Evaluation method of underground water storage space and thermal reservoir model in abandoned mine

A large number of mines are closed or abandoned every year in China.Geothermal utilization is one of the important ways to efficiently reuse underground resources in abandoned mines.How to calculate the volume and distribution of underground water storage space is the key to accurately evaluate the sustainable geothermal production in abandoned mines.In this paper,according to the multi-scale characteristics of the underground space in abandoned mine,the flow and heat transfer equations in the multi-scale space are sorted out systematically,and the calculation methods of different secondary space volumes are derived in detail.Taking Jiahe abandoned mine as the background,the volume and distribution of underground secondary space are calculated,and three heat storage evaluation models considering different water storage spaces are established by using COMSOL.The simulation results show that there are great differences among different models,and the results of the equivalent porous media model considering the multi-scale space are most consistent with the reality.Sensitivity analyses of key parameters model results indicated that the heat production is closely related to not only the recharge flow rate but also the recharge temperature and operating time.Furthermore,the energy saving and emission reduction benefits of geothermal utilization in abandoned mines are calculated,the results show that geothermal utilization of abandoned mines can effectively reduce energy consumption and CO_(2)emissions,and it has great economic benefits.

Design and operation problems related to water curtain system forunderground water-sealed oil storage caverns

The underground water-sealed storage technique is critically important and generally accepted for the national energy strategy in China. Although several small underground water-sealed oil storage caverns have been built in China since the 1970s, there is still a lack of experience for large-volume underground storage in complicated geological conditions. The current design concept of water curtain system and the technical instruction for system operation have limitations in maintaining the stability of surrounding rock mass during the construction of the main storage caverns, as well as the long-term stability. Although several large-scale underground oil storage projects are under construction at present in China, the design concepts and construction methods, especially for the water curtain system, are mainly based on the ideal porosity medium flow theory and the experiences gained from the similar projects overseas. The storage projects currently constructed in China have the specific features such as huge scale, large depth, multiple-level arrangement, high seepage pressure, complicated geological conditions, and high in situ stresses, which are the challenging issues for the stability of the storage caverns. Based on years’ experiences obtained from the first large-scale （millions of cubic meters） underground water-sealed oil storage project in China, some design and operation problems related to water curtain system during project construction are discussed. The drawbacks and merits of the water curtain system are also presented. As an example, the conventional concept of “filling joints with water” is widely used in many cases, as a basic concept for the design of the water curtain system, but it is immature. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of the conventional concept are pointed out, with respect to the long-term stability as well as the safety of construction of storage caverns. Finally, new concepts and principles for design and construction of the underground water-sealed oil storage caverns are proposed.