Hot dry rock heat mining: An alternative energy progress report
Mining Heat from the hot dry rock (HDR) resource that lies beneath the earth's crust may provide an almost inexhaustible supply of energy for mankind with minimal environmental effects. In the heat mining process, water is pumped down an injection well into a mass of hydraulically fractured hot rock. As the water flows under high pressure through the opened rock joints, it becomes heated by the rock. It is returned to the surface through a production well (or wells) located some distance from the injector where its thermal energy is recovered by a heat exchanger. The same water is then recirculated through the system to extract more thermal energy. In this closed-loop process, nothing but heat is released to the environment during normal operation. The technical feasibility of HDR heat mining already has been proven by field testing. A long-term flow test is scheduled to begin in 1991 at the world's largest HDR heat mine in New Mexico, USA, to demonstrate that energy can be produced from HDR on a continuous basis over an extended time period. Significant HDR programs are also underway in several other countries. The paper describes the HDR resource, the heat mining concept, environmental characteristics, economics, developments at Los Alamos to date, and HDR development outside the US. 15 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 5850520
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-91-1164; CONF-910809-1; ON: DE91011393
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International symposium on energy and environment, Espoo (Finland), 25-28 Aug 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
HOT-DRY-ROCK SYSTEMS
HEAT EXTRACTION
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
CLOSED-CYCLE SYSTEMS
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DEPTH
ECONOMICS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FIELD TESTS
FRANCE
GASES
GEOTHERMAL WELLS
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
INJECTION WELLS
JAPAN
LANL
NEW MEXICO
PARTICULATES
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PRODUCTION
PROGRESS REPORT
RECYCLING
REMOVAL
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
RESERVOIR PRESSURE
SEPARATION PROCESSES
THERMAL EFFLUENTS
UNITED KINGDOM
USSR
WATERFLOODING
WELL DRILLING
ASIA
COMMINUTION
DIMENSIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
DRILLING
EASTERN EUROPE
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ENGINEERING
EUROPE
FEDERAL REGION VI
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
FRACTURING
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
PARTICLES
TESTING
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
WELLS
WESTERN EUROPE
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150900* - Geothermal Engineering
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