Thu, 29 September, 2022
The European Commission have published details of the GEOPRO project on their CORDIS website as part of their strategy for the effective dissemination and exploitation of research results.
An article, ‘New Tools Accurately Predict Properties of Geological Fluids,’ explains how understanding geological fluid characteristics is critical for the efficient operation of systems in geothermal power plants.
Data on the heat-transfer behaviour of super-hot fluids can help maximise the value of thermal energy.
The EU-funded GEOPRO project brought together 12 project partners to collect data about geological fluid properties in order to resolve operational problems in geothermal power plants.
The project developed a laboratory-based multi-phase flow loop to investigate the fluid flow characteristics in pipes, generating new accurate thermodynamic and kinetic data for geological fluids.
This data was used to create models that can predict complex solutions of CO2 and multicomponent mineral salts to help prevent scale formation, such as silica and calcium carbonate scaling, in boreholes, surface pipes and equipment.
This scaling has serious economic consequences, causing energy and production losses, increasing cleaning and maintenance costs, or even lead to the shutdown of entire production/reinjection wells.
The models and tools created by the GEOPRO project will contribute to making geothermal energy generation more accessible and affordable as well as contributing to achieving Europe's new 2030 climate targets by optimising the production and exploitation of geothermal wells and enhancing the operational efficiency of geothermal power plants, establishing geothermal energy as a secure and sustainable energy resource.
The GEOPRO project article is just one of a series of geothermal-related advances and developments that are covered in the full ‘Supporting the Development of Europe’s Geothermal Energy Sector’ Results Pack.
You can see the GEOPRO article on the CORDIS website here.
The GEOPRO project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 851816