| Title | Alcohols as Two-Phase Tracers |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael C. Adams, Yasuo Yamada, Masahiko Yagi, Christian Kasteler, Phaedra Kilbourn, Nick Dahdah |
| Year | 2004 |
| Conference | Stanford Geothermal Workshop |
| Keywords | tracer test, alcohols, two-phase tracers |
| Abstract | The alcohols methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, and n-butanol are potential two-phase geothermal tracers. Their thermal stability ranges from very stable at high temperatures (>300 o C; methanol) to somewhat stable at moderate temperatures (~250 o C; n-butanol). Their distribution between liquid and steam also varies systematically, with methanol solubility being very close to that of water (VR=6 at 150 o C) and n-butanol being more soluble in steam by a factor of seven. Preliminary, qualitative analysis indicates that the decay of the alcohols produces shorter-chain alcohols, giving rise to intriguing possibilities as reactive tracers. In this paper we present the results of several largely-unpublished short studies on the stability of the alcohols that were performed over the last decade. |