Geothermal Energy: Mohammed. N. Khan

Geothermal Energy
Mohammed. N. Khan
School of Mechanical Engineering
Fiji National University
What is Geothermal
Energy?
 the heat energy of the
earth, generated by
various natural
processes, such as:
 heat from when the
planet formed and
accreted, which has not
yet been lost
 decay of radioactive
elements
 friction
What is Geothermal
Energy?
 It is considered a renewable resource because the
heat emanating from the interior of the Earth is
essentially limitless
 The heat continuously flowing from the Earth’s
interior, which travels primarily by conduction, is
estimated to be equivalent to 42 million megawatts
(MW) of power, and is expected to remain so for
billions of years to come, ensuring an inexhaustible
supply of energy
Geothermal System?
 1:Reservoir
 2:Pump house
 3:Heat exchanger
 4:Turbine hall
 5:Production well
 6:Injection well
 7:Hot water to district
heating
 8:Porous sediments
 9:Observation well
 10:Crystalline bedrock
Geothermal Regions?
 Hyper thermal: whereby the temperature gradient is
greater than equal to 80oC per km; usually on
tectonic plate’s boundaries.
 Semi thermal: whereby the temperature gradient is
approximately around 40- 80oC per km; heat is
extracted from natural aquifers or dry rock
fracturing.
 Normal: whereby the temperature gradient is less
than 40oC per km; and is not suitable for economic
geothermal power extraction.
Heat extraction methods?
 Natural hydrothermal circulation: water seeps into
deep aquifers and is heated as dry steam 
vapour/liquid mixtures or simply hot water. If
pressure increases  geysers form.
 Hot igneous systems: Associated with heat from
semi-molten magma that solidifies as lava.
 Dry rock fracturing: Poorly conducting rock e.g.
granite stores heat for million of years with
increasing temperature  Fracturing from
boreholes enables water to be pumped through the
rocks to extract the heat.
What is Geothermal
Reservoir?
 A geothermal system requires heat, permeability, and water
 the heat from the Earth's core continuously flows outward
sometimes the heat, as magma, reaches the surface as
lava, but it usually remains below the Earth's crust, heating
nearby rock and water
 When water is heated by the earth’s heat, hot water or steam
can be trapped in permeable and porous rocks under a layer
of impermeable rock and a geothermal reservoir can form 
this hot geothermal water can manifest itself on the surface
as hot springs or geysers, but most of it stays deep
underground, trapped in cracks and porous rock  this
natural collection of hot water is called a geothermal
reservoir.
8
Geothermal Uses?
 Geothermal energy can be used for electricity production, for commercial,
industrial, and residential direct heating purposes, and for efficient home
heating and cooling through geothermal heat pumps.
 Geothermal heat is used directly, without involving a power plant or a heat
pump, for a variety of applications such as space heating and cooling,
food preparation, hot spring bathing and spas (balneology), agriculture,
aquaculture, greenhouses, and industrial processes
 Geothermal Electricity:
 To develop electricity from geothermal resources, wells are drilled into a
geothermal reservoir
 The wells bring the geothermal water to the surface, where its heat energy is
converted into electricity at a geothermal power plant
Geothermal Power Plants?
 There are four commercial types of
geothermal power plants:
 flash power plants
 dry steam power plants
 binary power plants
 flash/binary combined power plants

Flash Power Plants?
 Geo-thermally heated
water under pressure
is separated in a
surface vessel (called
a steam separator) into
steam and hot water
 The steam is delivered
to the turbine, and the
turbine powers a
generator
 The liquid is injected
back into the reservoir.
Dry Steam Power Plants?
 Steam is produced directly from the geothermal reservoir to run the

turbines that power the generator, and no separation is necessary because
wells only produce steam
Binary Power Plants?
 uses an Organic Rankine Cycle system
 The geothermal water (called “geothermal fluid” in the
accompanying image) heats another liquid, such as iso-butane or
other organic fluids such as penta-fluoropropane, which boils at a
lower temperature than water
 The two liquids are kept completely separate through the use of a
heat exchanger, which transfers the heat energy from the
geothermal water to the working fluid
 The secondary fluid expands into gaseous vapor
 The force of the expanding vapor, like steam, turns the turbines
that power the generators
 All of the produced geothermal water is injected back into the
reservoir.
Binary Power Plants?
Flash/Binary Combined
Cycle?
 This type of plant, which uses a combination of flash and
binary technology, has been used effectively to take
advantage of the benefits of both technologies
 In this type of plant, the portion of the geothermal water
which “flashes” to steam under reduced pressure is first
converted to electricity with a backpressure steam turbine and
the low-pressure steam exiting the backpressure turbine is
condensed in a binary system
 In addition to different power plant technologies in use today,
additional applications and technologies continue to emerge.
Geothermal Potential in Fiji?
 Hot rocks in Savusavu and Labasa with T =
160oC (electricity generation) and 125oC
(steam).
 Kadavu also has Geothermal Potential.
Advantages
 renewable energy – does not involve
combustion of fuel  negligible emissions.
 Available all year around – independent of
weather.
 Economically sound
 Can be produced locally.
 Creates local jobs.
Disadvantages
 Not a widespread source of energy.
 High installation costs.
 Can run out of steam.
 Transportation.
 Earthquakes.
Questions?

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Geothermal Energy

 binary power plants

 flash/binary combined power plants

 Steam is produced directly from the geothermal reservoir to run the

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