The United States will pump dormant volcanoes with steam to boost turbines
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US geothermal energy developers plan to inject about 100 million liters of water into Newberry Volcano in central Oregon this summer to test the latest geothermal energy technology.
Newberry Volcano is a dormant volcano that erupted for the first time before the glacial season of the fourth season, producing two volcanic lakes and 400 volcanic ash cones. It has been dormant for 1300 years now.
Alta Rock Energy plans to use 21 days this summer to pump cold water into pre-cut experimental wells at a rate of about 3,637 liters per minute. The depth of the experimental well is about 3231 meters. Below is a seamless rock formation with a temperature of more than 100 degrees Celsius.
According to the assumption, water pressure will cause fine cracks in seamless rock formations, triggering microseisms and forming water storage spaces. At the same time, the water is in contact with the rock formations and the temperature rises.
Scientists will use sensitive seismic detectors to draw a picture of the rupture of the rock formation. After the fracture diameter reaches a certain level, another "production well" will be drilled. This will form a closed circuit, and the water vapor can be brought to the ground and steam driven. Turbine, forming electrical energy.
This process is called "enhanced geothermal system."
For more than a century, people have collected surface hot water or steam to drive turbines to generate electricity, and traditional hydrothermal resources have been fully utilized. Today, the research hotspot has turned to deep geothermal. To this end, scientists have developed enhanced geothermal systems.
However, the enhanced geothermal system also has certain limitations. For example, its ability to destroy subterranean formations is limited, so the output of thermal energy is limited, and it is difficult to support commercial power stations.
To solve this problem, Alta Rock Energy will introduce plastic polymers used to make biodegradable cups in the Newberry Volcano experiment. This tiny plastic polymer can block some cracks, allowing cold water to continue to damage deeper rock masses. After some time, the plastic polymer degrades itself. In this way, the number of cracks will increase greatly than before.
To support the Newberry Volcano experiment, the U.S. Department of Energy allocated $21.5 million. This experiment also attracted some private investment, Google company invested about 6.3 million US dollars for it.
Power stations built with enhanced geothermal systems have no greenhouse gas emissions during operation and have little environmental impact and low cost. However, destroying the rock during operation may cause an earthquake.
Ernie Mayer, a seismologist at the Berkeley-Lawrence National Laboratory, said that the possibility of an earthquake caused by the Newberry Volcano experiment is very small, and that the experimental site is far from the densely populated area. Even if there is a slight earthquake, it will not cause property damage. Despite this, the Department of Energy will closely monitor the experimental process.
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