Investigation of the effectiveness of directly evaporating energy carrier in the utilization of geothermal energy.

01.02.2009 - 31.01.2010
Assigned research project
Geothermal energy represents an increasingly interesting option to the provision of CO2-free energy. In hydrothermal earth warmth utilization, the energy is taken from water which extracted by a well and retuned in a removal well. In difference to this technique, in earth warmth probes the heat transport medium is led in a closed circulation loop and does not come directly in contact with the ground water. In single and multiple family houses, these probes are installed as collectors in shallow depth. In dwelling plants, earth warmth probes are driven up to 800 m into the depth. In the deep geothermal utilization (down to 4000 m and deeper), the possibility of adjusting closed wells for oil production is checked out at the moment. In earth warmth probes, there are tow different techniques possible to transfer the energy from the earth to the user. In use of single flow media, for example brine, the sensible heat capacity (temperature increases when heat is fed in) of the heat transport medium is used. In use of energy carrier media with phase change capabilities, for example CO2, ammonia or certain hydrocarbons, the latent heat capacity (temperature remains constant but steam quality increases when heat is fed in) is used. While media with phase change capabilities in shallow depth geothermal energy utilization are already often used, there are hardly experiences in using that media in deep well geothermal energy utilization. The aim of the actual project is to test the principal possibility to use media with phase change capabilities (direct evaporation) in deep well geothermal energy utilization.

People

Project leader

Project personnel

Institute

Contract/collaboration

  • OMV Austria Exploration & Production GmbH

Research focus

  • Climate Neutral, Renewable and Conventional Energy Supply Systems: 60%
  • Efficient Utilisation of Material Resources: 40%

Keywords

GermanEnglish
Geothermiegeothermal energysystems
Direktverdampfungdirect evaporation

Publications