with high temperature which is enough to enable the direct reformation of natural gas. SOFC produces both electrical power and heat as the result of electrochemical reaction occurs inside SOFC using natural gas as fuel, the high-grade waste heat is used for the combined heat and power (CHP) system to enhance the overall efficiency of the hybrid Gas Turbine cycle. GT hybrid model can achieve efficiency up to 50% net electrical efficiencies and have already been considered feasible for the CHP system [2]. Siemens-Westinghouse Power Corporation was the first to build the integrated SOFC-GT model that was the first advance power technology, and it has the capacity to generates 220kW of electrical power having 55% of total electrical efficiency [3]. A simple gas turbine cycle works on the Joule-Brayton cycle, that involves simple processes in order as air compression in the compressor, fuel combustion in a combustor, and expansion of high-temperature gas in the gas turbine. The essential components of the cycle are compressor, combustor, and gas turbines. The number of components can vary according to the need to achieve higher efficiency and to enhance the system performance. Gas turbine power plants are mainly used for the electrical power generation that can achieve efficiency up to 30-40%. It can be further improved by using hybrid cycle, which enhances the efficiency up to 60%. A brief literature review shows that Mekhilef et al. [1] have performed the comparative study about the different types of fuel cell, Author described the basic design, working principles, and compared the advantages and disadvantages of the different system available for the fuel cell. S.C. Singhal. [2] focusses on the materials and manufacturing methods used for the various fuel cell components and talk about the performance of the cell. Author has also described a new SOFC model that has a small current path, a lower cell resistance barrier and higher power outcomes than tubular one. Zhang et al. [4] studied various SOFC-GT hybrid cycle combination to enhance the overall performance of the cycle with the growing demand of clean power generation and concluded that the best tubular SOFC was manufactured by Siemens-Westinghouse. The study concluded that the use low operating temperature fuel cell is feasible in a hybrid cycle and to enhance the efficiency of the cycle. Zaccaria et al. [5] incorporated a pre-combustor model into the existing solid oxide fuel cell to keep the inlet temperature of cathode constant for a maximum time during different working conditions. They described the fuel flow regulation to the pre-combustor is an effective technique for keeping a constant temperature at cathode inlet in a step change of fuel cell load. Saisirirat [6] developed a hybrid SOFC-GT model and perform simulation in MATLAB. The author proposed the thermodynamic modeling and analyze few configurations with respect to SOFC power and at high GT inlet temperature. Arsalis [7] has performed thermodynamic, and cost analysis of