An innovative study on anode recirculation in solid oxide fuel cell systems with alternative fuels is carried out and investigated. Alternative fuels under study are ammonia, pure hydrogen, methanol, ethanol, DME and biogas from biomass gasification. It is shown that the amount of anode off-fuel recirculation depends strongly on type of the fuel used in the system. Anode recycling combined with fuel cell utilization factors have an important impact on plant efficiency, which will be analysed here. The current study may provide an in-depth understanding of reasons for using anode off-fuel recycling and its effect on plant efficiency. For example, it is founded that anode recirculation is not needed when the plant is fed by ammonia. Further, it is founded that when the system is fed by pure hydrogen then anode recirculation should be about 20% of the off-fuel if fuel cell utilization factor is 80%. Furthermore, it is founded that for the case with methanol, ethanol and DME then at high utilization factors, low anode recirculation is recommended while at low utilization factors, high anode recirculation is recommended. If the plant is fed by biogas from biomass gasification then for each utilization factor, there exist an optimum anode recirculation at which plant efficiency maximizes. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.