Energy 34 (2009) 866872

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Energy
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Geothermal power production from abandoned oil wells

Adelina P. Davis*, Efstathios E. Michaelides 1
Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, TX 78249, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 29 November 2008 Received in revised form 1 March 2009 Accepted 10 March 2009 Available online 2 May 2009 Keywords: Geothermal Oil wells Energy Isobutane Double-pipe heat exchanger

a b s t r a c t
A simulation for the determination of geothermal power production from abandoned oil wells by injecting and retrieving a secondary uid was performed. The analysis takes into consideration local geothermal gradients and typical well depths and pipe diameters. Isobutane is chosen as the secondary uid, which is injected in the well at moderate pressures and allowed to heat up and produce vapor. The computational model that was developed takes into account mass, energy, and momentum conservation equations for the well ow, and the simulation helps determine the state of the uid from injection to retrieval. It is observed that the operation of such systems attains a maximum power that depends on the temperature of the well bottom and the injection pressure. In general, 23 MW of electric power may be produced from wells that are typical in the South Texas region. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction The current economic environment and impending climate change from the combustion of hydrocarbons makes the use of alternative energy sources, including geothermal, imperative for the near future. Geothermal energy has been used since the beginning of the 20th century for the production of electricity in more than twenty countries. Geothermal resources that are utilized today are essentially the high temperature resources, where wells of moderate depth (10002000 m) intrude into aquifers and produce either steam or a mixture of steam and water. Such resources are utilized with steam turbines (e.g. Geysers) or in single- and dual-ashing plants (e.g. Wairakei and Imperial Valley). Since most of the high temperature aqueous resources have been utilized, the next expansion of geothermal power plants will necessarily be with lower temperature resources where water may come to the surface as liquid at temperatures in the range of 120150  C. Binary geothermal systems, which utilize a secondary uid such as a refrigerant or a hydrocarbon, are typically used for the development and exploitation of such resources. Several recent studies have evaluated the performance of different organic substances used as working uids in Rankine and

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 210 849 7352; fax: 1 210 458 6504. E-mail addresses: ihm424@my.utsa.edu (A.P. Davis), stathis.michaelides@ utsa.edu (E.E. Michaelides). 1 Tel.: 1 210 458 5580; fax: 1 210 458 6504. 0360-5442/$ see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2009.03.017

the ClausiusRankine cycles [13]. In all such cases, geothermal water was used to exchange heat with working uids in the cycle. Other similar studies were performed based on the exergy and energy analysis, and new plant designs to improve the performance of geothermal power plants [49]. For low temperature resources, binary-ashing units have been recommended to provide more power than conventional geothermal units [9]. Michaelides and Scott [10] examined Freon, ammonia and isobutane as secondary uids for the binary-ashing geothermal power plant. Geothermal heat exchanger with multiple U-shaped pipes is presented for cooling and heating up purposes in Refs. [11,12]. Due to energy consumption in Croatia, Shneider et al. [13] have analyzed renewable resources such as geothermal from economic and technological points of view. Recently Kujawa et al. [14] studied the utilization of geological wells, from which geothermal uid was extracted, and they performed calculations on the heat ow and power produced. Kujawa et al. proposed a double-pipe heat exchanger that would inject water deeply into the geothermal formation, and would extract heat from the well. A glance at the geothermal potential of the United States and of the entire planet {reference map [15]}, proves that there are many areas where the geothermal gradient is relatively steep, but there are no aquifers nearby, from which hot water may be drawn. If these geothermal resources are to be utilized, one must inject and retrieve a uid at a higher temperature in order to extract heat and utilize the energy of the geothermal resource. Several such sites with excellent geothermal potential exist in the southern part of Texas, where the geothermal gradient is relatively high. In addition,

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several deep oil wells exist in the same areas that are currently abandoned. These are oil wells that were struck dry or are now dry, because the oil reservoir has been depleted. Most of these wells are plugged, and because they are in remote areas, they pose a potential environmental hazard. The production of geothermal power from such wells will not only add more renewable energy to the grid, but it will also help avert environmental problems associated with accidental spillage and neglect of the area around the abandoned wells. This study focuses on the total power that may be extracted from such geothermal wells. We are using an existing well and propose to ret it in order to produce a double-pipe heat exchanger. Instead of using water as in Ref. [14], we propose to use an organic uid, such as isobutane, which has thermodynamic properties better suited for the extraction of heat from geothermal resources. Isobutane boils at lower temperatures than water, and hence, the well would produce isobutane vapor that may be easily used in a small turbine with a condenser. In addition, we performed a simple optimization study on the effect of uid injection pressure, and determined that there is always an optimum value for produced power. This optimum depends chiey on the temperature of the well, the injection pressure, and the ow rate of the isobutane. 2. Geothermal data and governing equations Data for the gas and oil wells in Texas are available from the RailRoad Commission of Texas [16]. Based on an extensive review of such data, we have chosen an existing well with a depth of 3 km, bottom-hole temperature of 140  C, and 0.30 m diameter (1 inch). A double-pipe heat exchanger may be easily made by retrotting this well with an internal pipe of smaller diameter and with a small amount of insulation, as shown in Fig. 1a. The bottom of the well could be sealed off by sealants to allow the isobutane to rise on the internal part of the pipe. Isobutane may be injected at the outer part of the double pipe as a compressed liquid coming from the condenser at a temperature of 4045  C and with pressure in the range of 520 bar. It would heat up from the heat extracted from the surrounding rocks and would reach the bottom of the well, where its temperature reaches a maximum. There, the ow is reversed; the uid enters the core of the pipe and ascends to the wellhead. The conservation equations for this model are continuity, momentum, and energy equations. 2.1. Continuity equation The continuity equation is as follows:

To

Heat transfer from the rocks

Heat transfer from the inner to the outer pipe

Insulation

H Bottom of the well Tw

Twi

b
4 t z r R

2
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic representation of the heat transfer in the well [14]. (b) The scheme for direction of the ow and the top view of the pipes in the well.

P1

r1 g

V1 P V z1 2 2 z2 hl r2 g 2g 2g

(4)

where P is the static pressure, z is the height, and g is the gravitational acceleration. The pressure head loss, hl, is given by a closure equation and the friction factor as follows:

_ m rVA const

(1)

hl

2 1 V1 Dz f 2 g dh

(5)

where r is the density of the uid, V is the velocity, and A is the area of the uid conduit. For the downward part of the ow the area is:

  Ad p R2 r t2
and for the upward ow:

dh is the hydraulic diameter. For the downward ow, the hydraulic diameter is given in terms of the outer radius, the insulation thickness, and the outer radius is as follows:

(2) dh 2 (3)

q R2 r t2

(6)

Aup pr 2
2.2. Momentum equation

For the upward ow, uid is conveyed in a round pipe and the hydraulic diameter is equal to the diameter of the inner pipe:

dh 2r
The friction factor is calculated by Haalands equation [17]:

(7) " # (8)

The momentum equation is given in terms of two states of the uid at heights z1 and z2, and is being used for the calculation of the static pressure of isobutane as follows:

1 p 1:8 log10 f

3=dh
3:7

1:11

6:9 Re

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where Reynolds number is:

Re

rVdh m

(9)

And the equivalent roughness for the cast iron piping is 3 0.26 mm [18]. 2.3. Energy equation The energy equation is essentially the First Law of Thermodynamics for an open system. The rate of external work in the pipeline is always zero, and the heat that enters results in the change of the enthalpy, which includes the kinetic and potential energy. The rate of heat transfer from the rock to the isobutane in the outer pipe is:

_ Q 2pRhTw z T1 Dz
And the convective heat transfer coefcient is:

(10)

enthalpy, and entropy, from Ref. [20]. Appropriate functions with temperature and pressure as independent variables were tted to these tables in order to obtain expressions that were used in the numerical subroutines. Throughout the computations we assume that the dimensions of the well are constant. Also, that the temperature of the uid injected to the well is also constant at 310 K, and that it is not affected by any other conditions. The bottom-hole temperature and the injection pressure and ow rate were parameterized, and their effect on the total power produced is evaluated in the computations. The double-pipe heat exchanger effectively replaces the pump and boiler of a simple Rankine cycle. The uid is compressed and heated in its downward course. Some of the uid pressure is spent in its upward course, but in general, the working uid exits the double-pipe heat exchanger at a high temperature and supercritical pressure. The Rankine cycle that results from this operation is shown schematically in Fig. 2.

Re0:8 Pr0:4 h 0:023k dh

3. Numerical method and results

(11)
The initial conditions of the computer simulation are presented in Table 1. The thickness of the insulation, t 1 inch (2.54 cm), and the diameter of the outer pipe, D 12 inches (30.4 cm), are kept constant for all of the simulations. Fig. 3 represents the temperature change as a function of depth with 1-inch polystyrene as the insulator. It may be observed in Fig. 3 that the temperature of the extracted isobutane drops by less than 3 K in the ascending path. This implies that insulation with 1inch thickness is sufcient to effectively preserve the enthalpy of the uid. Ascend and descend of the isobutane are indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3. In the downward direction, the results obtained from the simulations indicate that the liquid isobutane is further pressurized by the weight of the column and reaches supercritical pressures at the bottom of the well. As the direction of the ow is reversed, the uid moves upwards, and the static pressure is reduced. However, because of the heat addition and the rise of temperature, the density of the uid in the upward direction is lower. Even though frictional pressure losses are always present, the depressurization of the ascending uid occurs at lower rates than the pressurization in the descending part. During ascend, isobutane passes from the

The temperature of the rocks Tw at any height, z, may be approximated by a linear interpolation of the geothermal gradient, which is obtained from the known temperatures of the surface and the bottom of the well:

Tw z

Tw To Z To H

(12)

The inner pipe has an insulation of thickness, t, as shown in Fig. 1b. Therefore, the heat transfer in the inner section 3-4 is:

_ _ _ Q 34 2prUT3 Tout Dz mh3 h4 mcp T3 T4

The overall heat transfer coefcient for the inner pipe is:

(13)

1 rt 1 rt t 1 r hi r t k ho
2

(14)

Of the materials that are available, polystyrene was chosen for the insulation of the inner pipe, with a thermal conductivity equal to k 0.027 W/mK. The convective heat transfer coefcients, hi and ho, for the inner and the outer pipes are calculated from Nusselts number as follows:

450

Nu3

hi 2r 0:023 Re0:8 Pr0:4 3 3 k ho 2r t 0:023 Re0:8 Pr0:4 4 4 k

(15)
400

Thus, one may take into consideration the rate of heat transfer from the inner pipe to the outer pipe, and hence, derive the following expression for the heat transfer rate to the downward part of the system, which is denoted as section 1-2 in Fig. 1b:

Temperature, K

Nu4

(16)

350 2 1 300 200 4s 4

_ _ _ Q 12total Q Q 34

(17)

Equations (1)(17) constitute a system of governing and closure equations for the double-pipe heat exchanger, which in the present case extends to 3 km. In addition to the governing equations, one needs to have the properties of the working uid in the double-pipe heat exchanger, in our case isobutane. We obtained the transport properties of isobutane, such as viscosity and thermal conductivity from Ref. [19], and thermodynamic properties, such as density,

250

300

350

Entropy, J/(mol K)
Fig. 2. Temperatureentropy diagram of the Rankine cycle.

A.P. Davis, E.E. Michaelides / Energy 34 (2009) 866872 Table 1 Initial parameters for the computer simulation. Depth H, m Temperature of the bottom Tw, K Initial pressure of injected isobutane P, bar Initial velocity of injected isobutane V, m/s Initial temperature of injected isobutane To, K Internal radius r, in 3000 430 10 2 310 4

869

120

Pressure, bar

60

state of supercritical vapor to superheated vapor. It was observed in most simulations that heating up of the uid in the geothermal well resulted in the production of superheated vapor without boiling and a two-phase regime. This is illustrated in Fig. 4, which depicts the thermodynamic Pv diagram for isobutane, as well as the state of the uid in the well. Fig. 5 depicts the pressureenthalpy diagram of the heating process. The arrows in both gures represent ascend and descend of the isobutane. The rise of the static enthalpy at the upper stages of the well is due to the fact that the enthalpy of isobutane increases signicantly when the pressure is reduced. However, since entropy is also increased signicantly, this increase of the enthalpy is accompanied by an exergy decrease. The determination of the wellhead conditions enables us to calculate the specic work and power produced by the well. The specic work is the change in the isentropic enthalpy in the turbine:

0.5

Specific volume, l/mol

Fig. 4. Thermodynamic diagram of pressure versus specic volume for isobutane.

where r is the density of liquid isobutane as it exits the condenser and DP is the pressure difference in the pump. Taking the component efciencies in consideration the net work is:

wt h1 h2

(18) wnet wt ht wp =hp

And the actual power is evaluated from the expression:

And the ideal power delivered by the turbine may be calculated from the specic work and mass ow rate in the well:

(20)

_ _ W t mwt

(19a)

_ _ W mwnet

(21)

In order to obtain more realistic values for the potential of such a well to produce power, we have assumed in the computations that the turbine efciency is ht 85%, and the pump efciency is hp 80%. The ideal pump power is given by the expression:

_ m _ _ W p mwp DP

(19b)

The specic work and power obtained from this well are shown in Figs. 6 and 7 respectively. The three curves in these gures are for three different bottom-hole temperatures, namely 415 K, 430 K, and 450 K. The injection pressure is the variable in the two gures, and the injection velocity is initially assumed constant at V 2 m/s. This choice species the mass ow rate, which is constant throughout the computations. The velocity of the uid varies, however, according to the variation of the density. For calculation of

440

120

Temperature, K

370

Pressure, bar
0 1500 3000

60

300

Depth, m
Fig. 3. Temperature change with depth when polystyrene is used with k 0.027 W/mK.

20

40

60

Enthalpy, kJ/mol
Fig. 5. Thermodynamic diagram of pressure versus enthalpy for isobutane.

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100

50

T=450 K T=430 K T=415 K 0

30

60

Pressure, bar
Fig. 6. Net work for different temperatures and injection pressures with inner radius 3.5 inches.

the latter, we developed an equation of state of the form v v (P,T) from the data by Goodwin [20] which represents the data within 0.6%. It is observed that there is a at maximum in all three cases, where the maximum specic work and maximum power may be obtained. The maximum power is obtained in such cases when the injection pressure is approximately 30 bar. It must be pointed out that the steep drop at the lower injection pressures in the curve, corresponding to 450 K, is due to a signicant reduction of wellhead pressure in the uid. This implies that at injection pressures below 7 bar, there is insufcient pressure to operate the doublepipe heat exchanger. The outer radius of the well is constant, but the inner radius of the well is one of the parameters that may be optimized in such a study. We used three values of this parameter: r 3.5, r 4.0, and r 4.5 inches, and calculated the specic work and power produced as a function of the injection pressure. The injection

velocity at V 2 m/s, and the well with the bottom temperature T 450 K were chosen for the simulations. The results of the calculations for specic work and total power produced are shown in Figs. 8 and 9 respectively. It is observed that the specic work of the uid at the wellhead is almost the same in all three cases. This is a consequence of the fact that the uid exits the well at almost the same state in the three cases. However, the power produced is signicantly higher in the case where the inner pipe is smaller, because the double-pipe carries a higher mass ow rate of isobutane. As in the previous cases, the sharp drop in the curves at very low injection pressures is due to insufcient pressure to drive the double-pipe well/heat exchanger. Sufcient injection pressure is essential for the operation of the double-pipe heat exchanger, the heating of the secondary uid, and the production of power. Finally, we conducted a parametric study with the injection velocity, which varied between the range of 1 m/s < V < 6 m/s (Fig. 10). The injection pressure is 30 bar, and the well-bottom temperature is 450 K. At lower velocities, frictional losses are signicantly lower. The mass ow rate in the well is low, and hence, the produced power would be lower. At very high velocities, friction losses become signicant and a great deal of the exergy of the uid is destroyed to friction. It is observed that the net power of the well exhibits a sharp maximum at about 3.4 MW when the injection velocity is approximately 3.5 m/s, and the inner radius is 4 inches. The other curves also exhibit sharp maxima at different velocities and slightly lower rates of power production. This leads us to conclude that the exact control of the injection velocity, or equivalently, the injection mass ow rate is very important for the power production from such wells. 4. Uncertainty analysis This is a numerical study, where the sources of uncertainty are the a) modeling of the geothermal well; b) the numerical error; c) the uncertainty in the input data; and d) the condenser temperature. We examine below the overall effects of these uncertainties on the nal results of this project. a) Modeling: there is no modeling/simulation error because the full conservation equations have been used as the governing equations of the problem and have been satised at every step of the numerical process. We have used an explicit form of the

Net work, kJ/kg

3000 90

Net power, kW

1500

Net work, kJ/kg

45

r=3.5 in r=4.0 in r=4.5 in

T=450 K T=430 K T=415 K 0

30

60

Pressure, bar
Fig. 7. Net power for different temperatures and injection pressures with inner radius 3.5 inches.

30

60

Pressure, bar
Fig. 8. Net work change with pressure for different inner radii.

A.P. Davis, E.E. Michaelides / Energy 34 (2009) 866872

871

2800

Table 2 Uncertainty due to the computational step.

Dz, m
Pinlet 6 bar Pinlet 30 bar Pexit, bar Pexit, bar

2 33.022 40.476

1 33.039 40.490

0.5 33.048 40.498

0.25 33.052 40.502

0.1 33.055 40.504

Net power, kW

1400

0.05% of the value obtained for the signicant more stringent case of Dz 0.1 m. This proves that the choice of the computational step, Dz 1 m, introduces minimal error in the computations. c) Uncertainty in the input data: the uncertainty of the input data, such as the bottom-hole temperature or the inlet pressures is expected to introduce signicant error in the nal results of this study. An uncertainty analysis on the total power produced when the bottom-hole temperature varies between 446 K and 454 K is as follows: _ Tw 446 K, W 1833 kW _ Tw 448 K, W 1861 kW _ 1887 kW Tw 450 K, W _ Tw 452 K, W 1913 kW _ Tw 454 K, W 1939 kW It is apparent that the uncertainty of the input data results in signicant uncertainties on the exergy of the uid at the wellhead and the total power produced. For this reason the well-bottom temperature is treated as a parameter, while the inlet pressure, which is controlled by the design of the turbine/condenser system, is the independent variable of the study. Thus, the effects of this source of uncertainty are included in the parametric study. d) Condenser temperature: it was assumed throughout the simulations that the condenser temperature is constant, a very common assumption with this type of computations. However, it is well known that the condenser temperature depends greatly on the temperature of the cooling water. Depending on the method of cooling (wet or dry cooling) the latter will exhibit diurnal and seasonal uctuations, which may be signicant. This assumption introduces a small uncertainty in the calculations of the average net work and total power, which is estimated to be on the order of 3%. However, the diurnal and seasonal uctuations of the atmospheric air have a very minor inuence on the soil/well temperature, which assumes the value of 1416  C at a depth of 510 m below the surface.

r=3.5 in r=4.0 in r=4.5 in 0 0 30 60

Pressure, bar
Fig. 9. Net power change with pressure for different inner radii.

continuity, the momentum and the energy equations at every step of the computations. Thus, for every computational step we calculated the velocity, pressure and temperature/enthalpy of the working uid (isobutane) by the explicit solution of the conservation equations. Thus, the continuity, momentum and energy equations are satised at any step of the computations. b) Numerical error: this is a one-dimensional, steady-state study and one does not expect to have the advectiondiffusion error associated with the time-step of the multidimensional computations [21]. However, it is recognized that the computations are sensitive to the step size used. Since one of the most important output parameters is the wellhead Pressure Pexit, we performed a sensitivity analysis on the error introduced on this quantity by the size of the computational step. The results for two inlet pressures are shown in Table 2 below. It is observed that with the choice of the step Dz 1 m in both cases of inlet pressure, the resulting wellhead pressure is within

3400

5. Practical considerations While this paper pertains to the theory and available power from the novel utilization of geothermal energy using existing, abandoned oil and gas wells, it must be noted that there will be several practical considerations one must take into account, especially in the starting phase of the utilization. At rst, it is expected that the wells would not be completely dry and that they may be lled with saline water. Therefore, at the initial stage the water would need to be drained. This can be accomplished either before or after the double pipe is constructed using a common pump, which would reach the well bottom. In the case when the internal pipe is built rst, this pipe may be used as a conduit for the removal of the water. Secondly, the proposed double-pipe heat exchanger is very long; its volume is high and would require a signicant amount of secondary uid to ll. With a length of 3000 m the volume of the double-pipe heat exchanger is 164.2 m3, comprising 66.9 m3 in the

Net power, kW

1700

r=3.5 in r=4.0 in r=4.5 in 0

Velocity, m/s
Fig. 10. Net power change with velocity for three different inner pipe radii.

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A.P. Davis, E.E. Michaelides / Energy 34 (2009) 866872

outer part and 97.3 m3 in the inner part. In order to maintain the mass ow rates contemplated for such a plant, a total of 66,434 kg of the secondary uid would be required. While this may be a large quantity of uid, it is not difcult to obtain commercially. If an economic study shows that this uid is expensive for such an undertaking, one may use another cheaper uid, such as pentane or hexane. Regarding the construction of the internal pipeline, one should use rolling spacers that would keep separate the inner and the outer parts of the pipe. Friction welding or friction bonding may be used to join the several parts of the internal pipeline and minimize leakages. In order to eliminate leakages completely the two pipelines should be initially treated with sealants. It may also become necessary to use polymer bonding compounds mixed with the isobutane at the initial stage of the well operation. These compounds solidify and form a bond at the high pressure gradient areas (e.g. leakage spots) thus, eliminating the leak. 6. Conclusions The results of the computational study showed that abandoned oil wells have the potential to produce a signicant amount of power when they are modied to become double-pipe heat exchangers and when a secondary uid with desired thermodynamic properties, such as isobutane, is injected at the outer rim. The calculations show that the net power produced from such a well may exceed 3 MW for a bottom-hole temperature of 450 K and an injection pressure of 30 bar. This amount of power is not intermittent as with other renewable energy sources, and it may be available for peak demand as well as basic demand. The power produced varies and depends signicantly on the down-hole temperature, the injection pressure, the injection velocity, and the geometric characteristics of the pipe (inner and outer radii and insulation thickness). For the 450 K bottom-hole temperature with 3000 m depth well examined in this study, which is typical of South Texas oil wells, it is observed that an injection pressure of 30 bar is sufcient and almost optimum for the operation of the system. One-inch (2.54 cm) insulation maintains the uid temperature to an almost constant in its ascent. When the injection velocity and inner pipe radius are optimized, this system would produce approximately 3.4 MW of power. Acknowledgements The assistance of the ofce of the Texas Railroad Commissioner, the Hon. Elizabeth Ames-Jones, is acknowledged in obtaining data

for wells in Texas and choosing a typical well for the performance of this study. References
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