Nanomaterials to Boost the Efficiency of Geothermal Energy Production
New nanomaterials could provide the boost in efficiency needed to make heat beneath the earth's surface a practical source to generate nearly pollution-free electricity if research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory proves out.Peter McGrail, a fellow at the Richland lab, thinks the nanomaterials may help make geothermal a more practical resource by allowing efficient energy production at lower temperatures.
In conventional geothermal use for power production, hot rock beneath the earth's surface needs to heat water driven into it to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, or more typically hotter, to make electricity production efficient. That hot rock might be found 5,000 feet beneath the ground's surface in a few places, but typically it's much, much deeper.
Heat from the ground is typically extracted by forcing water into the ground and then pumping it up after it's flowed through rock and picked up heat. It then goes through a heat exchanger to heat liquid to produce vapor to drive a turbine. If it's water that's being used as a liquid, it has to be 212 degrees at sea level to produce steam.The traditional geothermal energy production methods are inherently inefficient in the way they remove the heat.
The nanomaterials called "metal organic heat carriers"with particles one-thousandth the width of a human hair can hold onto gas molecules at a much higher temperature, preventing the fluid from flashing to gas in the heat exchanger until it gets to a higher temperature and pressure. If successful, enhanced geothermal systems like this could become an important energy source.
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In conventional geothermal use for power production, hot rock beneath the earth's surface needs to heat water driven into it to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, or more typically hotter, to make electricity production efficient. That hot rock might be found 5,000 feet beneath the ground's surface in a few places, but typically it's much, much deeper.
Heat from the ground is typically extracted by forcing water into the ground and then pumping it up after it's flowed through rock and picked up heat. It then goes through a heat exchanger to heat liquid to produce vapor to drive a turbine. If it's water that's being used as a liquid, it has to be 212 degrees at sea level to produce steam.The traditional geothermal energy production methods are inherently inefficient in the way they remove the heat.
The nanomaterials called "metal organic heat carriers"with particles one-thousandth the width of a human hair can hold onto gas molecules at a much higher temperature, preventing the fluid from flashing to gas in the heat exchanger until it gets to a higher temperature and pressure. If successful, enhanced geothermal systems like this could become an important energy source.
see more
Labels: efficiency, energy, geothermal, inventions
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