Coupling effect of evaporation and condensation processes of organic Rankine cycle for geothermal power generation improvement

Organic Rankine cycle(ORC)is widely used for the low grade geothermal power generation.However,a large amount of irreversible loss results in poor technical and economic performance due to its poor matching between the heat source/sink and the working medium in the condenser and the evaporator.The condensing temperature,cooling water temperature difference and pinch point temperature difference are often fixed according to engineering experience.In order to optimize the ORC system comprehensively,the coupling effect of evaporation and condensation process was proposed in this paper.Based on the laws of thermodynamics,the energy analysis,exergy analysis and entropy analysis were adopted to investigate the ORC performance including net output power,thermal efficiency,exergy efficiency,thermal conductivity,irreversible loss,etc.,using geothermal water at a temperature of 120℃as the heat source and isobutane as the working fluid.The results show that there exists a pair of optimal evaporating temperature and condensing temperatures to maximize the system performance.The net power output and the system comprehensive performance achieve their highest values at the same evaporating temperature,but the system comprehensive performance corresponds to a lower condensing temperature than the net power output.

Two stages power generation test of the hot dry rock exploration and production demonstration project in the Gonghe Basin,northeastern Qinghai-Tibet plateau,China

The Hot Dry Rock(HDR)is considered as a clean and renewable energy,poised to significantly contribute to the global energy decarbonization agenda.Many HDR projects worldwide have accumulated valuable experience in efficient drilling and completion,reservoir construction,and fracture simulation.In 2019,China Geological Survey(CGS)initiated a demonstration project of HDR exploration and production in the Gonghe Basin,aiming to overcome the setbacks faced by HDR projects.Over the ensuing four years,the Gonghe HDR project achieved the first power generation in 2021,followed by the second power generation test in 2022.After establishing the primary well group in the initial phase,two directional wells and one branch well were drilled.Noteworthy progress was made in successfully constructing the targeted reservoir,realizing inter-well connectivity,power generation and grid connection,implementing of the real-time micro-seismic monitoring.A closed-loop technical validation of the HDR exploration and production was completed.However,many technical challenges remain in the process of HDR industrialization,such as reservoir fracture network characterization,efficient drilling and completion,multiple fracturing treatment,continuous injection and production,as well as mitigation of induced seismicity and numerical simulation technology.

Performance analysis and improvement of geothermal binary cycle power plant in oilfield

In order to improve the efficiency of a geothermal power plant, oil wells in the high water cut stage were used as geothermal wells, thereby improving the recovery ratio and economic benefit. A new function that reflects both the technical and economic performances was put forward and used as the objective function. An organic Rankine cycle (ORC) was analyzed through the energetic and exergetic analyses, and the reasons for low efficiency were pinpointed. Results indicate that geothermal water directly transferring heat to the working fluid reduces energy dissipation and increases cycle efficiencies. The net power output with an internal heat exchanger (IHE) is averagely 5.3% higher than that without an IHE. R601a and R601 can be used to replace R123 for geothermal water below 110℃. Moreover, the modified ORC dramatically outperforms the actual one.

Figure of Merit Analysis of a Hybrid Solar-geothermal Power Plant

Figure of merit analysis is a general methodology used to evaluate whether a hybrid power plant could produce more power than two stand-alone power plants. In this paper, the assessment methodology using figure of merit analysis was re-examined for a hybrid solar-geothermal power plant. A new definition of the figure of merit was introduced specifically for a solar boosted geothermal plant to include both the technical and economic factors. The new definition was then applied in a case study of a hypothetical demonstration hybrid solar-geothermal power plant in Australia. The power plant was considered to have a typical net power output of 2.2 MW with a solar energy fraction of 27%. The analysis was performed to compare the power output and capital cost of the hybrid plant with the state-of-the-art (SoA) and existing stand-alone solar and geothermal plants. Based on the new definition, the hybrid plant was found to generally outperform the two existing stand-alone plants. Moreover, at an ambient temperature of 5 °C, the hybrid plant was found to outperform the SoA stand-alone plants when the geothermal temperature was greater than 150 °C. For geothermal temperature of 180 °C on the other hand, the hybrid plant outperformed the SoA stand-alone plants at ambient temperatures lower than 33 °C.

A survey of geothermal power generation combined with renewable energy for low carbon emissions

At present,industrial development is heavily dependent on traditional fossil energy,which has had an increasingly serious impact on the environment.Clean and renewable energy has received extensive attention and its proportion in daily life has gradually increased.As a clean and renewable energy source that is not affected by changes in weather and seasons,geothermal energy has developed rapidly in recent years and has received increasing attention.According to reports,the total installed capacity of geothermal power generation in the world in 2020 was 15950 MW-an increase of~27%over 2015.At the end of 2019,the total installed capacity for global geothermal direct use was 107727 MW-an increase of 52.0%compared with 2015;the total annual energy use was 1020887 TJ(283580 GWh)-an increase of 72.3%over 2015.Through the investigation of geothermal power generation technology in recent years,the characteristics and shortcomings of various power generation methods are analysed.At the same time,this review analyzes the characteristics of geothermal energy and other renewable-energy(solar energy,water energy)coupling power generation,and analyzes the principles and characteristics of geothermal energy and various new-energy coupling power generation methods.Through investigation and analysis,this review provides a complete understanding of various geothermal power generation technologies and provides insights into the future development direction.

Status in quo and future of geothermal energy in China

Energy saving and CO2 emissions reduction are critical tasks currently,and great effort has been made by Chinese government. Renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions and reduction plan in China are introduced in this paper. Analysis is also made on present status and prospect of geothermal power generation and direct use in China respectively. Now,there is a new understanding of geothermal resources,and hot dry rock,considered as the future of geothermal resources,is likely used to generate electricity.

Determination of Curie Point Depth, Heat Flow and Geothermal Gradient from High Resolution Aeromagnetic Data around Lamurde Area, Adamawa State, North-Eastern Nigeria

Analysis of high resolution of aeromagnetic data was carried out over Lamurde, Adamawa state north-eastern Nigeria to determine the Curie point depth (CPD), heat flow and geothermal gradient. The aeromagnetic data used for this work was obtained at Nigerian geological survey agency, the total magnetic intensity was processed to produce the residual magnetic map which was divided into 4 overlapping blocks, each block was subjected to spectral analyses to obtain depths to the top boundary and centroid, while depth to bottom of the magnetic sources was calculated using empirical formula. The depths values obtained were then used to assess the CPD, heat flow and geothermal gradient in the area. The result shows that the CPD varies between 9.62 and 10.92 km with an average of 10.45 k, the heat flow varies between 150.73 and 132.78 mWm−20⋅°C−1 with an average of 139.12 mWm−20⋅°C−1 and the geothermal gradient in the study area varies between 12.16 and 15.67 °C/km with an average of 13.39 °C/km. In view of the above results, the high heat flow may be responsible for maturation of hydrocarbon in Benue Trough as well as responsible for the lead Zinc Mineralization. Again by implication, Lamurde area can be a good area for geothermal reservoir exploration for an alternative source for power generation.

Renewable Energy:Wind Turbines,Solar Cells,Small Hydroelectric Plants,Biomass,and Geothermal Sources of Energy

In this paper,we present five basic types of renewable energy sources,namely:wind turbines,solar cells,small hydroelectric plants,biomass,and geothermal sources of energy.Wind turbines transform energy of wind into electrical energy,solar cells transform energy of sun into electric energy,hydroelectric plants transform energy of water into electric energy,devices or machines can be constructed to transform energy of biomass into heat energy,and geothermal energy into some form of energy.In this paper we present basic information and reasons why there is need today to use these forms of energy—called green energies,we present how these devices or machines function,and we propose for future work design of typical devices or machines that will satisfy basic functional needs.

Working fluids of a low-temperature geothermally-powered Rankine cycle for combined power and heat generation system

A novel combined power and heat generation system was investigated in this study. This system consists of a low-temperature geothermally-powered organic Rankine cycle (ORC) subsystem, an intermediate heat exchanger and a commercial R134a-based heat pump subsystem. The advantages of the novel combined power and heat generation system are free of using additional cooling water circling system for the power generation subsystem as well as maximizing the use of thermal energy in the low-temperature geothermal source. The main purpose is to identify suitable working fluids (wet, isentropic and dry flu-ids) which may yield high PPR (the ratio of power produced by the power generation subsystem to power consumed by the heat pump subsystem) value and QQR (the ratio of heat supplied to the user to heat produced by the geothermal source) value. Parameters under investigation were evaporating temperature, PPR value and QQR value. Results indicate that there exits an optimum evaporating temperature to maximize the PPR value and minimize the QQR value at the same time for individual fluid. And dry fluids show higher PPR values but lower QQR values. NH3 and R152a outstand among wet fluids. R134a out-stands among isentropic fluids. R236ea, R245ca, R245fa, R600 and R600a outstand among dry fluids. R236ea shows the highest PPR value among the recommended fluids.

Thermo-economic analysis of a direct supercritical CO_(2) electric power generation system using geothermal heat

A comprehensive thermo-economic model combining a geothermal heat mining system and a direct supercritical CO_(2) turbine expansion electric power generation system was proposed in this paper.Assisted by this integrated model,thermo-economic and optimization analyses for the key design parameters of the whole system including the geothermal well pattern and operational conditions were performed to obtain a minimal levelized cost of electricity(LCOE).Specifically,in geothermal heat extraction simulation,an integrated wellbore-reservoir system model(T2Well/ECO_(2)N)was used to generate a database for creating a fast,predictive,and compatible geothermal heat mining model by employing a response surface methodology.A parametric study was conducted to demonstrate the impact of turbine discharge pressure,injection and production well distance,CO_(2) injection flowrate,CO_(2) injection temperature,and monitored production well bottom pressure on LCOE,system thermal efficiency,and capital cost.It was found that for a 100 MWe power plant,a minimal LCOE of$0.177/kWh was achieved for a 20-year steady operation without considering CO_(2) sequestration credit.In addition,when CO_(2) sequestration credit is$1.00/t,an LCOE breakeven point compared to a conventional geothermal power plant is achieved and a breakpoint for generating electric power generation at no cost was achieved for a sequestration credit of $2.05/t.

CO_(2)Plume Geothermal(CPG)Systems for Combined Heat and Power Production:an Evaluation of Various Plant Configurations

CO_(2) Plume Geothermal(CPG)systems are a promising concept for utilising petrothermal resources in the context of a future carbon capture utilisation and sequestration economy.Petrothermal geothermal energy has a tremendous worldwide potential for decarbonising both the power and heating sectors.This paper investigates three potential CPG configurations for combined heating and power generation(CHP).The present work examines scenarios with reservoir depths of 4 km and 5 km,as well as required district heating system(DHS)supply temperatures of 70℃ and 90℃.The results reveal that a two-staged serial CHP concept eventuates in the highest achievable net power output.For a thermosiphon system,the relative net power reduction by the CHP option compared with a sole power generation system is significantly lower than for a pumped system.The net power reduction for pumped systems lies between 62.6%and 22.9%.For a thermosiphon system with a depth of 5 km and a required DHS supply temperature of 70℃,the achievable net power by the most beneficial CHP option is even 9.2%higher than for sole power generation systems.The second law efficiency for the sole power generation concepts are in a range between 33.0%and 43.0%.The second law efficiency can increase up to 63.0%in the case of a CHP application.Thus,the combined heat and power generation can significantly increase the overall second law efficiency of a CPG system.The evaluation of the achievable revenues demonstrates that a CHP application might improve the economic performance of both thermosiphon and pumped CPG systems.However,the minimum heat revenue required for compensating the power reduction increases with higher electricity revenues.In summary,the results of this work provide valuable insights for the potential development of CPG systems for CHP applications and their economic feasibility.

Thermodynamic and Techno-economic Analysis of a Triple-pressure Organic Rankine Cycle: Comparison with Dual-pressure and Single-pressure ORCs

Investigation of a triple-pressure organic Rankine cycle(TPORC) using geothermal energy for power generation with the net power output of the TPORC analyzed by varying the evaporation pressures, pinch temperature differences(tpp) and degrees of superheat(tsup) aimed to find the optimum operation conditions of the system. The thermodynamic performance of the TPORC was compared with a dual-pressure organic Rankine cycle(DPORC) and a single-pressure ORC(SPORC) for geofluid temperatures ranging from 100°C to 200°C, with particular reference to the utilization of a hot dry rock(HDR) geothermal resource. Thermodynamic performances of the TPORC system using eight different organic working fluids have also been investigated in terms of the net power outputs. Results show that a higher geofluid mass flow rate can make a considerable contribution to shortening the payback period(PBP) as well as to decreasing the levelized electricity cost(LEC), especially when the geofluid temperature is low. For the temperature range investigated, the order from high to low based on thermodynamic and techno-economic performances is found to be TPORC > DPORC > SPORC. In terms of using geothermal resources within the given temperatures range(100°C–200°C), the TPORC system can be a better choice for geothermal power generation so long as the wellhead geofluid temperature is between 140°C and 180°C.