Feasibility of Enhanced Geothermal System in Darajat, Indonesia

EGEE 494 Spring 2015

Fabiola Pardede

Dr. Derek Elsworth

Abstract

Pressure in a vapor dominated geothermal reservoir such as Darajat geothermal system continues
to decline. The reservoir pressure decreases as fluid diminishes due to steam extraction out of the
reservoir for power generation. Due to pressure decline, the productivity of a geothermal well
decreases and the well will eventually needs to be abandoned. The insufficient fluid situation in
Darajat makes the geothermal system a candidate for Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS). EGS
is applied on a geothermal reservoir which is lacking either permeability or fluid availability. In
the case of lack of sufficient fluid like in Darajat, EGS is applied by injecting external water into
hot reservoir through one well and producing hot fluid from another well at a distance. This study
proposes continuous water injection at 20 kg/s for 3 years. Injection response is simulated using
TOUGH2 to generate pressure, temperature, mass flow rate, and specific enthalpy data set.
Mechanical and chemical effect in the reservoir is not accounted for and are kept constant
throughout this study. Results found indicates that the power output from production well increases
from 16.2 MWth to 21.6 MWth.
1. Introduction
1.1. Background

Geothermal power plant in Darajat geothermal system has been producing steam for electricity for
in Indonesia. Chevron Geothermal Indonesia Ltd. who runs the facility found that there is a trend
of pressure decline in the reservoir. This is caused by continuous steam extraction from the
reservoir. Analogous to oil and gas reservoir in which case only 20-30% of the oil and gas are easy
to extract, in a geothermal reservoir, approximately 80% of thermal energy is reserved in hot rock.
The system fails without fluid availability to extract energy from hot rock to the surface. There are
five characteristic requirements of a producing geothermal system (1):

 Hot rock or heat source

 Permeability
 Sufficient fluid availability
 Impervious rock (Cap rock)
 Natural recharge system

If one or more of the characteristics mentioned above is lacking, a geothermal system can be
engineered for energy production. Enhanced Geothermal System applies on two types of
geothermal system: one that lacks permeability and one that lacks sufficient fluid. Darajat
geothermal system is slowly experiencing the latter. Therefore it is proposed to analyze the
feasibility of implementing EGS water injection in Darajat geothermal system.

1.2. Purpose

The purpose of injecting water is to create a sustainable reservoir which is able to continuously
extract energy from earth. Pressure decline over time in a geothermal reservoir is typical and causes
decrease in well productivity. Without sufficient natural recharge or re-injection of fluid into
subsurface, Darajat geothermal reservoir is not sustainable for long term steam production. This
study does not focus on increasing steam production but rather on preventing the decrease of
production. Ultimately, if enhanced geothermal system can produce a comparable power output
with current production, the sustainability of Darajat geothermal system can be improved.
1.3. Objectives

To determine the feasibility of EGS water injection in Darajat geothermal system, the pressure
gradient and temperature gradient are to be analyzed during exploitation between two wells: an
injection well and a production well. The thermal power of inlet and outlet stream is also calculated
and analyzed.

1.4. Enhanced Geothermal System Overview

There is not currently any Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) project in Indonesia, but the
research is needed to develop the country’s geothermal potential, especially in area with faults and
volcanic activities. There are a few EGS demonstration project in United States including the
Geysers - California, Raft River -Idaho, Desert Peak - Nevada and Newberry Volcano – Oregon
(Harto et al., 2014). (1) An EGS project in California, the Northwest Geysers, which has similar
characteristics with Darajat is used as a reference in many concepts discussed in this paper.

Previous study on Enhanced Geothermal System has been done and published in various scientific
journals. Study done by Majer and Peterson is referred a lot due to the geothermal reservoir
characteristics similarities of the Geyser and Darajat. (2) Darajat is similar to the Geyser in a sense
that both are vapor-dominated, have low permeability, have high temperature, and both thermal
sources are related to earth’s volcanic activities.

1.5. Darajat Overview

Darajat geothermal power plant has been producing commercial electricity for more than 30 year.
The steam production are vapor-dominated, which makes Darajat one of the largest dry steam
geothermal reservoir in the world, supplying 260 MW of electricity for Java, Madura, and Bali’s
grid. Indonesia has 27,000 MW potential of geothermal overall and have developed approximately
2,000 MW for consumption which indicates the large geothermal potential available for utilization.
Darajat geothermal system has an average well head temperature of 230 ̊ C and bottom hole
pressure of 23 bar gauge (barg).

For this study, there are two geothermal wells in Darajat that is simulated as a doublet system. The
first geothermal well acts as an injection well and is chosen to stop producing because the current
steam production is one of the lowest of all production well in Darajat. The second geothermal
well acts as a production well from which the thermal power output will be analyzed. The second
well is chosen at a reasonable distance of 1000 m from the injection well.

2. Methodology
2.1. Sources
Temperature and pressure measurements with depth is usually called PT profile and is an important
data of a geothermal well. PT profile of a Darajat geothermal well is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. PT Profile of a Darajat Geothermal Well
Meas.Depth Elevation T P
m m asl degC bar g
3.4 1769.2 225.0 24.7
50.0 1722.6 225.3 24.7
100.0 1672.7 225.4 24.8
150.0 1622.7 225.6 24.9
200.0 1572.7 225.7 24.9
250.0 1522.7 225.8 25.0
300.0 1472.7 226.0 25.1
350.0 1422.8 226.0 25.1
400.0 1372.8 226.2 25.2
450.0 1322.9 226.4 25.3
500.0 1273.4 226.5 25.3
550.0 1224.6 226.6 25.4
600.0 1176.4 226.8 25.4
650.0 1129.1 226.9 25.5

These measurements are within the wellbore of the geothermal well. This PT Profile data serves
as input data for the numerical simulation along with other reservoir characteristics data.

2.1.1. Data from literature

From the study conducted by Eylem and O’Sullivan on Darajat, the value of fracture spacing is
used. The fracture spacing is estimated to be 5m as was used in a modelling project of Darajat
geothermal field. (3)

2.1.2. Porosity and Permeability

Porosity and permeability are very important concepts in geothermal reservoir management.
Porosity is the ratio of void space to the overall volume. Permeability is the ability of fluid to flow
through rocks. Permeability is the interconnection of void spaces. High porosity if not
interconnected would still cause low permeability. Low porosity means little surface contact
between fluid and rocks, which makes it difficult to extract the thermal energy from Earth’s layer.
In geothermal system, fluid heats up when in contact with rock surfaces through conductive heat
transfer. Rocks acts as the thermal storage. Hot water or steam then flows through the wellbore to
the surface due to pressure difference while transferring heat convectively.

Darcy’s Law calculates fluid velocity in Darcy unit. This equation assumes steady state flow rate.

𝐾 𝑑𝑃
Darcy’s Law : 𝑢= − 𝜇 𝑑𝑥

K = permeability
μ = absolute viscosity
dP/dx = pressure gradient
1 darcy corresponds to the slow flow of single phase fluid having 1cP viscosity and 1 cm 3/s flow
rate through a cross section of 1 cm2. Typical permeability for geothermal reservoir would be 10
– 70 miliDarcy.
For the purpose of this study, permeability and porosity is considered constant and are not affected
by water injection. Mechanical and chemical impact of water injection on reservoir is not taken
into account in this study. The permeability used for Darajat geothermal system is 0.1 Darcy. (3)

2.1.3. Thermal Drawdown

Thermal drawdown is occurring in the reservoir as water is injected and interacts with hot rocks.
The thermal drawdown is directly correlated to dimensionless flow rate (𝑄𝐷 ) can be calculated
using: (4)

𝑞 𝑠 2 𝑐𝑤
𝑄𝐷 =
𝐾𝑟 𝐻𝐿∗ 𝑊
Eqn. 1

Where 𝑞 is permeability, 𝑠 is fracture spacing, 𝑐𝑤 is the heat capacity of water, 𝐻 and 𝑊 are
respectively the height and width of the reservoir, 𝐾𝑟 is thermal conductivity, and 𝐿∗ is the distance
to target point. Two important variables for this study is the fracture spacing and permeability, as
these are a characteristic of Darajat geothermal system. Throughout this study, both of these
variables are considered constant.
The thermal drawdown is analogous to pouring cold water continuously on a hot rock that is being
heated. There is a rate of rock being recharged with heat as there is convection by water is flowing
on the surface. When these two rate are not in equilibrium, thermal buildup or thermal drawdown
may occur. In a geothermal system, thermal drawdown is predicted to occur.

2.2. Modeling with TOUGH

2.2.1. Doublet (Injection-Production Couple)
The model used in this study is a single injection well and single production well. The flow of
water is direct from one well to another and disperses around the wells. Using the geothermal
model created by Gan Quan, data for Darajat geothermal simulation is run on the existing model.
The model has a geometry of 1500x600x15 m and was used in a previously published paper. (4)
The injection well in this study will be referred to as DRJ-A while the production well is referred
to as DRJ-B. The distance between these two wells is 1 km.

2.2.2. EOS 1 TOUGH2

EOS is Equation of State that is used within the numerical simulation TOUGH2. EOS 1 is one of
the ten modules available to choose in TOUGH2, EOS 1 specifically for fluid of water, water with
tracer. (5)

ParaView which is used to preview the .vtk files are available for public and is suitable to view
results from TOUGH2 simulations.
3. Results and Discussion
Results from TOUGH2 are visualized through ParaView and plots. Power is calculated with the
result data of mass flow rate and specific enthalpy.

3.1. Pressure Gradient

The pressure profile demonstrates pressure increase overall in the reservoir. His is showed in
Figure 1. The pressure gradient also increases significantly as the pressure difference between the
injection and production well. Flow of fluid in porous medium in the reservoir is driven by pressure
gradient.

Figure 1. Pressure Distribution Changes Due To Injection

3.2. Temperature Gradient

The temperature distribution profile demonstrates thermal drawdown in the reservoir. This is
shown in Figure 2 below. Shown that initially the temperature of the reservoir is uniform ~ 250 ̊
C. As water continues to be injected at 20 kg/s, the region around the injection well cools down
indicated by the color blue. This cooled down region continues to expand outward and eventually
reaching the production well region. Thermal drawdown completely cools down the reservoir after
approximate 32 years of continuous water injection at temperature of 40 ̊ C.
 Figure 2. Temperature Distribution Demonstrates Thermal Drawdown
3.3. Production Flow Rate

The result of the simulation is presented in mass flow rate production and enthalpy over time.
Water injection flow rate is constant at 20 kg/s and enthalpy 1.08e5 J/kg. The mass flow rate
production jumped in the beginning and drops within 33 hours, but then remains constant at around
20 kg/s. The enthalpy of the produced fluid declines after 3 years of continuous injection. This
trend is showed in Figure 3.
 9 80
8 70
7 60
6
50
5
40
4
30
3
2 20

1 10

0 0
Data Point Time
Power Specific Enthalpy Mass Flow Rate
( *10^7 J/s) ( *10^6 J/kg) (kg/s)

Figure 3. Power Output as a Function of Mass Flow Rate and Specific Enthalpy

Amount of steam produced in this well produces 21.6 MWth with calculation shown below.

𝑘𝑔 106 𝐽
𝑃𝑡ℎ = 𝑚̇ ∗ ℎ = 20 ∗ 1.08 ∗ = 21.6 𝑀𝑊𝑡ℎ
𝑠 𝑘𝑔

This is the thermal power produced from steam and hot water production. Taking consideration of
the efficiency of a steam turbine power plant, which is around ~0.3, the electricity power is
obtained.

𝑃𝑒 = 𝜂 ∗ 𝑃𝑡ℎ = 0.3 ∗ 21.6 𝑀𝑊𝑡ℎ = 6.48 𝑀𝑊𝑒

Without injection, the thermal power output of the DRJ-B alone is 16.2 MWth. Compared to the
21.6 MWth for condition with injection, the power increases due to injection. However, without
injection, DRJ-A is also producing steam and giving a thermal output of 7.6 MW th. Meanwhile,
with injection, DRJ-A would be injecting water therefore yielding a negative power of -4 MWth.
In total, thermal power without injection of 23.8 MWth is still giving more power than with
injection with a total thermal output of 17.6 MWth.
4. Conclusion

 Water is found superior to steam in extracting heat from hot rock in the case of Darajat
geothermal system. The phase of water inside the reservoir is determined by pressure and
temperature according to steam tables or chart.

 The current production in Darajat geothermal system is 99% steam or vapor. The predicted
production as a result of water injection is in liquid phase. This would be a challenge as the
system requires adjustment for example the addition of separator near production well.
 Comparing the total thermal power from DRJ-A and DRJ-B with total thermal power of
injection well DRJ-A and production well DRJ-B, total power output is lower with injection.
However, comparing the initial thermal power output of DRJ-B with thermal power output of
DRJ-B with injection, the power output is higher with water injection.

5. Future Work
As there are many limitation while conducting this study, a more in depth and detailed study shall
be conducted in the same topic. Feasibility of EGS in Darajat should also be analyzed further in
multiple mode of injection intervals, flow rates, and inlet temperature. Another consideration is
using a model of single injection well and multiple production well instead of a doublet. All these
can be further simulated in TOUGH2 and visualized using ParaView as demonstrated in this study.

6. Acknowledgements
I thank Dr. Derek Elsworth for all his teachings and guidance over the period that this research
was conducted, even more. I also would like to thank Gan Quan, a graduate student in The
Pennsylvania State University Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, who has kindly
operated the software TOUGH2, used his original geothermal model for the purpose of this
research, and guided the author in creating visualization. I also would like to thank Chevron
Geothermal Indonesia Ltd. for allowing the author to use the data.
7. References
(1) DiPippo, R. (2005). Geothermal power plants: Principles, applications and case studies.
Oxford; New York: Elsevier.
(2) Majer, E., & Peterson, J. (2007). The impact of injection on seismicity at The Geysers,
California Geothermal Field. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences, 44(8), 1079-1090.
(3) Eylem K., & O’Sullivan, M., paper presented at the World Geothermal Congress 2010,
Bali, Indonesia, 25-29 April 2010.
(4) Gan, Q., & Elsworth, D. (2014). Thermal drawdown and late‐stage seismic‐slip fault
reactivation in enhanced geothermal reservoirs. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid
Earth, 119(12), 8936-8949. doi:10.1002/2014JB011323
(5) Pruess, K., Oldenburg, C., & Moridis, G. (1999). Methodology and Architecture of
TOUGH2. In TOUGH2 User's Guide Version 2 (p. 6). Berkeley, Calif., CA: Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory.