| Title | Utilization of Hottest Well in the World, IDDP-1 in Krafla |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sigurdur MARKUSSON, Trausti HAUKSSON |
| Year | 2015 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | IDDP-1, Krafla, deep Drilling, supercritical steam, wet scrubbing, hydrochloric acid. |
| Abstract | Highly superheated wells like IDDP-1 in Krafla, Iceland reveal great new potential for energy production from near-magma geothermal resources. However, at temperatures exceeding 400°C and pressure above 100 bar, a number of challenges arise that need to be overcome for such an endeavour to succeed. Hydrogen chloride and silica in gaseous form in the steam phase calls for redesign of both wells and surface equipment to enable utilization of such fluid in conventional geothermal steam turbines. The chemical composition of the steam sets limits to material selection for all equipment and requires “cleaning” of the steam before connection to the steam gathering system. The steam from IDDP-1 contained hydrogen chloride (100 ppm) that formed hydrochloric acid when the steam condensed and 62 ppm silica was dissolved in the steam phase. The gaseous silica precipitated as solid silica below 80 bar pressure, causing a number of limitations to all design parameters and operational conditions. Wet scrubbing of steam from IDDP-1 proved to be the method of choice for mitigating acid formation and corrosion as well as formation of silica scaling. |