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2015 13th International Conference on Engineering of Modern Electric Systems (EMES)

Use of Geothermal Energy to Produce


Electricity at Average Temperatures
Aurel Setel, Mircea Gordan, Cornel Antal, Dana Bococi

mic effects.
Abstract— The paper presents the possibility of using
geothermal energy for electricity production at average II. PRESENTATION OF TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS ON THE
temperatures. The authors considered two options for their MARKET FOR ELECTRICITY GENERATION FROM GEOTHERMAL
study, namely binary cycles (organic Rankine and Kalina) and SOURCES
the thermoelectric generators. After a comparative study for the
proposed solution, was chosen Kalina cycle and was proposed a Basically, there are several basic processes that can be
solution for a geothermal power plant. The advantages are based used to generate electricity from geothermal resources, each
on the fact in Oradea exists an important geothermal water with its advantages and disadvantages ([1], [3]). Choosing a
reservoir at average temperatures, that can be used to particular process depends largely on the source temperature.
successfully implement the solution to obtain electricity presented The two options considered for this study are based on:
by the authors. This solution is among the newest in the field of 1) binary cycle.
geothermal waters at average temperatures. a) Organic Rankine Cycle (Organic Rankine Cycle - ORC)
Index Terms—geothermal energy, power plant, binary cycle, b) Kalina Cycle
electricity 2) thermoelectric generators.
At item 1), moving the turbine, which drives the generator,
is by expanding superheated vapors of intermediate agent.
I. INTRODUCTION In the process 2), heat is used for the direct production of
electricity through thermoelectric effect.
T HE exploitation of renewable energy sources provide
premises for achieving the strategic objectives of security
increasing for energy supplies and sustainable development of III. THE CHOISE OF THE TECHNICAL SOLUTION
the national energy sector.The two strategic objectives involve Comparative analysis of ORC and Kalina cycles reveals
diversifying energy sources and reduce the share of imports of that theoretically, Kalina cycle is better positioned than ORC
energy resources, namely to protect the environment. Regner cycle for applications with high operating duration or the
programm used for renewable energy is part of the plants base [3]. The theoretical effectiveness and the cost /
environmental requirements assumed by Romania, by the electricity generation are much better for Kalina cycle.
Kyoto Protocol to the Convention - United Nations It should be noted that applying Kalina cycle technologies is
Framework on Climate Change, adopted in 1997. In Romania, more complex because it uses heat recovery.
the share of renewable energy in total consumption of primary Although the literature shows that, theoretically, for high
resources will reach 11% in 2015. power applications, the installation costs for Kalina cycle are
Geothermal energy reserve in Romania, with current service similar to ORC cycle [3], the market analysis reveals that
is about 167 thousand TOE (tonne of oil equivalent). The existing applications, that use global Kalina cycle, recorded
equivalent amount of energy produced and delivered to the higher capital specific costs.
operating head of the probe is about 30.171 thousand TOE per Reported to the effectiveness of each cycle, specific capital
year, with an using annual average degreea of 22.3%. costs are similar. An argument for supporting the conclusions
In Romania, the degree of recovery of geothermal energy mentioned above is the fact that on geothermal power plants
sources is reduced, due to the lack of adequate financial market, specific capital costs refer to "binary cycles" without
support to promote the development of energy sector econo- specifying clearly the cost differences between the two cycles.
In the context of this study, for determining the technical
This paper is supported through the programme "Parteneriate in domenii
specifications necessary for a geothermal power plant
prioritare – PN II", by MEN – UEFISCDI, project no. 53/01.07.2014. technology is chosen the based Kalina cycle.
Aurel Setel, PhD – University of Oradea, Romania. He is now researcher from
Geothermal Research Center of the University of Oradea (e-mail: A. Expansion of the Steam Cycle
setel_aurel@yahoo.com). The most common geothermal power plants (CEGt) are
Mircea Gordan, PhD – University of Oradea, Romania. He is now professor at
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (e-mail:
those with relaxation (steam). The schematic diagram is
mgordan@uoradea.ro). shown in Figure 1.
Cornel Antal, PhD - University of Oradea, Romania. He is now professor at The steam separated in separator, expands in the turbine
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Industrial Management (e-mail:
which drives a power generator and then condenses in a
cantal@uoradea.ro).
Dana Bococi – University of Oradea, Romania. She is now head Office of condenser located downstream.
CDI Projects and Programs (e-mail: danabococi@gmail.com).

978-1-4799-7650-8/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE


Condensation from the separators with the condensation Company from Italy and TURBODEN Company from
obtained after the condenser are reinjected in the natural Netherlands also had activities in this area.
underground tank. Binary working fluids are vaporizing in the vaporizer by
taking heat from the geothermal water. Vapors are driven in
turbine where they expand and cause the spinning of the rotor,
which drives the electric generator. After passing through the
turbine, the binary fluid is condensed and then is pumped back
into the evaporator. To improve the efficiency of the cycle,
between the turbine exist and condenser can be fitted a heat
recovery.
Kalina Cycle - is shown in Fig. 3. The fluid used in the
binary cycle is a mixture of ammonia and water. The
advantage is that, when the fluid vaporizes or condenses,
phase change temperature range varies. This behavior differs
from the one of pure substances, where the phase change takes
place at constant temperature.
This variation allows that the temperature profiles in the
mixture and geothermal heat exchangers, vaporizer and
condenser, to be much bigger than in the case of pure
Fig. 1. Expansion of the steam cycle substances.
Considering the geothermal fluid temperature, in the
analyzed case (about 105 °C), this type of boiler is considered
inappropriate. Therefore is excluded from the analysis of the
Binary cycle.
In binary systems, the high temperature geothermal water
is used to heat a fluid that vaporizes at temperatures lower
than water. This fluid is the working fluid in a closed cycle
system. Based on this principle have been developed two
types of systems: ORC and Kalina systems [4].
Binary cycles efficiency depends both on the geothermal
water temperature and equally on the condenser cooling
temperature (cold end). The higher the temperature difference
is, between hot and cold extremities, the cycle efficiency is
higher. Geothermal water temperature, in the analyzed case
(105 °C), is relatively low. As a consequence there is a
relatively low efficiency of the cycle.
ORC cycle - is shown in Fig. 2. The fluid used in the
binary cycle has the property that vaporizes at temperatures
lower than the temperature of water vaporization. This fluid Fig. 3. Kalina Cycle [1]
can be the isobutan or isopentan and now, on the market exists
numerous ORC synthetic fluids. The ammonia water mixture partially vaporize in a
vaporizer by taking heat from the geothermal fluid. The
vapors in the mixture are separated in a separator and then are
driven into the turbine, where are loosen. The fluid is
condensed in the condenser and then, through the feed pump,
is sent back into the evaporator. To improve the efficiency of
the cycle, the heat from the fluid separated into the separator
and the heat from the fluid discharged from the turbine are
recovered through recuperative heat exchangers.
B. Thermoelectric Generators
In recent years were discussed and developed studies on the
direct conversion of heat into electricity via thermoelectric or
the “electrons jump” effect. Today, technically this possibility
exists but is not economical. The efficiency of such generators
is low and the cost of implementation is high. Currently, the
only economic use is justified in locations where there is an
Fig. 2. ORC cycle [6] abundance of cheap heat and where there is not possible the
Ormat Company from USA has built many CEGt which use connection to electrical networks of consumption. As an
isopentan. They are spread across the globe. TRIOGEN example, can be mentioned the power generation for wells
fields monitoring systems. 12 Number of operating h/an H 8352
hours per year
13 Plant availability % Cdis From 90
IV. PRESENTATION OF THE ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING THE coefficient p literature
14 The electricity Mw/h 3315
DIMENSIONING OF CEGT generated annually at
Following the technical analysis of the two types of plants, the generator terminals
15 Electricity Net / year Mw/h For the 25
suitable for geothermal water temperature between 90°C- greenhouse
105°C, provided by the probe 4796 from University of
Oradea, was proposed a geothermal power plant technology For comparison, Figure 2 [6] and Figure 3 [1] present the
based on Kalina cycle with NH3 working fluid [5]. expected electric power to be obtained with ORC and Kalina
Analyzing the latest solutions for geothermal energy cycles, depending on the flow and temperature of geothermal
convertion in electricity can be developed a first hypothesis resources. In the above calculations, were used the probe
for the plant sizing. So, the geothermal power plants (both parameters from University of Oradea having the artesian flow
types) use only geothermal agent heat with temperature levels of 24 l/s at a temperature of 85°C. For a pumped flow rate can
about 70 to 80°C. In this context, the maximum heat that can be reached a temperature up to 90°C - 105°C. In Figure 4 is
be transferred by geothermal energy, to produce electricity, is: described the maximum power that could be produced in the
(
Q max = D ag .dt ⋅ H ag' . gt − H ag'' . gt ) [j/s] or [Wt] (1)
plant at the University of Oradea by improving the process of
using the available geothermal energy.

Q max = 30 ⋅ (438 .900 − 292 .600 ) = 4 ,389 ⋅ 10 6 j / s = (2)


= 4 ,389 ⋅ 10 6 W t

where:
Dag.gt - geothermal flow [kg / s]
H'ag.gt - enthalpy geothermal at 90°C [J / kg]
H "ag.gt - enthalpy geothermal at 70°C [J / kg]
Calculations for sizing CEGt are shown in Table I. The
results of power calculations reveals the following parameters:
- Rated power at generator current terminals: 397kW
- Net Power (required): 3 kW
- Domestic consumption of power: 394 kW
- Net thermal efficiency of the plant: 9.10%
- Gross thermal efficiency of the plant 12.5%
- The annual number of hours of operation 8352 h / year
- Annual electricity production of 3315 MWh generator
terminals
- Electricity Net / year required for greenhouse 25 MWh
TABLE I
SIZING PROPOSED GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT
No Title UM Sym- Method of Value
bol calculation
1 Geothermal water flow l/s D ag. Measured at 38,0
available Geo. UO
0
2 Water temperature at C Tag Measured at 90
the entrance geo EC UO
0
3 Water temperature at C Tag From 70
the exit of the EC geo literature
0
4 Medium temperature at C Tage From 35
the entrance of EC literature
0
5 Medium temperature at C Tage From 65
the exit of the EC literature Fig. 4. Estimation of produced electricity depending on the geothermal flow
6 The heat cycle introdsa Kcal/ Qnec 6=(2- 2736000
EC h el 3)*1*3600
7 The thermal efficiency % From 9,10 V. STRUCTURE AND OPERATION OF THE PROPOSED
of the cycle literature GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT
8 Net electrical power Kw Pn Required 3
The basic for the proposed geothermal power plant (CEGt)
9 Actual thermal % Er 9=7/0,727 12,5
efficiency designed scheme was the thermal scheme of the geothermal
10 Electric power Kw Pb 10=6*9/860 397 power plant from Husavik, Iceland, plant which has an
generator terminals installed capacity of 2,000 kW [4]. Thermal scheme of the
11 Domestic electricity Kw Pi 11=10-8 394 principle of the new geothermal power plant (CEGt) is shown
consumption
in Figure 5 [1]. separator No. 2 is to reduce the volume of the vapor phase
The geothermal water, with a temperature of 90°C, is entering the condenser in order to reduce the size of the proper
extracted from the probe 4796 (University of Oradea) via a capacitor. Then the condenser agent is conducted in a
submersible pump having the parameters P = 150 kW and D = condensate tank (10). From the condensate tank, the working
70 l/s. In continuous operation, the submersible pump agent, in the liquid phase, is fed through feed pumps (11) No.2
consumes about 27 kW and provides the following geothermal recovery heat exchanger (6) No.1 recovery heat exchanger
water parameters p = 1.3 bar and D = 30 l/s. Geothermal water (12) and heat exchangers evaporators (2), resume cycle. Then
with the named parameters is circulated through the pumps the cycle repeats. As cooling agent, in the condenser, is used
(1), heat exchangers evaporators (2), where it gives warmth to the water, circulated through the cooling water pumps.
the working agent (ammonia solution), reducing its So, this solution shows that, for average temperatures
temperature to about 70°C, after which it is directed at existing geothermal agent, Kalina cycle is one of the most efficient, for
geothermal heating plant, located in the close proximity. the case of long time functioning process. Also, the
Working agent circulation is provided by the feed pumps costs/produced electricity report is higher [5], [6], [8].
(10). By receiving heat from the geothermal water, it
vaporizes and his agent raises the temperature to about 95°C. VI. CONCLUSION
Working agent vapors are passed into a drop separator (3)
where separation takes place between the gaseous phase The electro-geothermal plant proposed scheme is based on
(steam) from the liquid phase. the results obtained by our geothermal research center, over
years. There have been made extensive research activities to
optimize the operation of Oradea electro-geothermal plant.
Our results show that for average temperatures geothermal
agent, Kalina cycle is one of the most efficient, for the case of
long time functioning process. Also, the costs/produced
electricity report is higher than in other cases [10].
The technologies to which Kalina cycle involve are
accessible and medium cost. This solution is among the latest
in the field of geothermal waters at average temperatures.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This paper is supported through the programme
"Parteneriate în domenii prioritare – PN II", by MEN –
UEFISCDI, project no. 53/01.07.2014.
Fig. 5. Thermal scheme of the proposed geothermal power plant
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