Geothermal Flashcards
Where does geothermal heat come from?
Geothermal heat comes from the inside of the earth. 30 to 50 % accretion and 70-50% radioactive decay
Is the lifetime of a geothermal borehole limited?
Yes
Where is the geothermal potential especially high?
Close to plate boundaries
Discuss possible applications of geothermal heat with (a) T ≈ 30°C, (b) T ≈ 60°C, (c) T > 100 ºC
a) Swimming, Mining,De-icing
b) Greenhouses by combined space and hotbed heating
c) Drying of organic products, fresh water by distillation, canning of food, crying of fish meal, drying of diatomaceous earth, refrigeration by ammonia absortion
What type of systems do you use to exploit near-surface energy
(1-1,5 m). What are the elements/sources the heat gets extracted
from?
Geothermal ground collectors.
Soil and ambient air
Give two different types of ground collectors.
Plain ground collectors and trench ground collectors.
What is necessary so that you can install a two well system?
Only if ground water is available.
What can you use if you want to utilize the energy in deeper ground
(up to 150 m)?
A deep borehole heat exchanger.
How does a vertical heat exchanger work?
They work with gravity and the density difference between liquid and vapor phase. These pipes are sealed and they contain a liquid work fluid. This fluid becomes evaporated by absorving heat at the bottom, the vapor rises and due to the heat sink it recondenses and the liquid flows down again. There is an adiabatic zone at the middle.
Give 2 types of drilling technologies. What are differences?
Rotary drilling process has the motor above ground, and deflections of a few degrees possible.
Directional drilling has hydraulic underground motor, deflection from vertical borehole possible and MWD - measurement while drilling - allows a permanent control of drilling direction.
What is a casing of a borehole and what do we need it for?
It’s a large diameter pipe that is assembled and inserted into a recently drilled section of a borehole. We need it for preventing fluid loss, sealing off and avoiding blowout, isolating different zones with different pressures, and providing a smooth internal bore for installing production equipment.
What is the Thermal Response Test (TRT) for? What can we
measure with it?
It’s an experimental determination of the thermal conductivity, in order to design borehole and number of bore holes.
With it we can measure the thermal conductivity.
What is hydraulic conductivity?
It’s the ability of water to go through soil or rock
Give three possibilities for direct utilization of geothermal heat.
Space heating with heat pumps
Electric power production with binary cycles
Conventional power production
Is a direct use of near surface geothermal energy possible? If not,
how could you make it work though (still using surface near surface
geothermal energy?
No, heat pumps could make it work.
Define the COP in the context of heat pumps.
Coefficient of Performance is the useful heat/electrical energy
How does a geothermal heatpump works?
Works with the compression of a working fluid in gaseous state (which was heated by geothermal heat), which then rejects heat at the level of a condenser
Τhe higher the COP the higher the … temperature and the lower
the … temperature
The higher the COP the higher the evaporation temperature and the lower the condensation temperature.