Preliminary Research on Geothermal Energy Industrial Complexes. Final Report

摘要

The overall purpose of this study was to provide economic, technical and other related information on developing industrial complexes to utilize geothermal energy. An initial screening of products and production processes led to the selection of the following potential Geothermal Energy Industrial Complexes (GEICs): forest products; chlor-alkali industries; alumina-aluminum; cellulosic fibers; magnesium compounds and soda ash; petro-chemicals complex; food and fermentation products. These were further narrowed down by a market survey, siting analysis and a survey of raw material availability to forest products; caustic chlorine: corn products and 3 others. Best sites for these are in Oregon, Southern California and Idaho. To supply steam for the process plants in the recommended complexes, a self-beneficiation steam system is developed. Steam can be obtained by flashing low temperature geothermal fluid. The flashed fluid would be passed thru a direct contact boiler to evaporate a secondary fluid. This would drive a turbine and provide shaft power to compress the flashed steam to desired pressures for process use. Steam at pressures up to 135 psia can be produced by this system from geothermal fluid as low as 250 exp 0 F at lower costs then direct production from fossil fuel. A geothermal system supplying energy to a Forest Products Complex could yield attractive rates of return on investment. A wood chemical plant that could be built as part of the complex would yield a marginal return on investment. A total of 71 major GEICs can be developed by 2000. These would use 347 x 10 exp 12 Btu/yr of geothermal energy. Recommendations include encouraging industrial companies to make specific site studies and pilot testing the steam beneficiation system conceived. (ERA citation 04:018626)