Generating Electric Power from Low-Grade Geothermal
Energy
Ongoing volcanic activity in many parts of the world suggests a potential
abundance of geothermal energy. There are locations where geothermal energy
produces steam that directly and indirectly drives turbines and electrical
generation equipment. The Top Energy group in New Zealand flows geothermal
steam through heat exchangers to vaporize pentane that drives the turbines.
The Raser group has developed a heat exchange technology to convert
geothermal heat at near the boiling point of water to electric power. There
is an evolving technology that shows the potential to convert even
lower-grade geothermal energy into electric power.
Research undertaken by Dr. Jorg Schlaich in Germany revolves around using a
physically very large technology that will operate at relatively low
efficiency while being able to convert renewable thermal energy to electric
power at very competitive cost per megawatt. His research forms the basis in
the development of solar towers, a scale model prototype of which is being
demonstrated as proof of concept near Seville in the south of Spain. That
research and its proof of concept indicates that it may be adapted to
generate large amounts of electric power from low-grade geothermal energy
where the temperature levels are well below that of the boiling point of
water.
Much of that low-grade geothermal energy can be found at deep in the earth
in the permeable and porous rock of exhausted natural gas wells and
exhausted oil wells. The rock temperature at the bottom of these wells can
vary between 50 degrees C and 120 degrees C (120 degrees F to 248 degrees F)
and that heat is accessible because in many parts of the world water is
pumped into the wells to displace the residual oil or gas. The water becomes
the medium by which to transfer heat to the surface using wells that had
originally been drilled to extract gas or oil. The cooled water may then be
returned to the deep porous rock via other nearby wells.
The Green Tower Group of Germany and South Africa as well as the
Enviromission group of Australia and the United States propose to operate
their solar towers 24 hours per day. They intend to do so by storing some
daytime thermal energy in tanks and troughs of water. To access geothermal
energy, the center of the tower would be built directly above a deep-drilled
well of an exhausted deposit of natural gas. The air intake skirt of the
tower would extend to include the return well located some 2 miles or 3
kilometers away. The water reservoir in the porous rock could be several
thousand meters below ground surface.
Geothermally heated water at 60 degrees C to 80 degrees C would be pumped up
one well and flow through a spiral pipe placed on the ground under the
intake skirt before being flowed into the return well. The water would have
over 845 times the density and over 4-times the specific heat of the intake
air flowing under the skirt and toward the tower. The spiral pipe would heat
the air current at a comparable rate of effectiveness as a cross-flow heat
exchanger and becomes the trigger that sustains the air current in the
tower.
The geothermal heat under the tower and its intake skirt would serve a
similar purpose as the control valve at a hydroelectric dam, the trigger of
a thyristor or the button of an aerosol can that requires very little energy
to initiate the movement of a vast amount of energy. There would be much
latent heat on the ground and on large bodies of water for several
kilometers surrounding the air intake of the tower skirt. The tower would
become the conduit through which air currents carry low-grade thermal energy
to higher altitude.
Outside of tropical regions solar towers may operate on solar energy during
summer and on other sources of renewable thermal energy during cooler
weather, thereby improving the tower's cost competitiveness per unit output.
During winter air at 10 degrees C or 50 degrees F could flow into the intake
skirt and cool the water in spiral heater pipe from 80 degrees C or 176
degrees F down to 20 degrees C or 68 degrees F. The temperature or the air
approaching the turbines built into the base of the tower could rise to over
40 degrees C or 104 degrees F.
Heating the air inside the tower would increase both the updraft and the air
velocity through the turbines. Tower technology would allow greater
extraction of thermal energy from saturated geothermal steam that is
slightly above the boiling point of water. All of the latent heat of
condensation would be transferred to the incoming air as the steam in the
pipe system cools and is transformed into liquid water. A geothermal tower
could operate on geothermal steam for the first several years after which it
may then operate on low-grade geothermal energy for the next several
decades.
The depth and extent of the porous rock in the earth below the tower could
determine as to whether to extract only geothermal energy or whether to use
the porous rock as a means of seasonal thermal storage. During summer heat
from concentrated solar thermal energy or from large-scale air conditioning
systems may be pumped into the porous rock using water pipe systems. This
option would be viable if insufficient heat from molten magma deep in the
earth is transferred into the porous rock during summer when the tower
operates mainly on solar energy.
Low-grade geothermal energy could become available from closely spaced test
wells that may be uncapped. Modern drilling technology may be used to drill
an interconnecting lateral well at great depth through which water may flow
between pair of wells that are located near a river or ocean. The difference
in temperature to between the surface water and the deep water may energize
a closed cycle heat engine that operates on a refrigerant such as ammonia or
R138a as the working fluid. Such technology would be comparable to ocean
thermal energy conversion technology.
Conclusions
An abundance of capped deep test wells exist worldwide and offer the
opportunity to access geothermal energy at low cost. Most were drilled into
the earth during an earlier period of oil exploration. Other similar deep
wells were drilled into productive deposits of oil and natural gas that have
since become exhausted. These wells also hold potential to provide abundant
low-grade geothermal energy.
Solar towers, vortex engines and geothermal towers only need heat the air at
the base of the towers to a few degrees above the prevailing ambient to
generate a convection current of air that will flow up the tower. Despite
low thermal efficiency, large towers can be designed to operate on a
combination of geothermal and solar heat to improve the cost competitive per
unit of power output against other renewable thermal technologies. |