scholarly journals Simulation study of the Lower Cretaceous geothermal reservoir for aquifer thermal energy storage

Author(s):  
Elżbieta Hałaj ◽  
Leszek Pająk ◽  
Bartosz Papiernik

AbstractThe aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) has gained attention in several countries as an installation for increasing the energy efficiency of geothermal systems and the use of waste heat. The Lower Cretaceous reservoir is known as one of the most prospective for geothermal purposes in Poland. However, in the southern part of the Mogilno–Łódź Trough (Central Poland) is considered to have a lower geothermal potential. The aim of this paper is to study whether the Lower Cretaceous reservoir in this area is suitable for aquifer thermal energy storage. Prior to dynamic simulations in Feflow© software, a regional Petrel© static parametric model which includes a multidisciplinary approach was prepared. A methodology of fitting Petrel’s structural and parametrical model to Feflow requirements is provided within this paper. The performance simulation of 4 systems has been conducted for 30 years. Increasing precipitation potential is expected for aragonite and calcite along with a temperature increase, while silica precipitation carries a much smaller risk. The paper presents potential for ATES systems in the Lower Cretaceous reservoir of the study area with the best doublet location having thermal recovery ratio of 0.47 and 0.34 for 30 and 40 K temperature differential scenario. An imbalance in heat injection/production in the storage system can cause the reservoir to cool faster than in conventional geothermal heating installation. ATES can provide a successful geothermal reservoir boosting in the case of applying a balanced injection of waste heat.

Geofluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Skarphagen ◽  
David Banks ◽  
Bjørn S. Frengstad ◽  
Harald Gether

Borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) exploits the high volumetric heat capacity of rock-forming minerals and pore water to store large quantities of heat (or cold) on a seasonal basis in the geological environment. The BTES is a volume of rock or sediment accessed via an array of borehole heat exchangers (BHE). Even well-designed BTES arrays will lose a significant quantity of heat to the adjacent and subjacent rocks/sediments and to the surface; both theoretical calculations and empirical observations suggest that seasonal thermal recovery factors in excess of 50% are difficult to obtain. Storage efficiency may be dramatically reduced in cases where (i) natural groundwater advection through the BTES removes stored heat, (ii) extensive free convection cells (thermosiphons) are allowed to form, and (iii) poor BTES design results in a high surface area/volume ratio of the array shape, allowing high conductive heat losses. The most efficient array shape will typically be a cylinder with similar dimensions of diameter and depth, preferably with an insulated top surface. Despite the potential for moderate thermal recovery, the sheer volume of thermal storage that the natural geological environment offers can still make BTES a very attractive strategy for seasonal thermal energy storage within a “smart” district heat network, especially when coupled with more efficient surficial engineered dynamic thermal energy stores (DTES).


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthijs Bonte ◽  
Boris M. Van Breukelen ◽  
Pieter J. Stuyfzand

Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) uses groundwater to store energy for heating or cooling purposes in the built environment. This paper presents field and laboratory results aiming to elucidate the effects that ATES operation may have on chemical groundwater quality. Field data from an ATES site in the south of the Netherlands show that ATES results in chemical quality perturbations due to homogenisation of the initially present vertical water quality gradient. We tested this hypothesis by numerical modelling of groundwater flow and coupled SO4 transport during extraction and injection of groundwater by the ATES system. The modelling results confirm that extracting groundwater from an aquifer with a natural quality stratification, mixing this water in the ATES system, and subsequent injection in the second ATES well can adequately describe the observation data. This mixing effect masks any potential temperature effects in typical low temperature ATES systems (<25 °C) which was the reason to complement the field investigations with laboratory experiments focusing on temperature effects. The laboratory experiments indicated that temperature effects until 25 °C are limited; most interestingly was an increase in arsenic concentration. At 60 °C, carbonate precipitation, mobilisation of dissolved oxygen concentration, K and Li, and desorption of trace metals like As can occur.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (19) ◽  
pp. 6241
Author(s):  
Manon Bulté ◽  
Thierry Duren ◽  
Olivier Bouhon ◽  
Estelle Petitclerc ◽  
Mathieu Agniel ◽  
...  

A numerical model was built using FEFLOW® to simulate groundwater flow and heat transport in a confined aquifer in Brussels where two Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) systems were installed. These systems are operating in adjacent buildings and exploit the same aquifer made up of mixed sandy and silty sublayers. The model was calibrated for groundwater flow and partially for heat transport. Several scenarios were considered to determine if the two ATES systems were interfering. The results showed that a significant imbalance between the injection of warm and cold water in the first installed ATES system led to the occurrence of a heat plume spreading more and more over the years. This plume eventually reached the cold wells of the same installation. The temperature, therefore, increased in warm and cold wells and the efficiency of the building’s cooling system decreased. When the second ATES system began to be operational, the simulated results showed that, even if the heat plumes of the two systems had come into contact, the influence of the second system on the first one was negligible during the first two years of joint operation. For a longer modeled period, simulated results pointed out that the joint operation of the two ATES systems was not adapted to balance, in the long term, the quantity of warm and cold water injected in the aquifer. The groundwater temperature would rise inexorably in the warm and cold wells of both systems. The heat plumes would spread more and more over the years at the expense of the efficiency of both systems, especially concerning building’s cooling with stored cold groundwater.


2012 ◽  
Vol 430-432 ◽  
pp. 746-749
Author(s):  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Dong Ming Guo

Utilizating of tube-well irrigation, the technology of aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) store rich cold energy in winter and cheap warm energy in summar into aquifers seasonally. In this paper, taking Sanhejian Coal Mine as an example, we discuss that with the same pumping and irrigation flow in doublet wells, distribution and change of temperature field in aquifers both at the end of energy storage and after the period of no pumping and no irrigation. The simulation results of aquifer temperature field show that 2~10°C water body of aquifers is decreasing in the period of no pumping and no irrigation, but it is only a small reduction with a stable trend. And after the period of no pumping and no irrigation, about 11°C water body of aquifers stores steadily in the aquifer, so the selected aquifers is suitable and its effect of energy storage is good.


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