Interview – NCG reinjection in Salavatli Geothermal Area, Türkiye

Interview – NCG reinjection in Salavatli Geothermal Area, Türkiye

Environmentally pleasant and sustainable practices in geothermal vitality have gotten more and more necessary. On this context, our Turkish platform JeotermalHaberler carried out an interview with Prof. Dr. Niyazi Aksoy from NTU Geothermal Consulting in regards to the present standing, discipline purposes, and the way forward for non-condensable gasoline (NCG) re-injection efforts in Türkiye.

Are you able to present info on the present standing of geothermal NCG re-injection efforts in Türkiye?

Lately, geothermal NCG re-injection efforts in Türkiye have gained vital momentum. Significantly in geothermal fields the place energy vegetation are prevalent, comparable to in Aydin and Denizli, quite a few initiatives are being carried out specializing in the re-injection of dangerous gases like CO2 and H2S. These efforts goal to scale back the environmental affect of geothermal energy vegetation and enhance public acceptance. Main corporations are creating options tailor-made to the sphere’s manufacturing circumstances, guaranteeing the re-injection of NCG into reservoirs and optimizing this course of.

NCG primarily consists of greenhouse gases comparable to CO2, H2S, and hydrocarbons, that are launched into the environment throughout manufacturing. Emissions from geothermal energy vegetation might pose a danger of going through carbon taxes sooner or later. Lately, quite a few proposals and research have been carried out on re-injecting NCG into geothermal reservoirs.

How did you provoke your research on NCG re-injection, and what are probably the most vital findings you have got obtained?

Our research on re-injecting NCG into geothermal reservoirs started with a TUBITAK analysis undertaking we launched in 2013. By this examine, we found that CO2 and H2S dissolve very simply in water. The solubility of gases in water will increase because the temperature decreases. Thus, extra NCG can dissolve in re-injected water at decrease temperatures. One other issue affecting solubility is stress. Briefly, as stress will increase and temperature decreases, extra NCG can dissolve in water. Mege A? supported our analysis undertaking, and the information from the Dora-II geothermal energy plant had been used on this undertaking.

If the NCG stress beneath working circumstances is under the re-injection stress, it may be elevated utilizing a compressor to succeed in the required solubility stress. In some circumstances, the NCG stress might naturally be larger than the re-injection stress, making it doable to inject NCG without having a compressor.

In conclusion, it’s doable to re-inject all NCG again into the reservoir. Nevertheless, utilizing compressors can considerably enhance inside vitality consumption. Due to this fact, the motivation mechanisms in geothermal vitality must be revised, and zero-emission geothermal energy vegetation must be rewarded.

We additionally spoke with Kutlu Cakir, Basic Supervisor of Mege Geothermal A.S., in regards to the NCG re-injection processes’ discipline purposes and outcomes.

Mr. Kutlu, may you inform us about your discipline purposes and the outcomes of the NCG re-injection processes at Mege Geothermal AS?

Mege Geothermal AS is a subsidiary of MB Holding A?. Our firm is pioneering in geothermal vitality each in Türkiye and globally. Dora-I is Türkiye’s first private-sector geothermal energy plant. Our facility in Croatia, Velika GPP, is the world’s first geothermal energy plant to generate electrical energy by changing previous oil wells into manufacturing wells.

Mege AS was the primary in Türkiye to begin NCG re-injection with out compressors. We’re happy that this apply has not too long ago turn out to be widespread in different fields. Mege A? has an put in capability of 80 MW with 5 Binary geothermal energy vegetation within the Aydin Salavatli geothermal discipline.

The primary geothermal energy plant on the positioning, Dora-I, was commissioned in 2006 with a capability of seven.95 MW. Though the very best temperature within the discipline is 213°C, the manufacturing wells of the ability vegetation have a mean manufacturing temperature of 160-180°C. Initially, the NCG content material of the produced fluid was 1.5% by mass, nevertheless it has progressively decreased to a mean of 0.5%. The lowered quantity of NCG has made re-injection simpler.

What are your future objectives?

The NCG re-injection efforts at Mege Geothermal AS have yielded constructive outcomes. All NCG is re-injected into the reservoir at Dora-I, Dora-II, and Dora-IIIA models. The NCG collected from emission factors at 7-8 bar stress is related to the re-injection line utilizing stainless-steel pipes. For the reason that re-injection wells function at low stress, all NCG is re-injected into the reservoir with the water.

The applying has been ongoing for over a yr at Dora-II and Dora-IIIA models, and TÜBITAK has licensed the absence of NCG emissions primarily based on on-site measurements. At Dora-I, NCG re-injection has been ongoing for a number of months. We have now additionally began a brand new undertaking to re-inject roughly half of the NCG into Dora-IIIB. We goal to realize 100% NCG re-injection throughout all our geothermal energy vegetation.

Supply: JeotermalHaberler