Greatly Enhanced Detectability of Geothermal Tracers Through Laser-Induced Fluorescence
WE have successfully completed a four-year R and D project to greatly reduce the detection limit of fluorescent tracers through the use of emerging laser-excitation, optical fiber, and CCD-spectroscopy technologies. Whereas the efforts over the first two years were directed at demonstrating a reduction in the detection limit of fluorescent compounds by a factor of 100 and at identifying several new fluorescein-derived tracer candidates, our recent efforts were focused primarily on the field demonstration of new tracers having detection limits in the low parts-per-quadrillion range. During the summer of 2001, we initiated field tests at the Dixie Valley, Nevada and at the Beowawe, Nevada geothermal fields using very small quantities of the fluorescein-derivative 6-carboxyfluorescein. Subsequently, we succeeded in measuring sub-part-per-trillion quantities of that candidate tracer at both the Beowawe and Dixie Valley geothermal reservoirs-using approximately 530 g of tracer at each setting. Our studies indicate that we could have observed a breakthrough using only 0.53 g of 6-carboxyfluorescein. This represents a reduction by a factor of 170,000 below the mass of tracer used in a previous tracer test at Beowawe.
- Research Organization:
- University of Utah/Energy and Geoscience Institute/Department of Chemistry (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG07-98ID13619
- OSTI ID:
- 806819
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ID/13619; TRN: US200304%%265
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 30 Oct 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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