scholarly journals Improving the Environmental Sustainability of Flash Geothermal Power Plants—A Case Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 15262-15283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Bruscoli ◽  
Daniele Fiaschi ◽  
Giampaolo Manfrida ◽  
Duccio Tempesti
Author(s):  
Kevin R. Anderson ◽  
Wael Yassine

Abstract This paper presents modeling of the Puna Geothermal Venture as a case study in understanding how the technology of geothermal can by successfully implemented. The paper presents a review of the Puna Geothermal Venture specifications, followed by simulation results carried out using NREL SAM and RETSCREEN analysis tools in order to quantify the pertinent metrics associated with the geothermal powerplant by retrofitting its current capacity of 30 MW to 60 MW. The paper closes with a review of current state-of-the art H2S abatement strategies for geothermal power plants, and presents an outline of how these technologies can be implemented at the Puna Geothermal Venture.


Geothermics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 102227
Author(s):  
Serhat Tonkul ◽  
Alper Baba ◽  
Mustafa M. Demir ◽  
Simona Regenspurg

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (23) ◽  
pp. 1424
Author(s):  
Antonio Luis Marqués Sierra ◽  
Noe Anes Garcia

An important key in binary geothermal power plant is the selection of working fluid. This design decision has great implications for the operation of this power plant. While there are many options available for working fluids, there are also many restrictions on the selection that relate to the thermodynamic properties of fluids, as well as considerations of salt, safety and environmental impact.


Author(s):  
Thomas Mutero ◽  
Peter Muchiri ◽  
Nicholas Mariita

Kenya Electricity Generating Company Ltd (KenGen) has harnessed geothermal energy for over thirty seven years at the Olkaria geothermal field. The total installed capacity of geothermal energy in Kenya currently stands at 703.5 MW generated mostly by single flash and binary geothermal power plants. In the 1990s KenGen considered the Wellheads concept in which modular containerized single flash power plants were to be designed, customized and built on a wellpad for optimized well potential; this approach has largely been successful currently having an installed capacity of 83.5 MW and accounting for 15.7% of KenGen's total geothermal installed capacity. This was done to address an inherent deficiency in the construction of conventional geothermal power plants which was identified as the long period taken to put up the power plants. The wells that have been drilled by KenGen and GDC, tested and shut in awaiting the installation of power plants are rated at about 600 MW. The Wellhead power plant cycle is a single flash geothermal power plant; this research intended to improve the current Wellheads power cycle by introducing a second low pressure separator to harness more energy from the wellheads, design a turbine to be driven by the low pressure steam and evaluate an economic justification for introducing the double flashing cycle. A case study was carried out at Wellhead 914 and Wellhead 915. Data collected indicated that the combined mass flow rate of brine from wells in the two wellpads was 240.4 tonne per hour. This brine was saturated at 13.5 bar-a and at a temperature of 193.40C as it exits the high pressure separator for disposal. The optimal pressure of the low pressure separation was designed at 2.5 bar-a, 127.40C and had an ability to generate 3871 kW of electric power. A turbine operating at a steam inlet pressure of 2.5 bar-a, a speed of 6804 rpm and having an exhaust pressure of 0.075 bar-a was designed. The designed turbine had 4 stages of both stationary and moving blades with a maximum rotor disc diameter of 0.62 meters and an output of 4195 kW. The simple payback period for this project was estimated to be 1.9 years with a rate of return on investment of 42.24%. This would also minimize energy wastage by improving efficiency and footprints on the environment arising from the Wellhead power plants.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 4269
Author(s):  
Putera ◽  
Hidayah ◽  
Subiantoro

Indonesia has a predicted geothermal potential of 29 GWe, which is the biggest in the world. With this potential, the government has the ambitious target to generate as much as 7 GWe of electricity in 2025 from geothermal energy. However, the installed capacity of geothermal power plant in Indonesia until 2019 is only 1.9 GWe. Enhancements in already-installed geothermal power plants with a binary power plant can be considered to achieve the 2025 target. In this research, a thermo-economic analysis is carried out to assess the feasibility of binary power systems to enhance the existing geothermal power plants in Indonesia. The Wayang Windu site is selected as the case study. Three working fluids, i.e., n-Pentane, isopentane, and R245fa, are compared. Two different optimization objectives are considered and compared. First, the thermal efficiency is optimized to maximize the thermodynamic performance. In the second scenario, the heat exchanger area is optimized to maximize the economic performance. Analysis of the economic profitability variables, namely the payback period and internal rate of return, shows that optimizing the heat exchangers gives better economic results when compared to optimizing the thermal efficiency. The results also show that the type of working fluid significantly affects both the thermal efficiency and economic profitability of the binary power plant. Moreover, n-Pentane has the most preferred thermo-economic performance for the geothermal conditions at Wayang Windu with the smallest payback period of 13 years and the highest internal rate of return of 11.28%.Keywords: thermodynamics; binary geothermal power plant; organic rank


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