| Abstract |
It is well known that Mexico has extensive geothermal resources throughout the country, some of them dedicated to power generation since Mexico has more than 950 MW of geothermal capacity installed. However, at east Pacific Rise along the Baja Peninsula several geothermal resources are located where a continuous heat flow and hot water discharge occurs right at the seashore. Most of these systems are located near important tourist and recreational areas where neither potable-water nor power electricity is available. Mexico’s National University (UNAM) through the IMPULSA Program has been working with local scientists and engineers to use these extensive but not well assessed geothermal resources in order to generate electricity or for desalination using the hot geothermal water. Geological and geophysical studies are being conducted to identify and characterize underground structures governing heat and water movement along with chemical geothermometer behavior. The aim of this work is to assess the geothermal potential at La Joya, near the City of Ensenada, by using the hot geothermal seawater through new thermal processes, MED (multi effect distillation), MSF (multi stage flash) mixture, and LE-MED (low energy multi effect distillation) in order to use the hot seawater as heat source for desalination with very little energy consumption, thereby avoiding the use of steam, as well as reducing the cost of the fresh water produced and at the same time promoting the use of renewable resources in the country. An innovation introduced with this design is the use of hot seawater to heat not only the first one, but all the chambers in the desalination plant, a unique Mexican design. Prototype desalination plant design has already been achieved and the extensive Lab tests shown very promising results. The IMPULSA project has also designed a power generation system PWG (Pressurized Water Generator) for low enthalpy geothermal resources like the ones at La Joya. The innovation of this system is the use of a high speed turbine and a pressurized water cycle, to avoid the use of large heat exchanger areas. |