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Title: Study of practical cycles for geothermal power plants. Final report

Abstract

A comparison is made of the performance and cost of geothermal power cycles designed specifically, utilizing existing technology, to exploit the high temperature, high salinity resource at Niland and the moderate temperature, moderately saline resource at East Mesa in California's Imperial Valley. Only two kinds of cycles are considered in the analysis. Both employ a dual flash arrangement and the liberated steam is either utilized directly in a condensing steam turbine or used to heat a secondary working fluid in a closed Rankine (binary) cycle. The performance of several organic fluids was investigated for the closed cycle and the most promising were selected for detailed analysis with the given resource conditions. Results show for the temperature range investigated that if the noncondensible gas content in the brine is low, a dual flash condensing steam turbine cycle is potentially better in terms of resource utilization than a dual flash binary cycle. (The reverse is shown to be true when the brine is utilized directly for heat exchange.) It is also shown that despite the higher resource temperature, the performance of the dual flash binary cycle at Niland is degraded appreciably by the high salinity and its output per unit of brinemore » flow is almost 20 percent lower than that of the steam turbine cycle at East Mesa. Turbine designs were formulated and costs established for power plants having a nominal generating capacity of 50 MW. Three cycles were analyzed in detail. At East Mesa a steam turbine and a binary cycle were compared. At Niland only the binary cycle was analyzed since the high CO/sub 2/ content in the brine precludes the use of a steam turbine there. In each case only the power island equipment was considered and well costs and the cost of flash separators, steam scrubbers and piping to the power plant boundary were excluded from the estimate.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
General Electric Co., Schenectady, N.Y. (USA)
OSTI Identifier:
5444835
Report Number(s):
COO-2619-1
DOE Contract Number:  
EY-76-C-02-2619
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY; BINARY-FLUID SYSTEMS; COST; DESIGN; PERFORMANCE; EAST MESA GEOTHERMAL FIELD; GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANTS; FLASHED STEAM SYSTEMS; SALTON SEA GEOTHERMAL FIELD; 2-METHYLPROPANE; ALKANES; BRINES; BUTANE; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; ECONOMICS; HEAT EXCHANGERS; PENTANE; RESEARCH PROGRAMS; STEAM; STEAM TURBINES; TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE; THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES; WORKING FLUIDS; FLUIDS; GEOTHERMAL FIELDS; HYDROCARBONS; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; POWER PLANTS; THERMAL POWER PLANTS; TURBINES; TURBOMACHINERY; Geothermal Legacy

Citation Formats

Eskesen, J H. Study of practical cycles for geothermal power plants. Final report. United States: N. p., 1977. Web. doi:10.2172/5444835.
Eskesen, J H. Study of practical cycles for geothermal power plants. Final report. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/5444835
Eskesen, J H. 1977. "Study of practical cycles for geothermal power plants. Final report". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/5444835. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/5444835.
@article{osti_5444835,
title = {Study of practical cycles for geothermal power plants. Final report},
author = {Eskesen, J H},
abstractNote = {A comparison is made of the performance and cost of geothermal power cycles designed specifically, utilizing existing technology, to exploit the high temperature, high salinity resource at Niland and the moderate temperature, moderately saline resource at East Mesa in California's Imperial Valley. Only two kinds of cycles are considered in the analysis. Both employ a dual flash arrangement and the liberated steam is either utilized directly in a condensing steam turbine or used to heat a secondary working fluid in a closed Rankine (binary) cycle. The performance of several organic fluids was investigated for the closed cycle and the most promising were selected for detailed analysis with the given resource conditions. Results show for the temperature range investigated that if the noncondensible gas content in the brine is low, a dual flash condensing steam turbine cycle is potentially better in terms of resource utilization than a dual flash binary cycle. (The reverse is shown to be true when the brine is utilized directly for heat exchange.) It is also shown that despite the higher resource temperature, the performance of the dual flash binary cycle at Niland is degraded appreciably by the high salinity and its output per unit of brine flow is almost 20 percent lower than that of the steam turbine cycle at East Mesa. Turbine designs were formulated and costs established for power plants having a nominal generating capacity of 50 MW. Three cycles were analyzed in detail. At East Mesa a steam turbine and a binary cycle were compared. At Niland only the binary cycle was analyzed since the high CO/sub 2/ content in the brine precludes the use of a steam turbine there. In each case only the power island equipment was considered and well costs and the cost of flash separators, steam scrubbers and piping to the power plant boundary were excluded from the estimate.},
doi = {10.2172/5444835},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5444835}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1977},
month = {Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1977}
}