ABSTRACT
Over some time, the constantly increasing economic activities due to population growth have caused a rise in global electricity demand. This calls for enhancing electricity generation capacity. At the same time, the emerging concern for climate change due to polluting emissions getting added to the environment and the depletion of fossil fuels has necessitated the search for environmentally friendly direct energy conversion options. Hydrogen gas is the best alternative fuel to fossil fuels for energy conversion systems. Fuel cells in general and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) in particular have demonstrated good potential for direct electricity generation through the direct conversion of chemical energy into electricity. Consequently, rigorous efforts are being made by the scientific community to make SOFC-based electricity generation efficient. The energy loss minimization in the operation of SOFC is attempted by integrating different power cycles into it so that waste energy gets harnessed effectively. This chapter deals with an introduction to hydrogen production methods and fuel cell integrated systems, details of energy conversion technology in fuel cells and solid oxide fuel cells, waste energy assessment in SOFC, exploring possibilities of integrating power cycles to utilize the wastage of energy, and thermodynamic modeling of certain arrangements for a better understanding of how SOFC-integrated cycles can offer better energy efficiency. The synergetic operation of SOFC 208with different power cycles operating on various working fluids holds the future for the availability of reasonably clean energy.
