| Title | Recent Achievements in Development and Testing of Innovative Plasma-Based Drilling Technology |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matus GAJDOS, Igor KOCIS, Tomas KRISTOFIC, Ivan KOCIS, Marek GEBURA, Roy BARIA |
| Year | 2020 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | plasma drilling, rate of penetration, coiled tubing, hard rock, basement formation |
| Abstract | Mechanical drilling technologies have reached their technological limits during recent decades and now are focusing only on incremental improvements. Innovations within this field concerns mainly reducing NPT and optimization of the technology of drilling (e.g. development of new materials for drilling bits based on synthetic diamonds). Generally, these innovations do not solve the main problems that cause non-economical drilling of deep boreholes which would enable utilisation of geothermal energy anywhere. In such cases, significant layers of hard rocks (mainly igneous) are present where rotary drilling achieves ROP in the range of few meters per hour. Therefore, a step change, a brand-new drilling technology is necessary for such formations. To respond to this need, GA Drilling have developed plasma drilling technology for faster and more cost-effective drilling through hard rock as an enabling technology for ultra-deep geothermal power. Plasma drilling technology responds to the need by enabling effective drilling mainly within hard rocks. This is in contrast with currently available mechanical drilling techniques with limited possibilities under hard rock conditions. The principle of the plasma drilling enables significantly longer drilling device service lifetime when compared to conventional mechanical drilling techniques used commonly today. Due to this fact, the need of change the tools is lower and thus the non-productive time is considerably reduced. Technology´s unique selling points are as follows: - Higher Rate of Penetration: 2-3 higher ROP in basement formations like granite, gneiss, etc. than conventional mechanical drilling. - 500 hour run times: No weight on bit to initiate any drilling progress and does not require rotation, it is inherently less prone to any mechanical wear. - Faster tripping times: Deployment via Coiled Tubing (CT) secures that the process of pulling-out-of-hole and running-in-hole is smooth and continuous. - Continuous circulation while drilling: Deployment via a CT based system means no connections on the drillstring resulting in continuous circulation of the well preventing pack-off of the cuttings. - Substantial noise reduction: The CT deployment and the Hybrid Rig design will decrease noise generation what can be important for applicability in the populated areas. The company has a clear deployment roadmap for the technology. The scope of this paper is to present the recent achievements in technology development and estimate potential impact on the geothermal market once ready for deployment. |