Utilizing CO2 for Geothermal Energy
As a noxious greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide seems an unlikely candidate for generating renewable energy. But a new, U.S. Department of Energy-backed project on the New Mexico-Arizona border soon could put CO2 to use to extract heat from subterranean rock formations to power geothermal electric plants.
GreenFire Energy of Utah won a $2 million DOE grant last fall to launch the project, which will tap underground CO2 deposits at St. John’s Field, a 235,000-acre area along the border in New Mexico’s Catron County and Apache County in Arizona.
GreenFire plans to build a 3- to-5-megawatt electric plant at Springerville, Ariz., about 18 miles west of New Mexico, to prove the technology. If successful, the company would start constructing 50-megawatt modular units on both sides of the border, said Randy Balik, GreenFire’s vice president of business development.
“If we succeed, we’ll be the first ones to produce electric power on a utility scale using CO2,” Balik said. “The technology is still in development. It’s been conceptualized for a long time, but no one has yet gone out and tried it.”
Los Alamos National Laboratory developed the technology to make CO2 a substitute for water and other fluids to carry geothermal energy to surface plants, Balik said. LANL licensed the technology in 2008 to California-based AltaRock Energy Inc., which sub licensed it to GreenFire for use at St. John’s Field.
AltaRock President and Chief Technology Officer Susan Petty said CO2 has major advantages. It’s much more efficient at carrying heat than water, which typically needs to be 360 degrees or higher to transfer geothermal energy to the surface, where it’s converted to steam for turbine generators.
CO2 can efficiently carry heat at lower temperatures, which means developers don’t have to dig down as deeply into rock formations to extract energy, Petty said. CO2 also expands as it grows hot, making it much more buoyant and easier to transfer to above-ground heat exchangers.
Using CO2 would be particularly beneficial in arid regions, where water is scarce, she noted.
Full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/print-edition/2011/02/04/tapping-co2-for-geothermal-energy.html
GreenFire Energy of Utah won a $2 million DOE grant last fall to launch the project, which will tap underground CO2 deposits at St. John’s Field, a 235,000-acre area along the border in New Mexico’s Catron County and Apache County in Arizona.
GreenFire plans to build a 3- to-5-megawatt electric plant at Springerville, Ariz., about 18 miles west of New Mexico, to prove the technology. If successful, the company would start constructing 50-megawatt modular units on both sides of the border, said Randy Balik, GreenFire’s vice president of business development.
“If we succeed, we’ll be the first ones to produce electric power on a utility scale using CO2,” Balik said. “The technology is still in development. It’s been conceptualized for a long time, but no one has yet gone out and tried it.”
Los Alamos National Laboratory developed the technology to make CO2 a substitute for water and other fluids to carry geothermal energy to surface plants, Balik said. LANL licensed the technology in 2008 to California-based AltaRock Energy Inc., which sub licensed it to GreenFire for use at St. John’s Field.
AltaRock President and Chief Technology Officer Susan Petty said CO2 has major advantages. It’s much more efficient at carrying heat than water, which typically needs to be 360 degrees or higher to transfer geothermal energy to the surface, where it’s converted to steam for turbine generators.
CO2 can efficiently carry heat at lower temperatures, which means developers don’t have to dig down as deeply into rock formations to extract energy, Petty said. CO2 also expands as it grows hot, making it much more buoyant and easier to transfer to above-ground heat exchangers.
Using CO2 would be particularly beneficial in arid regions, where water is scarce, she noted.
Full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/print-edition/2011/02/04/tapping-co2-for-geothermal-energy.html
Comments
Post a Comment