PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Can we turn unwanted carbon dioxide into electricity?

New power plant design to expand use of geothermal energy in the US

2013-12-13
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Pam Frost Gorder
Gorder.1@osu.edu
614-292-9475
Ohio State University
Can we turn unwanted carbon dioxide into electricity? New power plant design to expand use of geothermal energy in the US SAN FRANCISCO—Researchers are developing a new kind of geothermal power plant that will lock away unwanted carbon dioxide (CO2) underground—and use it as a tool to boost electric power generation by at least 10 times compared to existing geothermal energy approaches.

The technology to implement this design already exists in different industries, so the researchers are optimistic that their new approach could expand the use of geothermal energy in the U.S. far beyond the handful of states that can take advantage of it now.

At the American Geophysical Union meeting on Friday, Dec. 13, the research team debuted an expanded version of the design, along with a computer animated movie that merges advances in science with design and cognitive learning techniques to explain the role that energy technologies can have in addressing climate change.

The new power plant design resembles a cross between a typical geothermal power plant and the Large Hadron Collider: It features a series of concentric rings of horizontal wells deep underground. Inside those rings, CO2, nitrogen and water circulate separately to draw heat from below ground up to the surface, where the heat can be used to turn turbines and generate electricity.

The design contrasts with conventional geothermal plants, explained study co-author Jeffrey Bielicki, assistant professor of energy policy in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering and the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University.

"Typical geothermal power plants tap into hot water that is deep under ground, pull the heat off the hot water, use that heat to generate electricity, and then return the cooler water back to the deep subsurface. Here the water is partly replaced with CO2 or another fluid—or a combination of fluids," he said.

CO2 extracts heat more efficiently than water, he added.

This approach—using concentric rings that circulate multiple fluids—builds upon the idea to use CO2 originally developed by Martin Saar and others at the University of Minnesota, and can be at least twice as efficient as conventional geothermal approaches, according to computer simulations.

"When we began to develop the idea to use CO2 to produce geothermal energy, we wanted to find a way to make CO2 storage cost-effective while expanding the use of geothermal energy," said Jimmy Randolph, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Minnesota.

"We hope that we can expand the reach of geothermal energy in the United States to include most states west of the Mississippi River," Bielicki said.

The current research team includes Ohio State, the University of Minnesota and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where geoscientist Tom Buscheck came up with the idea to add nitrogen to the mix.

He and his colleagues believe that the resulting multifluid design will enable geothermal power plants to store energy away – perhaps hundreds of gigawatt hours—for days or even months, so that it is available when the electricity grid needs it. The underground geothermal formation could store hot, pressurized CO2 and nitrogen, and release the heat to the surface power plant when electricity demand is greatest. The plant could also suspend heat extraction from the subsurface during times of low power demand, or when there is already a surplus of renewable power on the grid.

"What makes this concept transformational is that we can deliver renewable energy to customers when it is needed, rather than when the wind happens to be blowing, or when spring thaw causes the greatest runoff," Buscheck said.

In computer simulations, a 10-mile-wide system of concentric rings of horizontal wells situated about three miles below ground produced as much as half a gigawatt of electrical power—an amount comparable to a medium-sized coal-fired power plant—and more than 10 times bigger than the 38 megawatts produced by the average geothermal plant in the United States.

The simulations also revealed that a plant of this design might sequester as much as 15 million tons of CO2 per year, which is roughly equivalent to the amount produced by three medium-sized coal-fired power plants in that time.

Bielicki noted the possibility of expanding the use of geothermal energy around the country. Right now, most geothermal power plants are in California and Nevada, where very hot water is relatively close to the surface. But the new design is so much more efficient at both storing energy and extracting heat that even smaller-scale "hotspots" throughout the western U.S. could generate power.

The eastern U.S. is mostly devoid of even small hotspots, so geothermal power would still be limited to a few particularly active areas such as West Virginia, he said.

Another caveat: The geothermal plant would probably have to be connected to a large CO2 source, such as a coal-fired power plant that is scrubbing the CO2 from its own emissions. That connection would likely be made by pipeline.

Buscheck added, however, that the study showed that this design could work effectively with or without CO2, and said a pilot plant based on this design could initially be powered solely by nitrogen injection to prove the economic viability of using CO2. The research team is currently working on more detailed computer model simulations and economic analyses for specific geologic settings in the U.S.

The project is unusual in part because, as they were refining their ideas, the engineers joined with Shannon Gilley, then a master of fine arts student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Bielicki worked with Gilley for more than a year to create the computer animated video titled "Geothermal Energy: Enhancing our Future." Part of Gilley's task was to communicate the more complex details of climate change, CO2 storage and geothermal energy to the general public.

"We built this concept of public outreach into our efforts not just to communicate our work, but also to explore new ways for scientists, engineers, economists and artists to work together," Bielicki said.

###

Co-authors on the presentation also included Mingjie Chen, Yue Hao and Yunwei Sun, all of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Work at the University of Minnesota and Ohio State has been funded by the National Science Foundation, while work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Heat Mining Company, LLC, a startup company spun off from the University of Minnesota, expects to have an operational project, based on an earlier form of the approach, in 2016.

Contacts:
Jeffrey M. Bielicki, (614) 688-2113 or -2131; bielicki.2@osu.edu
Thomas A. Buscheck, (925) 423-9390; buscheck1@llnl.gov
Jimmy B. Randolph, (952) 457-8959; rando035@umn.edu

Written by Pam Frost Gorder, (614) 292-9475; Gorder.1@osu.edu

Editor's note: The movie "Geothermal Energy: Enhancing Our Future" is publicly available and can be viewed/embedded at http://www.energypathways.org. To reach Bielicki, Buscheck or Randolph directly during the AGU meeting, contact Pam Frost Gorder.

Presentation H54b-02, "Multi-Fluid Geothermal Energy Systems: Using CO2 for Dispatchable Renewable Power Generation and Grid Stabilization," will take place on Friday, Dec. 13 at 4:15 p.m. PT in room 3011, Moscone West.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Simple mathematical formula describes human struggles

2013-12-13
Simple mathematical formula describes human struggles University of Miami physicist and his collaborators discover a mathematical law that explains a wide variety of human confrontations Would you believe that a broad range of human struggles can be understood ...

Research shows correlation between adult height and underlying heart disease

2013-12-13
Research shows correlation between adult height and underlying heart disease MINNEAPOLIS, MN – December 12, 2013 – Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation research cardiologist Dr. Michael Miedema is the lead author of a paper published by Circulation ...

Disease, not climate change, fueling frog declines in the Andes, study finds

2013-12-13
Disease, not climate change, fueling frog declines in the Andes, study finds Amphibians at high elevations can tolerate temperature changes, but susceptible to deadly fungus SAN FRANCISCO -- A deadly fungus, and not climate change as is widely believed, is the ...

New screening strategy to prevent cardiovascular complications in sports

2013-12-13
New screening strategy to prevent cardiovascular complications in sports Conventional echocardiography is simple, accurate and cost effective Istanbul, Turkey – 13 December 2013: Echocardiography with conventional M-mode and 2D modalities is a simple ...

Wrist fracture significantly raises risk of hip fracture

2013-12-13
Wrist fracture significantly raises risk of hip fracture Asian study shows patients with Colles' fracture are at higher risk than patients with osteoporosis to have a subsequent hip fracture within one year; Colles' fracture and ...

Scientists and practitioners don't see eye to eye on repressed memory

2013-12-13
Scientists and practitioners don't see eye to eye on repressed memory Skepticism about repressed traumatic memories has increased over time, but new research shows that psychology researchers and practitioners still tend to hold different ...

Obstetric care may differ at rural versus urban hospitals, reports Medical Care

2013-12-13
Obstetric care may differ at rural versus urban hospitals, reports Medical Care Study finds rising cesarean section rates nationally; induction of labor increases more sharply at rural hospitals Philadelphia, Pa. (December 13, 2013) – Rates of unnecessary ...

Snail fever expected to decline in Africa due to climate change

2013-12-13
Snail fever expected to decline in Africa due to climate change The dangerous parasite Schistosoma mansoni that causes snail fever in humans could become significantly less common in the future a new international study led by researchers from ...

New analysis shows that physician scientists are less likely to be engaged in biomedical research than in past

2013-12-12
New analysis shows that physician scientists are less likely to be engaged in biomedical research than in past Bethesda, MD – A new analysis published in The FASEB Journal describes the declining participation of physician scientists ...

Turning a blind eye

2013-12-12
Turning a blind eye Study by USC Marshall faculty examines the impact of moral preferences on ethical Would you let other people's ethical preferences determine whether you act unethically on their behalf? Or would you instead rely on your own ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children

Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species

Early birds get the burn: Monash study finds early bedtimes associated with more physical activity

Groundbreaking analysis provides day-by-day insight into prehistoric plankton’s capacity for change

Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses

Human fishing reshaped Caribbean reef food webs, 7000-year old exposed fossilized reefs reveal

Killer whales, kind gestures: Orcas offer food to humans in the wild

Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems

Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements

Groundbreaking cancer therapy clinical trial with US Department of Energy’s accelerator-produced actinium-225 set to begin this summer

Tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be avoided each year if cholesterol-lowering drugs were used according to guidelines

Leading cancer and metabolic disease expert Michael Karin joins Sanford Burnham Prebys

Low-intensity brain stimulation may restore neuron health in Alzheimer's disease

Four-day school week may not be best for students, review finds

Using music to explore the dynamics of emotions

How the brain supports social processing as people age

Túngara frog tadpoles that grew up in the city developed faster but ended up being smaller

Where there’s fire, there’s smoke

[Press-News.org] Can we turn unwanted carbon dioxide into electricity?
New power plant design to expand use of geothermal energy in the US