Geothermal systems have a number of positive social characteristics they are simple, safe, and adaptable systems with modular 150 mw thermal t or electric e plants capable of providing. Also, buildings in the us are responsible for a large share of the nations energy consumption and. The earth s interior becomes hotter with increasing depth for two reasons. Enhanced geothermal systems egss extracting heat from the hdr that. Abundant power from universal geothermal energy mit. The future of hot dry rock geothermal energy springerlink. Download citation the enormous potential for hot dry rock.
Geothermal gradient, heat flux and the structure of the earth. Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the earth. However, it is quite difficult to construct an artificial reservoir. To tap the energy in this hot dry rock, a well is drilled into it and water is injected at high pressure, forming fissures in the rock to create a geothermal reservoir. The papers presented and the discussion that took place indicate that there is a community of researchers and industrial partners that could join forces, with government support, to begin a new effort on hot dry rock geothermal development. Hot dry rock technology was invented to draw energy from deep underground areas where geothermal heat is abundant, but no water exists to carry the heat to the surface. The geology was also favorable since basel lies at the southernmost end of the rhine. Water is injected into fissures in the hot, dry rock through the injector and then produced through the producer. Hot dry rock geothermal energy mining the earth s heat. Ppt geothermal energy powerpoint presentation free to. The vast majority of the worlds accessible geothermal energy is found in rock that is hot but essentially dry the socalled hot dry rock hdr resource. The power plant at the surface uses the produced heat energy to drive turbines in a generator. Aug 27, 2007 there are numerous geothermal power plants today in the u. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter.
However, if hot fluids removed through one borehole are replaced by cold water pumped in through another to recharge the geothermal field, the cold water heats up again. Hot dry rock geothermal energy is a type of renewable energy with great development prospects in deep strata. Geothermal energy why should we use geothermal energy geothermal energy is the heat from the earth. Geothermal systems and resources introduction types of geothermal systems vapordominated geothermal fields hot water geothermal systems geopressured geothermal resources hot dry rock geothermal systems magma chapter 5. An enhanced geothermal system egs, originally called a hot dry rock system, involves drilling a hole at least 3 kilometres deep into a layer of nonporous rock where temperatures are higher. Direct lowtemperature heat transfer for home systems is practical as long as low maintenance is designed into the system. A novel renewable energy concept heat mining using supercritical co2 scco2 for both reservoir creation and heat extraction is here proposed. However, even if reservoir productivity goals are achieved, the role of heat mining with todays energy prices and development costs is limited to only a small fraction of the earths surface. The two key parameters which influence the potential for getting heat from mine waters are the flow rate at which water can be abstracted from the subsurface without significantly depleting the resource at the site in question, and the temperature of that water. However, even if reservoir productivity goals are achieved, the role of heat mining with todays energy prices and development costs is limited.
A heat exchange vessel to transfer heat from the hot water to a secondary working fluid with a lo w boiling. Between the magma and earth surface there are rock formation at high temperature, but typically there are no aquifer. The average household in the united states uses 56 percent of its energy consumption for heating and cooling, accounting for the single largest energy expense for homeowners. Engineered geothermal systems egs is a system that can tap the widely available heat resources.
Thinkgeoenergy is the leading geothermal energy news website, with news from the global geothermal power and large scale direct use industry. In general, the geothermal energy resource base is large and well distributed globally. The feasibility of mining heat from the deep earth was proven in two separate hdr reservoir flow demonstrationseach involving about one year of circulation. This requires the development of an enhanced or engineered geothermal system egs. The next section elucidates the engineering method that could be used for the better exploitation of hot dry rock resources. Geothermal energy an introduction to thermogeology. Hot dry rock hdr heat mining entails the extraction of useful amounts of energy from the vast geothermal resource in the form of rock at depth that is hot but is not in contact with naturally occuring mobile fluids to transport its thermal energy to the surface. The centre of the earth is hot and largely composed of molten and semimolten rock. Climate change is not expected to have any major impacts on the effectiveness of geothermal energy.
Dec 16, 2009 an enhanced geothermal system egs, originally called a hot dry rock system, involves drilling a hole at least 3 kilometres deep into a layer of nonporous rock where temperatures are higher. Water is used as the input to heat pumps for heating and cooling industrial buildings. Geothermal energy hot rock energy hot dry rocks enhanced geothermal resources classical geothermal energy is widely regarded as describing the process of using hot water or steam extracted from geothermal reservoirs in the earth s crust, created by upward convection and conduction of heat from the earth s mantle and core, that can be. A vast store of thermal energy is contained within hot but essentially dry impervious crystalline basement rocks found almost everywhere deep beneath the earth s surface. The geothermal energy is a natural heat energy extracted from the earths crust. A comprehensive new mitled study of the potential for geothermal energy within the united states has found that mining the huge amounts of heat that reside as stored thermal energy in the earth s. Exploratory geothermal wells have been drilled to test for the presence of high temperature geothermal reservoir rocks and such hot. There are known and potential locations near the centre of the country that have been shown to contain hot granites at depth which hold good potential for development of geothermal energy. This paper looks specifically at the potential for hot dry rock hdr geothermal energy in the united states.
Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Drilling complete on australian hot dry rock project. Pdf hot dry rock geothermal resource potential in the wudalianchi. Nikola tesla on hot dry rock geothermal electrical power. Sass introduction societies in the 21st century require enormous amounts of energy to drive the machines of commerce and to sustain the lifestyles that many people have come to expect. Geothermal power in australia is little used but growing. Hot dry rock geothermal exploration in australia abstract hot dry rock hdr geothermal energy is obtained by circulating water between injection and production wells through hot subsurface rocks.
During the past 25 years, hdr has moved from the conceptual stage. A binary power system to convert the heat in the water to electricity. The alligators in the following picture are grown in hot dry rock resources are virtually unlimited in magnitude around the world, only those at shallow depths are currently economical. Herzog massachusetts institute of technology energy laboratory, room e40455 cambridge, ma 029 abstract a generalized economic model was developed to. Geothermal energy has the potential to provide longterm, secure baseload energy and greenhouse gas ghg emissions reductions. A novel singlewell geothermal system for hot dry rock. To extract heat from such formations, the rock must be fractured and a fluid circulation system developed. This system is comprised of the following major components.
The manner in which geothermal heat flows through the earth is reflected by the geothermal. This new heat mining effort would start with site selection and confirmatory studies, done concurrently. In situ leach mining and hot dry rock hdr geothermal. In situ leach mining and hot dry rock hdr geothermal energy technology in situ leach mining and hot dry rock hdr geothermal energy technology parker, r.
Classical geothermal energy is widely regarded as describing the process of using hot water or steam extracted from geothermal reservoirs in the earths crust, created by upward convection and conduction of heat from the earths mantle and core, that can be used for geothermal heat pumps, water heating, or electricity generation. Heat mining company think geoenergy geothermal energy news. In this paper, we reexamine a rich database of induced microseismicity recorded as part of the uk hot dry rock geothermal experiment at rosemanowes, cornwall in the 1980s baria et al. In hot dry rock hdr resources, heat is extracted from dry crystalline rocks by fracturing them, injecting cool water into the hot fractured rock, and extracting the resulting hot water.
An analysis of design options and performance requirements of hot dry rock hdr geothermal power systems jefferson w. Ground source heat pumps gshps are electrically powered systems that tap the stored energy of the greatest solar collector in existencethe earth. Hot dry rocks pty ltd hdr is australias foremost geothermal energy exploration and development consultancy. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading mining the earth s heat. The extraction of heat or thermal energy from the earth heat mining has the potential to play a major role as an energy supply technology for the 21st century. Geothermal energy is the heat of the earth included in the rock matrix 90% and the pore fluid 10%. Induced seismicity at the uk hot dry rock test site for. The christian science monitor is an international news organization that delivers thoughtful, global coverage via its website, weekly magazine, online daily edition, and email newsletters. Overview on hydrothermal and hot dry rock researches in china. A hot dry rock geothermal energy concept utilizing supercritical co2 instead of water donald w.
Extracting heat energy from dry, hot rocks would be possible by drilling holes into the. The hot dry rock hdr systems are a unique type of egs, characterized by very hot basement. This heat then rises to and through the earth s surface, where. Geothermal systems geothermal systems are an established method of producing low carbon and cost effective heating, cooling and sometimes electricity by exchanging heat energy with the ground opportunities for exploitation of geothermal energy are controlled by the nature of the heat reservoir, including peak available. Another source of geothermal energy is hot, dry rock that is several kilometers. The quality of hot dry rock hdr and related exploratory technologies are better. The heat in the water is derived from the normal heat of the rocks, and the contribution from chemical heating is negligible. However, by far most of geothermal energy within reach. Awareness of the environmental drawbacks of fossil fuelsnatural gas, coal. Works can involve recovering hot waters from mines circa 50 to m depth, rocks known as hot sedimentary aquifers hsas. Jan 23, 2007 a comprehensive new mitled study of the potential for geothermal energy within the united states has found that mining the huge amounts of heat that reside as stored thermal energy in the earth s.
Annual heat exchange with the mine by the largest user puts more heat into. Geothermal energy is limited in extent as extracting the heat usually exceeds the replenishment rate. Hot dry rock geothermal energy kindle edition by brown, donald w. Hot dry rock resources are most abundant resources on the planet. Summary of geothermal heat mining relative to fossil energy, hdr is a lowgrade, dilute energy source requiring high mass flow rates typical fluid production temperatures of 200 to 300 oc are needed to maintain reasonable electric conversion efficiencies of 10 to 20 % significantly higher performance results from direct use. A vast store of thermal energy is contained within hot but essentially dry impervious crystalline basement rocks found almost everywhere deep beneath the earths surface. Pdf hot dry rock is regarded as the clean energy of the future and is an. This heat is the result of a few different processes including. Geothermal gradient is the rate of increasing temperature with respect to increasing depth in earth s interior. Method and apparatus for recovering and utilizing thermal energy from subterranean hot rock by means of a selfpowered closed system which transfers heat from the hot rock to a relatively cool liquid, e. Accessible geothermal energy from the earths interior supplies heat for direct use and to generate electric energy.
Hot dry rock geothermal energy mining the earths heat. It is renewable, all time available with a beforehandpredicted power generation potential. Until recently, geothermal power systems have exploited only resources where naturally occurring heat, water, and rock permeability are sufficient to allow energy extraction. These systems use the earths relatively constant temperature to provide heating, cooling, and hot water for homes and commercial buildings. Future electricity production from geothermal resources. The adjective geothermal originates from the greek. Citeseerx published under license by gordon and breach. But geothermal heat is continually supplied, so the mining depletes hot water and steam rather than the energy resource itself. Hot dry rock geothermal electrical power generation and deep shaft techniques the arrangement of one of the great terrestrial heat power plants of the future. The extraction of heat or thermal energy from the earthheat mininghas the potential to play a major role as an energy supply technology for the 21st century. The city of basel was selected for a hot dry rock combined heat and power project partly because there was a demand for electric power and a district heating system was already in place. Hot dry rock hdr geothermal energy research and development.
Geothermal energy seminar report, ppt, pdf for mechanical. The project was known as the deep heat mining basel dhmb project and. Citeseerx document details isaac councill, lee giles, pradeep teregowda. Water is circulated to the bottom of the shaft, returning as steam to drive the turbine, and then returned to liquid form in the condenser, in an unending cycle. Prospects for universal geothermal energy from heat mining. Numerical simulation of thermohydromechanical coupling. Pdf assessment of geothermal resources for power generation. The enormous potential for hot dry rock geothermal energy. The earth is a bountiful source of thermal energy, continuously producing heat at depth, primarily by the decay of naturally occurring radioactive isotopesprincipally of uranium, thorium, and potassiumthat occur in small amounts in all rocks. One or more turbines connected to one or more electric generators. In this paper, deep largedipangle fault zone in the yangbajing geothermal field in tibet of china is used as a natural artificial reservoir, and a set of hot dry.
Existing hot dry rock geothermal projects are commonly confronted with some technical issues, such as corrosion and scaling, and water loss. The geothermal energy of the earth s crust originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. To resolve these issues, the present work proposes a novel system for mining hot dry rock geothermal energy, in which a reservoir is combined with a heat pipe system. The total amount of heat contained in hdr at accessible depths has been estimated to be on the order of 10. Hdr specialises in locating and characterising geothermal resources suitable to exploit for power generation or direct use and maintains an enviable reputation for quality and personalised service.
An enhanced geothermal system egs generates geothermal electricity without the need for natural convective hydrothermal resources. Strictly speaking, geothermal necessarily refers to earth but the concept may be applied to other planets. Geothermal energyclean power from the earths heat by wendell a. However, even if reservoir productivity goals are achieved, the role of heat mining with todays energy prices and development costs is limited to only a small fraction of the earth s surface. Hot dry rock hdr is an abundant source of geothermal energy available for use. Mit professor jefferson tester believes geothermal can be much more widespread, by making artificial reservoirs for harvesting the earth s heat. Deep geothermal operations involve tapping into a heat source stored naturally below the earth s surface.