Integrated Raw Material Approach to Sustainable Geothermal Energy Production: Harnessing CO2 for Enhanced Resource Utilization

Pdf
Published: Jan 30, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/ta.37117
Keywords:
CO2 Plume Geothermal Reservoir simulator CO2 injection
Sofianos Panagiotis Fotias
National Technical University of Athens
Vassilis Gaganis
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1987-159X
Spyros Bellas
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1845-3561
Abstract

CPG (CO2 Plume Geothermal) has recently emerged as a promising technology that combines the extraction of geothermal energy with underground CO2 storage, thus aligning with the energy objectives of Greece according to the National Energy and Climate Plan. The concept of CPG revolves around treating CO2 as a raw material, recycling it through continuous injection and production to and from a subsurface reservoir, taking advantage of the discrete plume that forms on top of the subsurface formation. As CO2 is injected, it contacts the hot formation and captures thermal energy which is eventually transferred from the reservoir to the surface facilities where it gets exploited in thermal plants. The CO2 flow system is closed thus offering the permanent storage option. Despite the favorable aspects of this technology, such as reduced energy requirements for fluid recycling, improved mobility and a smaller environmental footprint, there are also challenges that require careful consideration. CO2 is less viscous and lighter than resident brine, thus fingering effects are more prominent than sweeping displacement. As a result, CO2 breakthrough appears soon, even at wells designed for pressure maintenance through brine extraction. This highlights the need for a thorough study of the geological field and reservoir, along with the optimization of the production system’s design. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of a geothermal reservoir and covers an optimized dynamic simulation for a combined geothermal, CO2 storage and CPG system. Results demonstrate that a sustainable carbon-negative energy-producing power plant is possible. Such systems can also be implemented in already existing industries, providing a source of energy for secondary operations while also positioning the operators more strongly in the carbon tax market.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Energy
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Turgut M Gu¨r. Carbon dioxide emissions, capture, storage and utilization: Review of materials, processes and technologies. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 89:100965, 2022.
Chih-Hung Huang, Chung-Sung Tan, et al. A review: Co2 utilization. Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 14(2):480–499, 2014.
Cameron Hepburn, Ella Adlen, John Beddington, Emily A Carter, Sabine Fuss, Niall Mac Dowell, Jan C Minx, Pete Smith, and Charlotte K Williams. The technological and economic prospects for co2 utilization and removal. Nature, 575(7781):87–97, 2019.
Ronald DiPippo. Geothermal power plants: principles, applications, case studies and environmental impact. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2012.
M Fytikas. Updating of the geological and geothermal research on milos island. Geothermics, 18(4):485–496, 1989.
Dimitrios Mendrinos, Ioannis Choropanitis, Olympia Polyzou, and Constantine Karytsas. Exploring for geothermal resources in Greece. Geothermics, 39(1):124–137, 2010.
Katrin Breede, Khatia Dzebisashvili, Xiaolei Liu, and Gioia Falcone. A systematic review of enhanced (or engineered) geothermal systems: past, present and future. Geothermal Energy, 1:1–27, 2013.
Donald W Brown. A hot dry rock geothermal energy concept utilizing supercritical co2 instead of water. In Proceedings of the twenty-fifth workshop on geothermal reservoir engineering, Stanford University, pages 233–238, 2000.
Julie K Langenfeld and Jeffrey M Bielicki. Assessment of sites for co2 storage and co2 capture, utilization, and storage systems in geothermal reservoirs. Energy Procedia, 114:7009–7017, 2017.
Barry Freifeld, Steven Zakim, Lehua Pan, Bruce Cutright, Ming Sheu, Christine Doughty, and Timothy Held. Geothermal energy production coupled with ccs: a field demonstration at the secarb cranfield site, cranfield, mississippi, usa. Energy Procedia, 37:6595–6603, 2013.
Edesio Miranda-Barbosa, Bergur Sigfu´sson, Johan Carlsson, and Evangelos Tzimas. Advantages from combining ccs with geothermal energy. Energy Procedia, 114:6666–6676, 2017.
Global CCS Institute. Global ccs institute 2022 status report. https://status22. globalccsinstitute.com/2022-status-report/introduction/, 2022.
Hon Chung Lau, Seeram Ramakrishna, Kai Zhang, and Adiyodi Veettil Radhamani. The role of carbon capture and storage in the energy transition. Energy & Fuels, 35(9):7364–7386, 2021.
Jimmy B Randolph and Martin O Saar. Combining geothermal energy capture with geologic carbon dioxide sequestration. Geophysical Research Letters, 38(10), 2011.
Jimmy B Randolph and Martin O Saar. Coupling carbon dioxide sequestration with geothermal energy capture in naturally permeable, porous geologic formations: Implications for co2 sequestration. Energy Procedia, 4:2206–2213, 2011.
Benjamin M Adams, Thomas H Kuehn, Jeffrey M Bielicki, Jimmy B Randolph, and Martin O Saar. A comparison of electric power output of co2 plume geothermal (cpg) and brine geothermal systems for varying reservoir conditions. Applied Energy, 140:365–377, 2015.
Adina Bosoaga, Ondrej Masek, and John E Oakey. Co2 capture technologies for cement industry.
Energy procedia, 1(1):133–140, 2009.
Mar P´erez-Fortes, Jos´e Antonio Moya, Konstantinos Vatopoulos, and Evangelos Tzimas. Co2 capture and utilization in cement and iron and steel industries. Energy Procedia, 63:6534–6543, 2014.
Sofianos Panagiotis Fotias, Spyridon Bellas, and Vassilis Gaganis. Optimizing geothermal energy extraction in co2 plume geothermal systems. Materials Proceedings, 15(1):52, 2023.
Elias Gravanis and Ernestos Sarris. A working model for estimating co2-induced uplift of cap rocks under different flow regimes in co2 sequestration. Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 33:100433, 2023.
Ernestos Sarris and Elias Gravanis. Flow regime analysis of the pressure build-up during co2 injection in saturated porous rock formations. Energies, 12(15):2972, 2019.
Sarris Ernestos, Gravanis Elias, and Papanastasiou Panos. Investigation of self-similar interface evolution in carbon dioxide sequestration in saline aquifers. Transport in porous media, 103(3):341– 359, 2014.
Pierre Friedlingstein, Michael O’sullivan, Matthew W Jones, Robbie M Andrew, Luke Gregor, Judith Hauck, Corinne Le Qu´er´e, Ingrid T Luijkx, Are Olsen, Glen P Peters, et al. Global carbon budget 2022. Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2022:1–159, 2022.
Zhiwu Liang, Kaiyun Fu, Raphael Idem, and Paitoon Tontiwachwuthikul. Review on current advances, future challenges and consideration issues for post-combustion co2 capture using amine- based absorbents. Chinese journal of chemical engineering, 24(2):278–288, 2016.
Arunkumar Samanta, An Zhao, George KH Shimizu, Partha Sarkar, and Rajender Gupta. Post- combustion co2 capture using solid sorbents: a review. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Re- search, 51(4):1438–1463, 2012.
Anamaria Padurean, Calin-Cristian Cormos, and Paul-Serban Agachi. Pre-combustion carbon dioxide capture by gas–liquid absorption for integrated gasification combined cycle power plants. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 7:1–11, 2012.
Toheeb A Jimoh, Fredrick O Omoarukhe, Emmanuel I Epelle, Patrick U Okoye, Emmanuel Oke Olusola, Alivia Mukherjee, and Jude A Okolie. Introduction to carbon capture by solvent-based technologies. In Elsevier Reference Collection in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences. Elsevier, 2023.
Rohan Stanger, Terry Wall, Reinhold Sp¨orl, Manoj Paneru, Simon Grathwohl, Max Weidmann, Gu¨nter Scheffknecht, Denny McDonald, Kari My¨oh¨anen, Jouni Ritvanen, et al. Oxyfuel combustion for co2 capture in power plants. International journal of greenhouse gas control, 40:55–125, 2015.
Abass A Olajire. Valorization of greenhouse carbon dioxide emissions into value-added products by catalytic processes. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 3:74–92, 2013.
Frederic D Meylan, Vincent Moreau, and Suren Erkman. Co2 utilization in the perspective of industrial ecology, an overview. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 12:101–108, 2015.
Sichao Ma, Paul JA Kenis, et al. Electrochemical conversion of co2 to useful chemicals: current status, remaining challenges, and future opportunities. Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, 2(2):191–199, 2013.
Franklin M Orr Jr. Storage of carbon dioxide in geologic formations. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 56(09):90–97, 2004.
Vyacheslav Romanov, Yee Soong, Casey Carney, Gilbert E Rush, Benjamin Nielsen, and William O’Connor. Mineralization of carbon dioxide: a literature review. ChemBioEng Reviews, 2(4):231– 256, 2015.
Kurt Zenz House, Daniel P Schrag, Charles F Harvey, and Klaus S Lackner. Permanent car- bon dioxide storage in deep-sea sediments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(33):12291–12295, 2006.
Nianzhi Jiao, Gerhard J Herndl, Dennis A Hansell, Ronald Benner, Gerhard Kattner, Steven W Wilhelm, David L Kirchman, Markus G Weinbauer, Tingwei Luo, Feng Chen, et al. Microbial production of recalcitrant dissolved organic matter: long-term carbon storage in the global ocean. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 8(8):593–599, 2010.
Petroleum Experts. Ipm suite.
Stephen Whitaker. Flow in porous media i: A theoretical derivation of darcy’s law. Transport in porous media, 1:3–25, 1986.
Robert Eymard, Thierry Gallou¨et, and Rapha`ele Herbin. Finite volume methods. Handbook of numerical analysis, 7:713–1018, 2000.
Ian H. Bell, Jorrit Wronski, Sylvain Quoilin, and Vincent Lemort. Pure and pseudo-pure fluid thermophysical property evaluation and the open-source thermophysical property library coolprop. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research,53(6):2498–2508,20
Ismail Ismail., Gaganis Vassilis. Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage in Saline Aquifers: Subsurface Policies, Development Plans, Well Control Strategies and Optimization Approaches—A Review. Clean Technol. 2023, 5, 609-637.https://doi.org/10.3390/cleantechnol5020031