| Title | Water Use in Geopressured Geothermal Systems |
|---|---|
| Authors | Clark, Corrie; Harto, Chris |
| Year | 2012 |
| Conference | Geothermal Resources Council Transactions |
| Keywords | Life cycle; geopressured; binary; water; water consumption |
| Abstract | Energy and environmental analyses are critical to developing a robust set of geothermal energy technologies that meet future demand. Previous work has summarized what is currently known about the life-cycle freshwater requirements of hydrothermal and enhanced geothermal power-generating systems. This paper presents an assessment of the use of freshwater in low-temperature geopressured geothermal power generation systems. This is part of a larger effort to compare the life-cycle impacts of geothermal electricity generation with other power generation technologies. On a per-well basis and a per-kilowatt-hour lifetime energy output basis, geopressured geothermal systems appear to consume less water than other geothermal technologies. Overall water requirements across the lifetime are low because maintaining reservoir pressure is not a long-term goal of geopressured systems. As a result, the spent geofluid is typically sent to a disposal well, although opportunities for reuse of the geofluid could be explored. |