Technology Development and Field Trials of EGS Drilling Systems at Chocolate Mountain

Dataset · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.15121/1225980· OSTI ID:1225980

Knudsen, Steven ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories

Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits are routinely used in the oil and gas industry for drilling medium to hard rock but have not been adopted for geothermal drilling, largely due to past reliability issues and higher purchase costs. The Sandia Geothermal Research Department has recently completed a field demonstration of the applicability of advanced synthetic diamond drill bits for production geothermal drilling. Two commercially-available PDC bits were tested in a geothermal drilling program in the Chocolate Mountains in Southern California. These bits drilled the granitic formations with significantly better Rate of Penetration (ROP) and bit life than the roller cone bit they are compared with. Drilling records and bit performance data along with associated drilling cost savings are presented herein. The drilling trials have demonstrated PDC bit drilling technology has matured for applicability and improvements to geothermal drilling. This will be especially beneficial for development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems whereby resources can be accessed anywhere within the continental US by drilling to deep, hot resources in hard, basement rock formations.

• Research Organization: DOE Geothermal Data Repository; Sandia National Laboratories
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Geothermal Technologies Program (EE-2C)
• Contributing Organization: Sandia National Laboratories
• OSTI ID: 1225980
• Report Number(s): 140
• Availability: [e-mail]
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
CA
California
SoCal
Southern California
before and after
chocolate mountains
chocolate mountains drilling
drilling
drilling charts
drilling records
egs
geothermal
granite
lateral vibration spectrum
pdc bit
performance data
pictures
rate of penetration
roller cone
synthetic diamond
vibration spectrum