NOTCE CONCERNNG COPYRGHT RESTRCTONS This document may contain copyrighted materials. These materials have been made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, but may not be used for any commercial purpose. Users may not otherwise copy, reproduce, retransmit, distribute, publish, commercially exploit or otherwise transfer any material. The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." f a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.
TYPES OF GEOTHERMAL RESERVORS Elliot J. Zais, PhD, PE Elliot Zais & Associates, nc. 7915 NW Siskin Dr. - Corvallis OR 97330 USA ABSTRACT Geothermal systems exist in several widely differing types from radiogenically heated sandstones to vapor-dominated hydrothermal systems in fractured granites sitting above cooling magma chambers to geopressured reservoirs. Geochemistry plays a large role in distinguishing among the different types. Some example systems of each type are 1) The Geysers CA-vapor-dominated, 2) Cerro Prieto Mexico-liquid-dominated, high temperature, 3) Klamath Falls OR-liquid -dominated, low to moderate temperature, 4 ) Fenton Hill NM-hot dry rock, 5) Texas Gulf Coast-geopressured geothermal, 6) Paris Basin Francesedimentary basin, 7) US East Coast-radiogenic. CHARACTERSTCS All geothermal systems which are of any practical use'must have the following three things: 1) A source of heat, e.g., radioactive rocks, magma chamber, 2) Permeability in the rockintergranular or fracture or both, and 3) A heat transfer medium-natural pore water or injected water. Beyond these three characteristics the ' types of systems vary widely. White and Williams (1975) have classified geothermal systems as shown in Table. HYDROTHERMAL.SYSTEMS Only hydrothermal systems have been developed commercially to date. Hydrothermal systems can be split into vapor-dominated and liquid-dominated types. See Figures 1-3. Table 1 shows some of the characteristics and contrasts between the two types. Much of the information in the table is from White et a1 (1971). Vapor-Dominated Systems Vapor-dominated systems are quite rare, probably less than a tenth as common as liquiddominated systems. They are also quite valuable because they can be.used directly for electric. power generation. Some of the vapor-dominated areas producing electricity are The Geysers CAY, Larderello taly, and Matsukawa Japan. All vapordominated reservoirs are two-phase even though the liquid-vapor interface at The Geysers has not yet been found. Because the density of steam is so low The Geysers source rock would have to be impossibly thick unless a boiling interface existed. The two-phase nature prevents the use of analysis techniques taken from the natural gas industry which has only a single phase system to deal with. Liauid-Dominated Svstems Liquid dominated systems range in temperature from greater than 15OOC for high temperature systems to less than 90 C for low temperature systems. Examples of high temperature systems are Wairakei NZ and Cerro Prieto Mexico; electricity is being generated in both places. The best known low temperature resource in the US is at Klamath Falls where hot water is used to heat homes, pasteurize milk, and melt snow and ice off of highways. SEDMENTARY BASNS Sedimentary basins are found in many parts of the world. They are basins filled with sedimentary rock to depths of 10 km or more. The permeability and depth allow the circulation of ground water which is heated to a useable temperature. Moderate geothermal gradients in the Paris Basin provide warm water which is being used to economically heat thousands of homes. The Madison group carbonate rock sequence in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, and Canada is a similar basin which is being tapped for heating and agricultural use. GEOPRESSURED GEOTHERMAL Geopressured geothermal reservoirs are found mainly in the US Gulf. Coast. Geopressured zones start at about 31an and go down to perhaps 15km. See Figure 4. They are zones of anomalously high pressure caused by rapid sedimentation and contemporaneous faulting. When these two processes retard water loss from compacting sediment, the interstitial fluid has to support part of the overburden load. This geopressures and superheats the formation water. See Figures 5 and 6 for plots of temperature and pressure vs depth. Paul Jones (1975) has described geopressured zones as "a natural pressure vessel from which superheated ' -7
ZA S water of moderate salinity could be produced through wells, each yielding millions of gallons a day at pressures of several thousands pounds per square inch, and temperatures above 300 F, with considerable amounts of methane gas in solution." RADOGENC RESOURCE Some areas such as the eastern US have high geothermal gradients caused by heat generated by radioactive rocks. See Figure 7. f water is available in such areas the resource could reasonably be tapped for low to intermediate temperature uses. Exploration and research is being conducted at Virginia Polytechnic nstitute and State University. REFERENCES Jones, P. H., 1975, Geothermal and Hydrocarbon Regimes, Northern Gulf of Mexico Basin Dorfman, M. and R. Deller, eds., Proceedings First Geopressured Geothermal Energy Conference. White, D. E., L. J. Muffler, and A. H. Truesdell, 1971, Vapor-Dominated Hydrothermal Systems Compared with Hot-Water Systems, Econ. Geol., v. 66, no. 1, p. 75-97. White, D. E. and D. L. Williams, 1975, Assessment of Geothermal Resources of the United States, USGS.Circ. 726. HOT DRY ROCK The hot dry rock resource consists of rocks within about lokm of the surface with little permeability and little circulating fluid. Experiments at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory have succeeded in creating a small geothermal system in such a resource by 1) drilling two adjacent wells, 2) hydraulically fracturing the formation, and 3) injecting cold water into the formation thru one well and producing hot water from the other. See Figure 8. MOLTEN ROCK Molten rock utilization is still in the laboratory stages and will probably remain so for quite a while. Vapor-Dominated Geothermal Reservoir t:r,q +- TEMPERATURE ("C) 0 200 400 600-1 -2 Figure - 4 hudesy Of Earth Science Lsboratory. University of Utah Research nstitute -3-4: -5 3 Y a w 0-6 \ 1 1 \ 0 400 800 1200 TEMPERATURE (OF 1 With Permission from Donald E. While, U.S. Geological Survey Model of a high-temperature hot-water geothernlal systeni with corresponding teniperururedepth relations. -8-
WATER DOMNATED GEOTHERMAL SYSTEM FLOW CONTROLLED BY FRACTURES ZAS GEOPRESSURED GEOTHERMAL RESOURCE n Figure 3 0-0 bnmi - 2- -Om 3- -1w Confining Shale bed Normally Prrrsared Scdlmentr -%- *%-\ Confining Sblr bed. 4-0 SOW yw)oo WOO 20000 FEET c HEAD AWE LAND SURFACE 0 4000 8000 12000 16000 PRESSURE PS Figure.5. Changes in pressure gradients with depth in deposits penetrated by an offshore Figure * ' Mud Lpuisiana well (from Meyers. 1968). 9 PRESSURE ZONE 1 90 100 110 120 FLOWLNE TEMPERATURE -OF temperature as an indicator Of geopmssure' RADOGEYlC GEOTHERMAL RESOJRCE HEAT EXCHANGER 0.0.- 0.0'7 C.. Drill Hole OUD WATER RETURN HGH HEAT FLOW 3: l'otasium.i 1 Lraniu m Thuriuni Figure 7 DfRECTlmALLY DR'fLUD b N1ERC.E~ F m R E HOT DRY ROCK GEOTHERMAL RESOURCE -9-
ZAS TABLE Geothermal Resource Classification temperature Resource Type Characteristics 1. Hydrothermal convection resources (heat carried upward from depth by convection of water or steam) a. Vapor dominated about 240 C (484 F) b. Hot-water dominated 1. High temperature 15Oo-35O0C+ (30O'-66O0F) 2. ntermediate tem6rature 90"-150 C (190"-300 OF) 3. Low temperature less than 90 C 2. Hot igneous resources (rock intruded in molten form from depth) a. Part still molten higher than 850 "C (1200 OF) b. Not molten-"hot dry rock' 9Oo-65O0C (190"-1200 F) 3. Conduction dominated resources (heat carried upward by conduction through rock) a. Radiogenic (heat generated 30 "-150"C by radioactive decay) (86'-300 OF) b. Sedimentary basins (hot fluid 3Oo-15O0C c. in sedimentary rocks) Geopressured (hot fluid under 15Oo-20O0C high pressure) (300 O -390 OF) LQUD-DOMNATED TABLE 11 SYSTEMS VS VAPOR-DOMNATED SYSTEMS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. a. 1. 2. 3. 4. Host rock permeability high 1. Host rock permeability low Discharge high (100's to 1000's gpm) 2. Discharge low (c. 25 gpm) High chloride content (greater than 50 ppm) 3. Low chloride content (less than 20 ppm) High ph 4. Low ph (acid) Low sulfate 5. High sulfate Natural geysers 6. No natural geysers Mercury deposits uncommon 7. Mercury deposits characteristic High potential for self sealing with silica. Factors Which ndicate High-ntensity Systems Si02 greater than 240 ppm = 180 C Current sinter deposits = 180 C Natural geysers = 15OoC-17O0C Na/K ratio less than 20 =17OoC 1. --- 2. None but if vapor-dominated system exists, temp = 236"C-24OoC 3. Fumaroles 236"C-24OoC 4. - -10-