CHEMISTRY

PROJECT BASED LEARNING

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:-

Prof. JYOTSANA KAUSHAL AMBER BHAUMIK(E092010)

Dept: Applied Science DHIRAJ KUMAR(E092029)

ANIL KUMAR(E092013)

INTRODUCTION

India imports nearly 22% of its total energy demand. The price variations in the global oil and natural gas poses a great problem to our ‘Energy Security’ considerably. With wide network of research and development of premier organizations such as CSIR, DST and also the premier energy oriented organizations such as ONGC, OIL, Reliance, NTPC Ltd, NHPC Ltd., etc are playing a significant role in planning for the strategic energy research towards the sustainable development. India is planning to have a quantum jump from a developing country to a developed country. Its’ energy consumption is directly linked to industrialization and the living standards of it’s population. Fig.1 shows the per capita consumption of energy by different countries. Our consumption is less than 1/10th as compared to developed counries, say Germany or Japan. The rapid economic development of our country coupled with population growth in recent years has been driving energy demand growth and still the gap between production and demand is becoming wider and wider. Although India is blessed with vast potential in the form of new and renewable natural resources, such as solar, wind, bio-mass, hydro, gas hydrates, geothermal etc., their exploitation is not near it’s maximum potential.

Towards this direction, the present study reviews the geothermal potential in India along with our present day knowledge and also discusses the future programmes and plans to develop geothermal energy.

WHAT IS GEOTHERMAL ENERGY ?

Geothermal name origins from the Greek roots geo meaning earth, and thermos meaning heat . Geothermal energy is the earth’s natural heat available inside the earth. This thermal energy contained in the rock and fluid that filled up fractures and pores in the earth’s crust can profitably be used for various purposes. It is believed that ultimate source of geothermal energy derived from the earth due to radioactive decay occurring within the earth at deep crustal depths. 0.1% of the energy stored in Earth’s crust could satisfy the world energy consumption for 10,000 years. At all locations, the heat reaches the surface of the earth in a defusing manner. The earth’s heat increases with depth at a rate of 30 o C per km and this way the centre of the earth is estimated to have about 5000 o C . However, due to geological processes and tectonic disturbances, heat sources become relatively shallow at certain locations. Greater the temperature higher will be its utility. For example, the heat source of high temperature is generally used for electric power generation. As on today, geothermal electric power generation in US is approximately above 2200 MW. This is equivalent to 4 large nuclear power plants. The low and moderate temperature resource can be used for direct applications and also using ground source heat pumps. Application of direct use involves heating of the buildings, industrial processes, greenhouses, aquaculture and in holiday resorts.

Ground heat source uses the groundwater as a medium of transport that can be used to transfer the heat from the soil down below to the surface. As on today, the current world production of geothermal energy for both direct and indirect uses has occupied a third place among the various renewable energy sources such as hydroelectricity, biomass, solar power and wind power. Although its potential is impressive from various users in different countries, its utility in India is near zero. The success of geothermal use depends on the technical information about the various geothermal provinces.

HISTORYThe oldest known pool fed by a hot spring, built in the Qin dynasty in the 3rd century BC.

Hot springs have been used for bathing at least since paleolithic times. The oldest known spa is a stone pool on China’s Lisan mountain built in the Qin dynasty in the 3rd century BC, at the same site where the Huaqing Chi palace was later built. In the first century AD, Romans conquered Aquae Sulis, nowBath, Somerset, England, and used the hot springs there to feed public baths and underfloor heating. The admission fees for these baths probably represent the first commercial use of geothermal power. The world's oldest geothermal district heating system in Chaudes-Aigues, France, has been operating since the 14th century.[1] The earliest industrial exploitation began in 1827 with the use of geyser steam to extract boric acid from volcanic mud in Larderello, Italy.

In 1892, America's first district heating system in Boise, Idaho was powered directly by geothermal energy, and was copied in Klamath Falls, Oregon in 1900. A deep geothermal well was used to heat greenhouses in Boise in 1926, and geysers were used to heat greenhouses in Iceland and Tuscany at about the same time. Charlie Lieb developed the first downhole heat exchanger in 1930 to heat his house. Steam and hot water from geysers began heating homes in Iceland starting in 1943.

Different Geothermal Energy Sources

Hot Water Reservoirs: As the name implies these are reservoirs of hot underground water. There is a large amount of them in the US, but they are more suited for space heating than for electricity production.

Natural Stem Reservoirs: In this case a hole dug into the ground can cause steam to come to the surface. This type of resource is rare in the US.

Geopressured Reservoirs: In this type of reserve, brine completely saturated with natural gas in stored under pressure from the weight of overlying rock. This type of resource can be used for both heat and for natural gas.

Normal Geothermal Gradient: At any place on the planet, there is a normal temperature gradient of +300C per km dug into the earth. Therefore, if one digs 20,000 feet the temperature will be about 1900C above the surface temperature. This difference will be enough to produce electricity. However, no useful and economical technology has been developed to extracted this large source of energy.

Hot Dry Rock: This type of condition exists in 5% of the US. It is similar to Normal Geothermal Gradient, but the gradient is 400C/km dug underground.

Molten Magma: No technology exists to tap into the heat reserves stored in magma. The best sources for this in the US are in Alaska and Hawaii.

Direct uses of geothermal energy space heating air conditioning industrial processes drying Greenhouses Aguaculture hot water resorts and pools melting snow

GLOBAL SCENARIO

Geothermal reservoirs constitute one of the important renewable sources of energy currently being used to meet energy demands. Near the surface of the earth various mega geological and tectonic features associated with geothermal energy are spreading ridges, transform faults, subduction zones etc. They form a vast network that divides our planet into distinct lithospheric units. For example, the plate boundaries correspond to fractured zones of the earth and characterised by large heat source that can be seen on the surface with many number of volcanoes, frequent seismic activity etc. These typical regions can also manifest itself on the surface such as geysers, hot springs etc. The geothermal potential stands out with the availability of large potential . However, the technology need to be developed to harness this energy source. Through geological and geophysical investigations, geothermal source buried at certain depth can be delineated for exploitation as an energy source. For example, pacific plate boundary, all along the western coast of north and south American continent, well-known geothermal provinces such as Imperial Valley, Cerro Prieto, the geysers, Ahuachapan, Eltatio etc. can be observed. Similarly, the subduction zones and along the Indian plate boundary, the geothermal reservoir systems of Philippines, Himalayan belt regions can be seen. a summary of the countries and installed electric power capacity..

NAME OF THE COUNTRY INSTALLED GEOTHERMAL CAPACITY (MW)

1.United States 28502.Philippines 18483.Mexico 7434.Italy 7435.Japan 5306.New Zeland 3647.Iceland 518.Kenya 459.China 3210.Russia 1111.Argentina 0.712.Australia 0.413.Thailand 0.314.India 0.0

WORKING

Borehole Heat Exchange

This type uses one or two underground vertical loops that extend 150 meters below the surface

Dry Steam Plants

These were the first type of plants created. They use underground steam to directly turn the turbines.

Flash Steam Plants

These are the most common plants. These systems pull deep, high pressured hot water that reaches temperatures of 3600F or more to the surface. This water is transported to low pressure chambers, and the resulting steam drives the turbines. The remaining water and steam are then injected back into the source from which they were taken.

Binary Cycle Plants

This system passes moderately hot geothermal water past a liquid, usually an organic fluid, that has a lower boiling point. The resulting steam from the organic liquid drives the turbines. This process does not produce any emissions and the water temperature needed for the water is lower than that needed in the Flash Steam Plants (2500F – 3600F).

Hot Dry Rocks

The simplest models have one injection well and two production wells. Pressurized cold water is sent down the injection well where the hot rocks heat the water up. Then pressurized water of temperatures greater than 2000F is brought to the surface and passed near a liquid with a lower boiling temperature, such as an organic liquid like butane. The ensuing steam turns the turbines. Then, the cool water is again injected to be heated. This system does not produce any emissions. US geothermal industries are making plans to commercialize this new technology.

GEOTHERMAL PROVINCES OF INDIA

Rocks covered on the surface of India ranging in age from more than 4500 million years to the present day and distributed in different geographical units. The rocks comprise of Archean, Proterozoic, the marine and continental Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, Teritary, Quaternary etc., More than 300 hot spring locations have been identified by Geological survey of India (Thussu, 2000). The surface temperature of the hot springs ranges from 35 C to as much as 98 C. These hot springs have been grouped together and termed as different geothermal provinces based on their occurrence in specific geotectonic regions, geological and strutural regions such as occurrence in orogenic belt regions, structural grabens, deep fault zones, active volcanic regions etc., Different orogenic regions are – Himalayan geothermal province, Naga-Lushai geothermal province, Andaman-Nicobar Islands geothermal province and non-orogenic regions are – Cambay graben, Son-Narmada-Tapi graben, west coast, Damodar valley, Mahanadi valley, Godavari valley etc., Figure 4 shows different geothermal provinces of India.

GEOTHERMAL POTENTIAL AND RESOURCES OF INDIA

From geological, geochemical, shallow geophysical and shallow drilling data it is estimated that we have about 10000 MWe of geothermal power potential that can be harnessed for various purposes. To exploit the geothermal energy source, we need to map the deep subsurface structure and to demarcate the area of geothermal heat trapped inside the surface such that decisions regarding deep drilling, estimation of it’s potential, number of years that can profitably used etc parameters can be estimated. This can be carried out with the help of geochemical and deep geophysical techniques. Geological survey of India has made concerted efforts in this direction by using shallow geophysical technique, geochemical sampling with shallow (< km) bore hole drilling also in several geothermal fields in India. The data base generated by GSI is a valuable document with which heat flow map of India, geothermal atlas have been prepared (Ravishanker, 1988). NGRI has also made concerted efforts in different geothermal regions of India (Gupta and Roy, 2006). In order to map the deep structure of geothermal regions, more recently (since 1995) NGRI has been using a deep geophysical technique – magnetotellurics (MT) – to map the anomalous deep geothermal fields. The regions covered by MT are Tatapani, Chattisgarh, Puga, J &K, Tapovan-Vishnugad-Badrinath in Uttarakhand, Surajkund, Jharkhand, Kullu-Manali-Manikaran in Himachal Pradesh etc., (Harinarayana et al 2000,2003,2004 and 2005). These studies have provided valuable information and have identified the locations for deep drilling for possible use of geothermal energy for power generation. The estimated temperatures of these geothermal fields based on shallow drilling and deep geophysical studies are shown

Geothermal Field

Estimated (min.) reservoir Temp (Approx)

Status

Puga geothermal field 240 C at 2000m From geochemical and deep geophysical studies (MT)

Tattapani Sarguja (Chhattisgarh)

120 oC - 150 oC at500 meter and 200 Cat 2000 m

Magnetotelluric survey done by NGRI

Tapoban Chamoli (Uttarakhand)

100 oC at 430 meter Magnetotelluric survey done by NGRI

Cambay Garben (Gujrat)

160 oC at 1900meter (From Oilexploration borehole)

Steam discharge was estimated 3000 cu meter/ day with high temprature gradient.

Badrinath Chamoli (Uttarakhand)

150 oC estimated Magneto-telluric study was done by NGRI Deep drilling required to ascertain geothermal field

Surajkund Hazaribagh (Jharkhand)

110 oC Magneto-telluric study was done by NGRI. Heat rate 128.6 mW/m2

Manikaran Kullu (H P)

110 oC Magneto-telluric study was done by NGRI Heat flow rate 130 mW/m2

Kasol Kullu (H P)

110 oC Magneto-telluric study was done by NGRI

Advantages of Geothermal Energy

When a power station harnesses geothermal power in the correct manner, there are no by products, which are harmful to the environment. Environmentalists should be happy about that! There is also no consumption of any type of fossil fuels. In addition, geothermal energy does not output any type of greenhouse effect. After the construction of a geothermal power plant, there is little maintenance to contend with. In terms of energy consumption, a geothermal power plant is self-sufficient. Another advantage to geothermal energy is that the power plants do not have to be huge which is great for protecting the natural environment.

Useful minerals, such as zinc and silica, can be extracted from underground water.

Geothermal energy is “homegrown.” This will create jobs, a better global trading position and less reliance on oil producing countries.

US geothermal companies have signed $6 billion worth of contracts to build plants in foreign countries in the past couple of years.

In large plants the cost is 4-8 cents per kilowatt hour. This cost is almost competitive with conventional energy sources.

Geothermal plants can be online 100%-90% of the time. Coal plants can only be online 75% of the time and nuclear plants can only be online 65% of the time.

Flash and Dry Steam Power Plants emit 1000x to 2000x less carbon dioxide than fossil fuel plants, no nitrogen oxides and little SO2.

Geothermal electric plants production in 13.380 g of Carbon dioxide per kWh, whereas the CO2 emissions are 453 g/kWh for natural gas, 906g g/kWh for oil and 1042 g/kWh for coal.

Binary and Hot Dry Rock plants have no gaseous emission at all. Geothermal plants do not require a lot of land, 400m2 can produce a gigawatt

of energy over 30 years. Geothermal Heat Pumps:

- produces 4 times the energy that they consume.-initially costs more to install, but its maintenance cost is 1/3 of the cost for a typical conventional heating system and it decreases electric bill. This means that geothermal space heating will save the consumer money.-can be installed with the help of special programs that offer low interest rate loans.

Disadvantages of Geothermal Energy

There are several disadvantages to geothermal energy. First, you cannot just build a geothermal power plant in some vacant land plot somewhere. The area where a geothermal energy power plant would be built should consist of those suitable hot rocks at just the right depth for drilling. In addition, the type of rock must be easy to drill into. It is important to take care of a geothermal site because if the holes were drilled improperly, then potentially harmful minerals and gas could escape from under ground. These hazardous materials are nearly impossible to get rid of properly. Pollution may occur due to improper drilling at geothermal stations. Unbelievably, it is also possible for a specific geothermal area to run dry or lose steam.

Brine can salinate soil if the water is not injected back into the reserve after the heat is extracted.

Extracting large amounts of water can cause land subsidence, and this can lead to an increase in seismic activity. To prevented this the cooled water must be injected back into the reserve in order to keep the water pressure constant underground.

Power plants that do not inject the cooled water back into the ground can release H2S, the “rotten eggs” gas. This gas can cause problems if large quantities escape because inhaling too much is fatal.

One well “blew its top” 10 years after it was built, and this threw hundreds of tons of rock, mud and steam into the atmosphere.

There is the fear of noise pollution during the drilling of wells.

CONCLUSION

To make sure we have plenty of energy in the future, it's up to all of us to use energy wisely.

We must all conserve energy and use it efficiently. It's also up to those who will create the new energy technologies of the future.

All energy sources have an impact on the environment. Concerns about the greenhouse effect and global warming, air pollution, and energy security have led to increasing interest and more development in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, wave power and hydrogen.

But we'll need to continue to use fossil fuels and nuclear energy until new, cleaner technologies can replace them. One of you who is reading this might be another Albert Einstein or Marie Curie and find a new source of energy. Until then, it's up to all of us.

The future is ours, but we need energy to get there.

Imagination is more important than knowledge, for

knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world - stimulating

progress, giving birth to evolution.

- Albert Einstein