| Title | Complete Gas Emission Assessment a of the Rittershoffen Geothermal Plant in the Upper Rhine Graben |
|---|---|
| Authors | Clio BOSIA, Guillaume RAVIER, Nicolas CUENOT, Eleonore DALMAIS, Justine MOUCHOT |
| Year | 2020 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | Upper Rhine Graben, Rittershoffen, Non Condensable Gas, Environmental monitoring, ZoDrEx |
| Abstract | This study presents the ongoing methodology to assess gas emissions of the Rittershoffen geothermal plant in operation in terms of chemistry and amount of emitted volumes. Gas chemistry analyses are performed on samples taken at different venting valves in order to investigate gas chemistry at different pressure and temperature conditions. Quantity of gas released to the atmosphere is also evaluated thanks to gas flowmeters connected to venting valves. Chemistry and quantity investigation will be very important for gas emission assessment of the Rittershoffen geothermal plant. Fractured crystalline basement at Rittershoffen is a Paleozoic granite. Thus the geothermal brine contains some radionuclide elements from 238U decay chain. Even if the radionuclide content in scaling has been exhaustively characterized, presence of radon was never deeply investigated in geothermal plants in the Upper Rhine Graben. Radon can be a source of internal exposition for workers at geothermal plants. A first campaign to assess radon and dust emission in the geothermal plant facility and in the surrounding environment will be performed. |