IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v94y2018icp889-901.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Geothermal energy: Power plant technology and direct heat applications

Author

Listed:
  • Moya, Diego
  • Aldás, Clay
  • Kaparaju, Prasad

Abstract

The transition from current fossil-fuel energy system towards a sustainable one-based requires renewable energy technology. Although geothermal energy presents its own particular challenges in comparison with other renewable energy technologies, geothermal energy has showed significant potential to reduce environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions from electricity production. Advantages of geothermal energy are not only the generation of electricity in different plant configurations but also the direct application of heat in industry and household uses regardless of meteorological conditions. In this study, a research review is carried out on the aspect of geothermal energy development, assessing power plant technology and direct heat applications. Five power plant configurations are studied: single-flash, double-flash, dry-steam, binary and advanced. The thermodynamic aspects are addressed in order to consider them for future geothermal power plant analysis. Furthermore, the most common direct uses of geothermal heat are discussed. Results illustrate that Binary – Organic Ranking Cycle Power Plants might play a vital role in the exploitation of low temperature geothermal resources. Furthermore, it is identified a need for research in hybrid geothermal-solar-biomass configurations for poly-generation purposes. These configurations increase the energy output, increasing the thermal efficiency and increasing the life of the geothermal reservoir. Similarly, direct applications of geothermal heat present good opportunities for increasing the revenue of a geothermal project. Depending of the geographic zone, cascade configurations contributes to maximise the use of geothermal resources. Future research reviews should consider the financial, economic and policy aspects of geothermal developments along with the geology, geophysics, geochemistry, drilling, reservoir engineering and environmental aspects. The main goal of addressing these topics is to provide the state-of-the-art of geothermal development for developers, policy makers, researchers and communities interested in geothermal energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Moya, Diego & Aldás, Clay & Kaparaju, Prasad, 2018. "Geothermal energy: Power plant technology and direct heat applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 889-901.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:94:y:2018:i:c:p:889-901
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2018.06.047
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032118304830
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2018.06.047?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. Astolfi, Marco & Romano, Matteo C. & Bombarda, Paola & Macchi, Ennio, 2014. "Binary ORC (Organic Rankine Cycles) power plants for the exploitation of medium–low temperature geothermal sources – Part B: Techno-economic optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 435-446.
    2. Rubio-Maya, C. & Ambríz Díaz, V.M. & Pastor Martínez, E. & Belman-Flores, J.M., 2015. "Cascade utilization of low and medium enthalpy geothermal resources − A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 689-716.
    3. Chen, Jiliang & Jiang, Fangming, 2015. "Designing multi-well layout for enhanced geothermal system to better exploit hot dry rock geothermal energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 37-48.
    4. Kim, Wonseok & Choi, Jongmin & Cho, Honghyun, 2013. "Performance analysis of hybrid solar-geothermal CO2 heat pump system for residential heating," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 596-604.
    5. Choi, Jongmin & Kang, Byun & Cho, Honghyun, 2014. "Performance comparison between R22 and R744 solar-geothermal hybrid heat pumps according to heat source conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 414-424.
    6. Ayub, Mohammad & Mitsos, Alexander & Ghasemi, Hadi, 2015. "Thermo-economic analysis of a hybrid solar-binary geothermal power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 326-335.
    7. DiPippo, Ronald, 1991. "Geothermal energy Electricity generation and environmental impact," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 798-807, October.
    8. Bao, Junjiang & Zhao, Li, 2013. "A review of working fluid and expander selections for organic Rankine cycle," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 325-342.
    9. Kharseh, Mohamad & Al-Khawaja, Mohammed & Hassani, Ferri, 2015. "Utilization of oil wells for electricity generation: Performance and economics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 910-916.
    10. Antonijevic, Dragi & Komatina, Mirko, 2011. "Sustainable sub-geothermal heat pump heating in Serbia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3534-3538.
    11. Tomislav Kurevija & Domagoj Vulin, 2011. "High Enthalpy Geothermal Potential of the Deep Gas Fields in Central Drava Basin, Croatia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(12), pages 3041-3052, September.
    12. Astolfi, Marco & Romano, Matteo C. & Bombarda, Paola & Macchi, Ennio, 2014. "Binary ORC (organic Rankine cycles) power plants for the exploitation of medium–low temperature geothermal sources – Part A: Thermodynamic optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 423-434.
    13. Shortall, Ruth & Davidsdottir, Brynhildur & Axelsson, Guðni, 2015. "Geothermal energy for sustainable development: A review of sustainability impacts and assessment frameworks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 391-406.
    14. Moya, Diego & Paredes, Juan & Kaparaju, Prasad, 2018. "Technical, financial, economic and environmental pre-feasibility study of geothermal power plants by RETScreen – Ecuador's case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 628-637.
    15. Self, Stuart J. & Reddy, Bale V. & Rosen, Marc A., 2013. "Geothermal heat pump systems: Status review and comparison with other heating options," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 341-348.
    16. Cook, David & Davidsdottir, Brynhildur & Petursson, Jón Geir, 2015. "Accounting for the utilisation of geothermal energy resources within the genuine progress indicator—A methodological review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 211-220.
    17. Quoilin, Sylvain & Broek, Martijn Van Den & Declaye, Sébastien & Dewallef, Pierre & Lemort, Vincent, 2013. "Techno-economic survey of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 168-186.
    18. Peterseim, Juergen H. & White, Stuart & Tadros, Amir & Hellwig, Udo, 2013. "Concentrated solar power hybrid plants, which technologies are best suited for hybridisation?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 520-532.
    19. Bayer, Peter & Rybach, Ladislaus & Blum, Philipp & Brauchler, Ralf, 2013. "Review on life cycle environmental effects of geothermal power generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 446-463.
    20. Ghasemi, Hadi & Sheu, Elysia & Tizzanini, Alessio & Paci, Marco & Mitsos, Alexander, 2014. "Hybrid solar–geothermal power generation: Optimal retrofitting," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 158-170.
    21. John W. Lund, 2010. "Direct Utilization of Geothermal Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 3(8), pages 1-29, August.
    22. Eslami-Nejad, Parham & Ouzzane, Mohamed & Aidoun, Zine, 2014. "Modeling of a two-phase CO2-filled vertical borehole for geothermal heat pump applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 611-620.
    23. Yari, Mortaza, 2010. "Exergetic analysis of various types of geothermal power plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 112-121.
    24. Bundschuh, Jochen & Ghaffour, Noreddine & Mahmoudi, Hacene & Goosen, Mattheus & Mushtaq, Shahbaz & Hoinkis, Jan, 2015. "Low-cost low-enthalpy geothermal heat for freshwater production: Innovative applications using thermal desalination processes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 196-206.
    25. Yildirim, Deniz & Ozgener, Leyla, 2012. "Thermodynamics and exergoeconomic analysis of geothermal power plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 6438-6454.
    26. Davis, Adelina P. & Michaelides, Efstathios E., 2009. "Geothermal power production from abandoned oil wells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 866-872.
    27. Peterseim, Juergen H. & White, Stuart & Tadros, Amir & Hellwig, Udo, 2014. "Concentrating solar power hybrid plants – Enabling cost effective synergies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 178-185.
    28. Zheng, Bobo & Xu, Jiuping & Ni, Ting & Li, Meihui, 2015. "Geothermal energy utilization trends from a technological paradigm perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 430-441.
    29. Templeton, J.D. & Ghoreishi-Madiseh, S.A. & Hassani, F. & Al-Khawaja, M.J., 2014. "Abandoned petroleum wells as sustainable sources of geothermal energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 366-373.
    30. Chamorro, César R. & Mondéjar, María E. & Ramos, Roberto & Segovia, José J. & Martín, María C. & Villamañán, Miguel A., 2012. "World geothermal power production status: Energy, environmental and economic study of high enthalpy technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 10-18.
    31. Zhang, Xinxin & He, Maogang & Zhang, Ying, 2012. "A review of research on the Kalina cycle," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 5309-5318.
    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. Nian, Yong-Le & Cheng, Wen-Long, 2018. "Insights into geothermal utilization of abandoned oil and gas wells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 44-60.
    2. Francesco Calise & Davide Capuano & Laura Vanoli, 2015. "Dynamic Simulation and Exergo-Economic Optimization of a Hybrid Solar–Geothermal Cogeneration Plant," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-41, April.
    3. Varma, G.V. Pradeep & Srinivas, T., 2017. "Power generation from low temperature heat recovery," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 402-414.
    4. Mokhtari, Hamid & Hadiannasab, Hasti & Mostafavi, Mostafa & Ahmadibeni, Ali & Shahriari, Behrooz, 2016. "Determination of optimum geothermal Rankine cycle parameters utilizing coaxial heat exchanger," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 260-275.
    5. Gude, Veera Gnaneswar, 2016. "Geothermal source potential for water desalination – Current status and future perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1038-1065.
    6. Pezzuolo, Alex & Benato, Alberto & Stoppato, Anna & Mirandola, Alberto, 2016. "The ORC-PD: A versatile tool for fluid selection and Organic Rankine Cycle unit design," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 605-620.
    7. Lee, Ung & Mitsos, Alexander, 2017. "Optimal multicomponent working fluid of organic Rankine cycle for exergy transfer from liquefied natural gas regasification," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 489-501.
    8. Anderson, Austin & Rezaie, Behnaz, 2019. "Geothermal technology: Trends and potential role in a sustainable future," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C), pages 18-34.
    9. Pan, Shu-Yuan & Gao, Mengyao & Shah, Kinjal J. & Zheng, Jianming & Pei, Si-Lu & Chiang, Pen-Chi, 2019. "Establishment of enhanced geothermal energy utilization plans: Barriers and strategies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 19-32.
    10. Markus Preißinger & Dieter Brüggemann, 2017. "Thermoeconomic Evaluation of Modular Organic Rankine Cycles for Waste Heat Recovery over a Broad Range of Heat Source Temperatures and Capacities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-23, February.
    11. Braimakis, Konstantinos & Karellas, Sotirios, 2017. "Integrated thermoeconomic optimization of standard and regenerative ORC for different heat source types and capacities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 570-598.
    12. van Kleef, Luuk M.T. & Oyewunmi, Oyeniyi A. & Markides, Christos N., 2019. "Multi-objective thermo-economic optimization of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power systems in waste-heat recovery applications using computer-aided molecular design techniques," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Braimakis, Konstantinos & Karellas, Sotirios, 2018. "Exergetic optimization of double stage Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 296-313.
    14. Mondejar, M.E. & Andreasen, J.G. & Pierobon, L. & Larsen, U. & Thern, M. & Haglind, F., 2018. "A review of the use of organic Rankine cycle power systems for maritime applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 126-151.
    15. Powell, Kody M. & Rashid, Khalid & Ellingwood, Kevin & Tuttle, Jake & Iverson, Brian D., 2017. "Hybrid concentrated solar thermal power systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 215-237.
    16. Karimi, Shahram & Mansouri, Sima, 2018. "A comparative profitability study of geothermal electricity production in developed and developing countries: Exergoeconomic analysis and optimization of different ORC configurations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 600-619.
    17. Naseri, Ali & Norris, Stuart & Subiantoro, Alison, 2020. "Experimental investigation of a prototype semi-dry revolving vane expander: Design challenges and performance criteria," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    18. Mohammadzadeh Bina, Saeid & Jalilinasrabady, Saeid & Fujii, Hikari, 2017. "Energy, economic and environmental (3E) aspects of internal heat exchanger for ORC geothermal power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 1096-1106.
    19. Lee, Inkyu & Tester, Jefferson William & You, Fengqi, 2019. "Systems analysis, design, and optimization of geothermal energy systems for power production and polygeneration: State-of-the-art and future challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 551-577.
    20. Lorenzo Tocci & Tamas Pal & Ioannis Pesmazoglou & Benjamin Franchetti, 2017. "Small Scale Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC): A Techno-Economic Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-26, March.

    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:rensus:v:94:y:2018:i:c:p:889-901. 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/600126/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.