Power Production from Geothermal Brine with the Rotary Separator Turbine

Conference · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:892087

Cerini, Donald J; Hays, Lance G

The rotary separator turbine is a new turbine device that operates with gas-liquid mixtures. This device achieves complete gas-liquid separation, generates power from the liquid and repressurizes the liquid. The use of the rotary separator turbine for geothermal power generation was investigated on this program. A pilot scale unit was designed and tested. Tests were conducted with a clean water/steam mixture and with geothermal brine/steam flows at East Mesa, California; Raft River, Idaho; and Roosevelt Hot Springs, Utah. The test results were used to calculate the performance advantage of a rotary separator turbine power system compared to a flash steam power system and a binary power system. The calculated performance advantages were then used to estimate market potential for wellhead and central station Biphase units. The measured performance in the laboratory and in the field agreed to within {+-} 10% of the predicted values. The design goal of 20 kWe was generated both in the laboratory and from brine. Separated steam quality was measured to be greater than 99.96% at all three geothermal resources and in the laboratory. Brine pressure leaving the test unit was greater than reinjection pressure requirements. Maximum brine outlet pressure of 90 psig was demonstrated. The measured performance values would result in a 34% increase in electric power production above a single stage flash steam system. Increasing the size from the pilot size unit (20kWe) to a wellhead unit (2000 kWe) gave a calculated performance advantage of 40%. Based on these favorable results, design, construction and testing of a full-size well-head unit was initiated.

• Research Organization: Biphase Energy Systems, Santa Monica, CA
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 892087
• Report Number(s): EPRI-TC-80-907-11
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
BRINES
ELECTRIC POWER
GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES
Geothermal Legacy
MARKET
MIXTURES
PERFORMANCE
POWER GENERATION
POWER SYSTEMS
PRODUCTION
REINJECTION
ROOSEVELT HOT SPRINGS
ROTARY SEPARATOR TURBINES
STEAM QUALITY
STEAM SYSTEMS
TESTING
TURBINES
WELLHEADS