IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v361y2024ics0306261924002095.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Deep geothermal doublets versus deep borehole heat exchangers: A comparative study for cold sedimentary basins

Author

Listed:
  • Gascuel, Violaine
  • Rivard, Christine
  • Raymond, Jasmin

Abstract

Geothermal systems installed at intermediate depths (∼1–2 km) in sedimentary basins represent an attractive option to provide low-carbon heat in cold countries, even where the geothermal gradient is low, using either closed- or open loop systems combined with heat pumps. However, the installation of such systems is costly and risky due to the uncertainty associated with the geological, hydrogeological and thermal properties of the targeted unit(s). Additionally, the performance of different types of systems is seldom compared in the literature for a given geological context. This paper presents a numerical approach to readily assess the maximum energy that could be produced by different geothermal systems (a deep borehole heat exchanger (DBHE) and three types of doublets) and compare their performance for preselection purposes. Since deep formations are often poorly characterized, the sensitivity of these systems to the most impactful site properties is evaluated. For each scenario of site properties, the systems were simulated for different operation flow rates. The maximum usable flow rate is determined from simulation results. The flow rate maximizing net energy production is used for the DBHE, while the maximum flow rate ensuring safe injection pressure has been selected for the doublets. The heating power produced per length drilled and system COP are calculated for each simulation and interpolated for the maximum usable flow rate to fairly compare the systems' performance. An illustrative case using the Bécancour area (eastern Canada) highlights that, even if the site stratigraphy and properties have been relatively well characterized previously, uncertainty regarding key properties significantly affects simulation results and, consequently, the choice of the geothermal system to install. Our numerical approach is intended as a decision-making aid in order to properly plan the installation of these expensive systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Gascuel, Violaine & Rivard, Christine & Raymond, Jasmin, 2024. "Deep geothermal doublets versus deep borehole heat exchangers: A comparative study for cold sedimentary basins," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 361(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:361:y:2024:i:c:s0306261924002095
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.122826
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924002095
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.122826?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maxime Claprood & Erwan Gloaguen & Bernard Giroux & Elena Konstantinovskaya & Michel Malo & Mathieu J. Duchesne, 2012. "Workflow using sparse vintage data for building a first geological and reservoir model for CO 2 geological storage in deep saline aquifer. A case study in the St. Lawrence Platform, Canada," Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 2(4), pages 260-278, August.
    2. Nicola Bartolini & Alessandro Casasso & Carlo Bianco & Rajandrea Sethi, 2020. "Environmental and Economic Impact of the Antifreeze Agents in Geothermal Heat Exchangers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Quinao, Jaime Jose D. & Zarrouk, Sadiq J., 2018. "Geothermal resource assessment using Experimental Design and Response Surface Methods: The Ngatamariki geothermal field, New Zealand," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(PA), pages 324-334.
    4. Tilley, B.S. & Baumann, T., 2012. "On temperature attenuation in staged open-loop wells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 416-423.
    5. Hu, Xincheng & Banks, Jonathan & Guo, Yunting & Liu, Wei Victor, 2021. "Retrofitting abandoned petroleum wells as doublet deep borehole heat exchangers for geothermal energy production—a numerical investigation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 115-134.
    6. Li, Chao & Guan, Yanling & Liu, Jianhong & Jiang, Chao & Yang, Ruitao & Hou, Xueming, 2020. "Heat transfer performance of a deep ground heat exchanger for building heating in long-term service," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 20-34.
    7. Willems, Cees J.L. & Nick, Hamidreza M. & Weltje, Gert Jan & Bruhn, David F., 2017. "An evaluation of interferences in heat production from low enthalpy geothermal doublets systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 500-512.
    8. Chen, Chaofan & Cai, Wanlong & Naumov, Dmitri & Tu, Kun & Zhou, Hongwei & Zhang, Yuping & Kolditz, Olaf & Shao, Haibing, 2021. "Numerical investigation on the capacity and efficiency of a deep enhanced U-tube borehole heat exchanger system for building heating," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 557-572.
    9. Jiewen Deng & Qingpeng Wei & Shi He & Mei Liang & Hui Zhang, 2020. "Simulation Analysis on the Heat Performance of Deep Borehole Heat Exchangers in Medium-Depth Geothermal Heat Pump Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-28, February.
    10. Gong, Facheng & Guo, Tiankui & Sun, Wei & Li, Zhaomin & Yang, Bin & Chen, Yimei & Qu, Zhanqing, 2020. "Evaluation of geothermal energy extraction in Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) with multiple fracturing horizontal wells (MFHW)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1339-1351.
    11. Daniilidis, Alexandros & Alpsoy, Betül & Herber, Rien, 2017. "Impact of technical and economic uncertainties on the economic performance of a deep geothermal heat system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PB), pages 805-816.
    12. Cai, Wanlong & Wang, Fenghao & Chen, Chaofan & Chen, Shuang & Liu, Jun & Ren, Zhanli & Shao, Haibing, 2022. "Long-term performance evaluation for deep borehole heat exchanger array under different soil thermal properties and system layouts," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    13. Wang, Yang & Voskov, Denis & Khait, Mark & Saeid, Sanaz & Bruhn, David, 2021. "Influential factors on the development of a low-enthalpy geothermal reservoir: A sensitivity study of a realistic field," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 641-651.
    14. Saeid, Sanaz & Al-Khoury, Rafid & Nick, Hamidreza M. & Hicks, Michael A., 2015. "A prototype design model for deep low-enthalpy hydrothermal systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 408-422.
    15. Xia, Z.H. & Jia, G.S. & Ma, Z.D. & Wang, J.W. & Zhang, Y.P. & Jin, L.W., 2021. "Analysis of economy, thermal efficiency and environmental impact of geothermal heating system based on life cycle assessments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    16. Huang, Shuai & Zhu, Ke & Dong, Jiankai & Li, Ji & Kong, Weizheng & Jiang, Yiqiang & Fang, Zhaohong, 2022. "Heat transfer performance of deep borehole heat exchanger with different operation modes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 645-656.
    17. Holmberg, Henrik & Acuña, José & Næss, Erling & Sønju, Otto K., 2016. "Thermal evaluation of coaxial deep borehole heat exchangers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 65-76.
    18. Liu, Jun & Wang, Fenghao & Cai, Wanlong & Wang, Zhihua & Li, Chun, 2020. "Numerical investigation on the effects of geological parameters and layered subsurface on the thermal performance of medium-deep borehole heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 384-399.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Sheng & Liu, Jun & Zhang, Xia & Wang, Fenghao, 2024. "Properly shortening design time scale of medium-deep borehole heat exchanger for high building heating performances with high computational efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    2. Wang, Yang & Voskov, Denis & Khait, Mark & Saeid, Sanaz & Bruhn, David, 2021. "Influential factors on the development of a low-enthalpy geothermal reservoir: A sensitivity study of a realistic field," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 641-651.
    3. Luka Boban & Dino Miše & Stjepan Herceg & Vladimir Soldo, 2021. "Application and Design Aspects of Ground Heat Exchangers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-31, April.
    4. Yu, Ruyang & Zhang, Kai & Ramasubramanian, Brindha & Jiang, Shu & Ramakrishna, Seeram & Tang, Yuhang, 2024. "Ensemble learning for predicting average thermal extraction load of a hydrothermal geothermal field: A case study in Guanzhong Basin, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    5. Li, Chao & Jiang, Chao & Guan, Yanling & Chen, Hao & Yang, Ruitao & Wan, Rong & Shen, Lu, 2023. "Comparison of the experimental and numerical results of coaxial-type and U-type deep-buried pipes’ heat transfer performances," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 95-106.
    6. Luo, Yongqiang & Xu, Guozhi & Zhang, Shicong & Cheng, Nan & Tian, Zhiyong & Yu, Jinghua, 2022. "Heat extraction and recover of deep borehole heat exchanger: Negotiating with intermittent operation mode under complex geological conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    7. Deng, Jiewen & Peng, Chenwei & Su, Yangyang & Qiang, Wenbo & Cai, Wanlong & Wei, Qingpeng, 2023. "Research on the heat storage characteristic of deep borehole heat exchangers under intermittent operation mode: Simulation analysis and comparative study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    8. Wang, Changlong & Sun, Wanyu & Fu, Qiang & Lu, Yuehong & Zhang, Pengyuan, 2024. "Semi-analytical and numerical modeling of U-bend deep borehole heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    9. Willems, C.J.L. & M. Nick, H., 2019. "Towards optimisation of geothermal heat recovery: An example from the West Netherlands Basin," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 582-593.
    10. Isa Kolo & Christopher S. Brown & Gioia Falcone & David Banks, 2023. "Repurposing a Geothermal Exploration Well as a Deep Borehole Heat Exchanger: Understanding Long-Term Effects of Lithological Layering, Flow Direction, and Circulation Flow Rate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-24, February.
    11. Cai, Wanlong & Wang, Fenghao & Chen, Chaofan & Chen, Shuang & Liu, Jun & Ren, Zhanli & Shao, Haibing, 2022. "Long-term performance evaluation for deep borehole heat exchanger array under different soil thermal properties and system layouts," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    12. Li, Chao & Jiang, Chao & Guan, Yanling & Tan, Zijing & Zhao, Zhiqiang & Zhou, Yang, 2022. "Development and applicability of heat transfer analytical model for coaxial-type deep-buried pipes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    13. Jun Liu & Yuping Zhang & Zeyuan Wang & Cong Zhou & Boyang Liu & Fenghao Wang, 2023. "Medium Rock-Soil Temperature Distribution Characteristics at Different Time Scales and New Layout Forms in the Application of Medium-Deep Borehole Heat Exchangers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-22, October.
    14. Liu, Guihong & Wang, Guiling & Zhao, Zhihong & Ma, Feng, 2020. "A new well pattern of cluster-layout for deep geothermal reservoirs: Case study from the Dezhou geothermal field, China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 484-499.
    15. Huang, Shuai & Li, Jiqin & Zhu, Ke & Dong, Jiankai & Jiang, Yiqiang, 2024. "Numerical investigation on the long-term heating performance and sustainability analysis of medium-deep U-type borehole heat exchanger system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    16. Zhang, Sheng & Liu, Jun & Wang, Fenghao & Chai, Jiale, 2023. "Design optimization of medium-deep borehole heat exchanger for building heating under climate change," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    17. Huang, Shuai & Li, Jiqin & Gao, Hu & Dong, Jiankai & Jiang, Yiqiang, 2024. "Thermal performance of medium-deep U-type borehole heat exchanger based on a novel numerical model considering groundwater seepage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    18. Huang, Shuai & Zhu, Ke & Dong, Jiankai & Li, Ji & Kong, Weizheng & Jiang, Yiqiang & Fang, Zhaohong, 2022. "Heat transfer performance of deep borehole heat exchanger with different operation modes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 645-656.
    19. Gkousis, Spiros & Welkenhuysen, Kris & Harcouët-Menou, Virginie & Pogacnik, Justin & Laenen, Ben & Compernolle, Tine, 2024. "Integrated geo-techno-economic and real options analysis of the decision to invest in a medium enthalpy deep geothermal heating plant. A case study in Northern Belgium," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    20. Wang, Gaosheng & Song, Xianzhi & Shi, Yu & Yang, Ruiyue & Yulong, Feixue & Zheng, Rui & Li, Jiacheng, 2021. "Heat extraction analysis of a novel multilateral-well coaxial closed-loop geothermal system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 974-986.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:361:y:2024:i:c:s0306261924002095. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.