1.17 Geothermal Energy: February 2018

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.
net/publication/324714265
1.17 Geothermal Energy
Chapter · February 2018

DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-809597-3.00119-X
CITATIONS READS
3 4,028
2 authors:
Ibrahim Dincer Hasan Ozcan

Ontario Tech University Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University
1,690 PUBLICATIONS 47,461 CITATIONS 43 PUBLICATIONS 477 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
Battery Pack Testing and Modeling View project
Phd thesis of my previous Msc student View project
All content following this page was uploaded by Hasan Ozcan on 06 March 2019.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Provided for non-commercial research and educational use.
Not for reproduction, distribution or commercial use.
This article was originally published in Comprehensive Energy Systems published by Elsevier, and the attached copy
is provided by Elsevier for the author’s benefit and for the benefit of the author’s institution, for non-commercial
research and educational use including without limitation use in instruction at your institution, sending it to specific
colleagues who you know, and providing a copy to your institution’s administrator.
All other uses, reproduction and distribution, including without limitation commercial reprints, selling or licensing
copies or access, or posting on open internet sites, your personal or institution’s website or repository, are prohibited.
For exceptions, permission may be sought for such use through Elsevier’s permissions site at:
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissionusematerial
Ibrahim Dincer and Hasan Ozcan. (2018) 1.17 Geothermal Energy. In: Dincer, I. (ed.), Comprehensive Energy
Systems. vol. 1, pp. 702–732. Oxford: Elsevier.
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Author's personal copy
1.17 Geothermal Energy

Ibrahim Dincer, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada
Hasan Ozcan, Karabuk University, Karabuk, Turkey
r 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1.17.1 Introduction 703

1.17.2 Technical and Environmental Dimensions 704
1.17.3 Geothermal Energy Utilization 706
1.17.3.1 Geothermal Water Composition 708
1.17.3.2 Direct Utilization 708
1.17.3.2.1 Geothermal heat pumps 709
1.17.3.2.2 Geothermal district heating and cooling 709
1.17.3.2.3 Geothermal greenhouse heating 710
1.17.3.2.4 Geothermal aquacultural heating 710
1.17.3.2.5 Geothermal crop drying 710
1.17.3.2.6 Geothermal snow melting 710
1.17.3.3 Electricity Production 710
1.17.3.3.1 Geothermal flashing power production 710
1.17.3.3.2 Binary geothermal power 711
1.17.3.3.3 Dry steam geothermal power 711
1.17.3.3.4 Back-pressure geothermal power production 711
1.17.3.4 Enhanced Geothermal Systems 711
1.17.4 Geothermal Energy Use in the World 712
1.17.4.1 United States 712
1.17.4.2 China 713
1.17.4.3 Russia 713
1.17.4.4 Japan 713
1.17.4.5 France 714
1.17.4.6 Iceland 714
1.17.4.7 Turkey 715
1.17.4.8 Germany 717
1.17.4.9 Switzerland 717
1.17.4.10 Australia 717
1.17.4.11 New Zealand 717
1.17.4.12 Canada 717
1.17.4.13 Other Countries 718
1.17.5 Analyses and Performance Assessment 720
1.17.6 Case Studies 722
1.17.7 Future Directions 728
1.17.8 Conclusions 731
References 731
Further Reading 732
Relevant Websites 732
Nomenclature Q_ Heat transfer rate (k/W)

E_ Energy rate (kW) s Specific entropy (kJ/kg/K)
_
Ex Exergy rate (kW) T Temperature (1C or K)
h Specific enthalpy (kJ/kg) W _ Work rate, power (kW)
m_ Mass flow rate (kg/s)
Acronyms GGH Geothermal greenhouse heating

EGS Enhanced geothermal system GHP Geothermal heat pump
GDH Geothermal district heating
702 Comprehensive Energy Systems, Volume 1 doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-809597-3.00119-X

Geothermal Energy 703
Greek letters Z Energy efficiency (%)
Subscripts ex Exergy
0 Reference environment, dead state in In
cv Control volume kin Kinetic
d Destruction out Out
en Energy pot Potential
1.17.1 Introduction
Energy appears to be one of the most crucial issues for society, international politics, economic spectrum, and the environment. Its
finite existence has major effects on mechanisms of decision-making, and the extensive use of fossil fuels has a dominant effect on
all aforementioned issues. This results in direct and indirect effects on human activities (particularly human health and welfare),
most importantly, with environmental issues. Because of their abundance, low cost, and easy use, fossil fuels are still considered
irreplaceable choices by many even though their use causes damage to the environment [1]. Therefore, clean and cost-competitive
renewable energy sources are expected to be potential alternatives to achieve long-term and sustainable solutions. Geothermal
energy has been used for thousands of years; people utilized hot springs for cleaning since the beginning of civilization in all over
the world [2]. Since more than 90% of the Earth’s temperature is higher than 1001C, geothermal energy can be considered as one
of the most abundant resources as an alternative to fossil fuel-based heating-power production applications. Fig. 1 illustrates the
world geothermal energy utilization map in different colors, as illustrated continent by continent.
Geothermal energy is basically the thermal energy gained by the geothermal fluid from the Earth’s heat at magma, the
temperature of which goes up to 50001C [3]. Geothermal energy is, therefore, a form of energy that is associated with the thermal
energy called “heat,” which is contained in the Earth, and the term “geothermal energy” is used to indicate the recoverable heat
from the Earth [4]. Geothermal energy utilization is taken under consideration in two ways: its direct uses and electric energy
production. Direct geothermal energy use is simply based on the utilization of thermal energy without changing the form of
energy. At early ages, geothermal brine available at the Earth’s surface or at a reachable level was directly used. Electrical energy use
requires an energy transformation mechanism, simply to convert the thermal energy into electrical energy.
The total installed capacity of geothermal energy applications has increased from 200 MWe to 21.44 GWe in the last 70 years,
while utilization of this renewable source into electricity was initiated in 1995 by B38 GWh and increased by almost 100% in
2015 [5]. Installed geothermal energy capacities of continents are presented in Fig. 2. The Americas occupy 36% of total installed
capacity followed by Asia and Europe.
2.13 GW
4.81 GW
3.45 GW
1.65 GW 0.6 GW
Fig. 1 World installed capacity in 2015. Data from Lund JW, Boyd TL. Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2015 worldwide review. In: Proc.
world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. p. 1–31.
704 Geothermal Energy
World installed capacity (GWh)
Oceania;
7433; 10% Africa;
Europe; 2858; 4%
14,821; 20%
Asia; 22,084;
30%
America;
26,353; 36%
Fig. 2 Continent-based installed capacity share of geothermal energy use by 2015. Data from Lund JW, Boyd TL. Direct utilization of geothermal
energy 2015 worldwide review. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. p. 1–31.
This chapter provides a comprehensive comparative assessment of geothermal energy use in the world, application ranges and
types, recent trends, and country-based improvements. Thermodynamic modeling of geothermal power generation is also pro-
vided for a basic interpretation on the modeling aspects of geothermal energy utilization for power production. Illustrative
examples are comparatively provided with simple case studies for various configurations of geothermal power production.
1.17.2 Technical and Environmental Dimensions
Geothermal energy indicates and explains the increase in temperature by depth in the Earth's crust. Higher depths are now
accessible by drilling with modern technologies, i.e., over 10,000 m, where the average geothermal energy temperature increase is
about 2.5–31C/100 m. As an example, the temperature of the underground level is around 151C; then, it can be assumed that the
temperature becomes about 65–751C at 2000 m depth, 90–1051C at 3000 m, etc. Besides, in some “geothermal areas,” the
gradient is almost 10 times the average [4]. Table 1 shows some historical events of geothermal energy utilization in the world.
As a result of the finite nature of fossil fuel-based or nuclear energy-based energy production, geothermal energy appears to be a
sustainable alternative. Due to the internal heat, a total heat loss rate of about 42 million MW exists, which is equal to the Earth’s
surface heat flow, which is approximately 82 mW/m2 [2]. The total thermal energy above the mean surface temperature to a depth
of 10 km is around 1.3 1027 J, which is equal to 3.0 1017 barrels of burning oil. The Earth’s energy to a depth of 10 km may
theoretically provide all of mankind’s energy needs for about six million years, since the global energy consumption for all types of
energy is equivalent to about 100 million barrels of oil per day [6,7].
A geothermal system essentially consists of three elements, which are the heat source, the reservoir, and the heat-carrying fluid
(geothermal liquid). The heat source may be at a very high temperature, higher than 6001C, with magmatic intrusion at relatively
groundling depths, which are around 5–10 km, or at relatively low temperatures. As stated above, the increase in the temperature
of the Earth is related to depth. The reservoir is a volume of hot permeable rocks from which the circulating fluids extract heat, and
is connected to a surface recharge area. The geothermal fluid is often considered as water either in liquid or vapor phase depending
on its pressure and temperature. And sometimes the geothermal water may contain chemicals and gases such as CO2.
Note that the problems with energy production and utilization are related to global warming and also to such environmental
concerns as air pollution to climate change, etc. These issues must be taken into account permanently if societies are to achieve a
sustainable energy future with minimum environmental impacts. It is clear that if humans unconsciously keep destroying the
environment, the future may bring even more catastrophic problems.
Geothermal energy can be considered as a solution to both energy and environmental problems and also use of renewable
energy resources. The following integrated set of activities should be considered for performing the energetic, economic, and
environmental benefits of geothermal sources:
• research and development;

• innovation and commercialization;
• technology assessment;
• standards development; and
• technology transfer.
Sustainable development needs a sustainable supply of clean energy resources that do not cause severe environmental and social
impacts. Supplies of such resources as fossil fuels and uranium are definitely finite and will be depleted. Energy resources such as
geothermal and solar are considered as renewable and sustainable when considered for the long term. Sustainability often leads local
and national authorities to incorporate environmental considerations into energy planning. The requirement to satisfy basic human
Table 1 Some worldwide historical events of geothermal energy
Date Event
Prehistory Use of caves’ geothermal energy for winter warmth and summer cooling; people gathering at hot springs to enjoy warmth from
deeper geothermal resources
Early history The Romans used geothermally heated water in their bathhouses for centuries. The Romans also used the water to treat
illnesses and heat homes. In Iceland and New Zealand, many people cooked their food using geothermal heat. Some native
North American tribes also used geothermal vents for both comfort heat and cooking temperatures. Most of these early uses
of the Earth's heat were through the exploitation of geothermal vents
Early peoples also utilized near-constant subsurface temperatures (geothermal energy) to keep vegetables in root cellars from
freezing or spoiling
1860s Energy from hot springs begins to be used in the United States to heat homes and bathhouses
1886 Hot water from the Banff, Alberta, hot springs piped to hotels and spas
1904 Italian scientist Piero Ginori Conti invents the first geothermal electric power plant
1946 First ground-source geothermal heat pump (GHP) installed at Commonwealth Building in Portland, Oregon
1958 The first turbine-generator sets in Wairakei “A” Station were synchronized to the national grid in New Zealand – the first
geothermal electrical development in the world using “wet steam.”
1960 Pacific Gas and Electric begins operation of first large-scale geothermal power plant at the Geysers north of San Francisco,
producing 11 MW. 69 geothermal generating facilities are in operation at 18 resource sites around the United States
1970s During the oil crisis of 1973, many countries begin exploring alternative sources of energy, including geothermal energy. This
sparks government-sponsored renewable energy research programs in Germany, Sweden, Canada, the United Kingdom, and
the United States
GHPs and underground thermal energy storage systems gain popularity as a means to reduce heating and cooling costs,
especially in commercial and institutional buildings
1975 Drilling begins to assess high-temperature geothermal resources for electricity generation in British Columbia
1976–1986 Ten-year federal research program assesses geothermal energy resources, technologies, and opportunities for Canada
In the early 1980s, some plants in Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, the Philippines, and Portugal (Azores) were built
1990s As public concerns about environmental issues such as air pollution and climate change grow, governments in Canada and
elsewhere take a greater interest in using renewable energy as a way to decrease greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other
emissions
1990 Ontario Hydro funds a program to install GHPs in 6749 residences not served by natural gas
2004 Western GeoPower Corp. applies for government approvals to build a $340-million, 100-megawatt geothermal power plant at
Meager Creek, northwest of Whistler, BC, Canada, which could begin producing power as early as 2007
Manitoba government announces program to provide loans of $15,000 toward installation of GHP systems
2005 There are 25 countries producing over 54,000 GWh/year of electricity from geothermal energy from over 8700 MWe of installed
capacity
2011 GHP applications reach to very high level, especially in Germany
2011 USA utilizes the lowest temperature for power production from geothermal energy
Source: World Geothermal Association, What is geothermal energy? http://www.geothermal-energy.org/314,what_is_geothermal_energy.html
needs and aspirations would make the need for successful implementation of sustainable development increasingly apparent. There
are various criteria that are essential to performing sustainable development in a society. They are summarized as follows [8,9]:
• public awareness of sustainability investment benefits;

• education and training on environment;
• appropriate energy and exergy strategies;
• the availability of renewable energy sources and clean technologies;
• a reasonable supply of financing; and
• monitoring and evaluation.
Geothermal energy plays an important role for future energy requirements in both rural and urban areas, such that devel-
opment and merits of geothermal energy applications should be carried out, especially in the light of increased awareness of the
negative environmental impacts of fossil-based generation. The requirements of sustainable energy development are increasing
rapidly in the world. Common usage of geothermal energy has many advantages to achieve sustainability in the energy sectors,
especially in developed and industrialized countries.
Not all renewable energy resources are inherently clean in that they cause no burden on the environment in terms of waste
emissions, resource extraction, or other environmental disruptions. However, geothermal usage can provide a cleaner and more
sustainable energy source than increased controls over conventional energy conversion systems.
It is essential to establish a geothermal energy market and it is of importance to gradually build up the experience with novel
technologies. The constraints to the expansion of geothermal energy use should be overcome. The legal, administrative, and
financing infrastructure should be established to facilitate planning and application of geothermal energy projects. Governments
should play a useful role in promoting geothermal energy technologies through funding in order to encourage research and
development as well as commercialization and application.
Table 2 Geothermal energy classification by source and thermophysical properties
Class of resource Reservoir Fluid phase in Fluid state at Power transformation Operational problems
temperature reservoir utilization technology
Nonelectrical o1001C Liquid water Liquid water Direct use

Very low temperature 1001C to o1501C Liquid water Liquid water Binary
Steam–water
mixture
Low temperature 1501C to o1901C Liquid water Liquid water Binary Calcite scaling in
Steam–water Two-stage production wells and
mixture Flash stibnite scaling in binary
Hybrid plant are occasional
problems
Moderate temperature 1901C to o2301C Liquid water Steam–water Single-stage Calcite scaling in
mixture Flash production wells
Two-stage occasional problem,
Flash aluminosilicate scale in
Hybrid injection system a rare
problem
High temperature 2301C to o3001C Liquid water; Steam–water Single-stage Silica scaling in injection
Liquid-domi- mixture system; occasionally
nated two-phase Saturated steam Flash corrosion; occasionally
Hybrid high NCG content
Ultra high temperature 3001C þ Liquid-dominated Steam–water Single-stage High NCG content; silica
two-phase mixture scaling in injection
Saturated steam Flash system; occasionally
Superheated steam corrosion; silica scaling
potential in production
wells at lower wellhead
pressures
Steam field 2401C (33.5 bar – Steam Saturated or Direct steam High NCG content or
a pressure; 2800 superheated corrosion or silica
kJ/kg enthalpy) steam particulate deposition on
turbine blades
Source: Adapted from Sanyal SK. Classification of geothermal systems – a possible scheme. In: Proc. 13th workshop on geothermal reservoir engineering, SGP-TR-176, Stanford
University, Stanford, CA; 2005. 8p.
Using geothermal fluid enthalpy is a common criterion to classify geothermal energy sources, which are the main energy
carriers from deep sources to the Earth’s surface. Enthalpy is a strong function of temperature, so another input property should be
known for its precise calculation such as pressure; however, it can be considered as linearly changing at varying temperatures, and
with the mass flow of the geothermal fluid, specification of the thermal energy content of the geothermal fluid is possible.
Geothermal energy resources can be divided into three categories based on their enthalpy contents, namely, low, medium, and
high enthalpy sources, which indicates the suitability of sources to specific energy conversion methods, and their feasibilities to be
utilized as electricity generation sources. Source classifications of geothermal energy in the world are represented in Table 2 [10].
Equilibrium state is the second approach for geothermal system categorization, which considers reservoir fluid circulation and
heat transfer mechanisms. Reservoirs are continuously charged by water, which is then heated and discharged to either the surface
or the underground for dynamic systems while the heat transfer occurs by convection through the fluid circulation. This category
can be applied to both high-temperature and low-temperature systems. (This chapter considers temperatures higher than 1501C as
high-temperature sources, while the remaining considered being low-temperature sources.) Conduction is the only heat transfer
mechanism for static systems where almost no discharge is possible to the reservoir, and includes geo-pressurized and low-
temperature systems. The geo-pressurized systems can be found in large basins at depths of 3–7 km and consist of permeable
sedimentary rocks, included within impermeable low-conductivity strata, which contains pressurized hot water that is at the
moment of deposition of the sediments. The hot water pressure exceeds its hydrostatic pressure in the geo-pressurized reservoirs
containing a significant amount of methane, and thermal and hydraulic energy can be produced with the methane gas. An
extensive investigation has been made for such resources with minor practical experiences [4].
1.17.3 Geothermal Energy Utilization
As mentioned earlier, geothermal energy is utilized in two general forms, namely, direct utilization and electricity production. This
section discusses and presents these two methods with their application ranges and technologies.
By 2015, the total estimated energy production provided by geothermal energy sources was around 151 TWh overall for direct
and indirect energy production, and the total production accounted for almost one-half of the global geothermal energy output.
Furthermore, many applications provide a cogeneration of electricity and thermal energy. In 2015, a 315-MW-capacity additional
power generation from geothermal sources was added and the total global production increased to 13.2 GW. The United States,
Turkey, Mexico, Kenya, Japan, and Germany were the countries adding this power generation capacity in 2015. A special note
should be taken for Turkey, to whom half of this new additional power belongs. The United States, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Mexico, New Zealand, Italy, Iceland, Turkey, Kenya, and Japan are the largest geothermal power-generating countries in the order
given. The total addition to power generation has been completed with the following technologies with their capacities: 11 new
binary power plants and 8 new single-flash plants (about 129 MW and 186 MW, respectively).
Turkey added 10 more units for power generation in 2015, totaling a 624-MW power generation capacity with an observed
increase of almost 20% (total of 159 MW in 2015). An organic Rankine cycle (ORC) was recently added with a 4-MW capacity that
is capable of utilizing low-temperature geothermal energy sources, and the first plant that operates between two pressure levels in
the world, which leads to high energy efficiency from low-temperature sources. The main objective of the country is to reach up to
1 GW power production from geothermal sources by 2023 and the recent advances show that this objective will be well
accomplished, and even ahead of schedule, thanks to recent technological developments and source abundance throughout the
country. The country generated 3.37 TWh, 50% higher than that of 2014, by the end of 2015. An addition of 71 MW has been
accomplished in the USA with two binary plants built in Nevada, expected to increase the total capacity to almost 3.6 GW, making
this geothermal energy-abundant country the world leader in geothermal electricity production. 16.8 TWh has been accomplished
by 2015, representing a 5.6% increase over 2014. If economic and many regulatory conditions are improved in a close time period,
a significant increase is possible in the upcoming years, since almost 500 MW of projects are unfortunately suffering in late-stage
development.
A 53-MW-unit generation field was built in Mexico while four aging wellhead units were retired in the same location. The first
privately owned geothermal power project in Mexico was built with two 5-MW capacities, resulting in a total increase of 43 MW by
2015, totaling 1.1 GW throughout the country. Further governmental concessions have been provided for private entrepreneurs in
this field even though the remaining geothermal potential was opened for private investment. 20 MW of new capacity by 2015 was
added and the total production was brought to 600 MW in Kenya. Sub-Saharan Africa’s first private sector Greenfield geothermal
development will be accomplished after Kenya Power signed an agreement on a 140-MW plant.
Germany added another binary plant by 2015, supplying an additional 5.5 MW power to 12 MW of thermal output. Local
low-temperature geothermal resources around Munich are utilized for small-size geothermal heating and power plants. 6.8
MW power addition has been accomplished by Japan, with an increased capacity of 535 MW by 2015. A 5-MW binary
geothermal plant, a 1.4-MW plant by the Mitsubishi Company, and a 400-kW small-size unit to Fukushima have been added
to compensate for the economic losses due to tourism loss after the Fukushima earthquake and the nuclear disaster in 2011.
A 42-MW plant is also under construction that is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. Geothermal steam tem-
peratures from about 150 to 3801C are accomplished by using local forest biomass in Italy, adding 5-MW electrical power
with this hybrid plant.
Geothermal technologies’ advances and many projects are completed in new locations around the world; furthermore, interest
in geothermal developments continues to spread throughout the world. For instance, there are plans to collect steam on the
volcanic island of Nevis in the Lesser Antilles. In 2016, construction was planned to begin for a 9-MW binary plant that is expected
to meet the power needs of all the island’s inhabitants and phase out fossil-based imports significantly. St. Kitts, a neighboring
island, has also pursued geothermal power and heating options. In Canada, there is significant potential in Alberta, Yukon, and
British Columbia; additionally, British Columbia’s resources are adequate to meet the province’s entire power demand even
though there is no power generation plant existing in the country. Geothermal power has been proposed as a cost-competitive
alternative to the 1.1-GW hydropower project in British Columbia. Direct geothermal use for heating and cooling has been
estimated to be around 75 TWh, and 1.2 GWth was added in 2015 to a total of 21.7 GWth. A 5.9% capacity increase was
accomplished in 2015, higher than the direct heat consumption increase, which corresponds to 3.3%. The average utilization for
direct geothermal heat was 41% in 2014, lower than 46% from 5 years earlier. This decrease was due to a drop in swimming and
bathing utilization. The largest direct use sector is estimated to be swimming pools and other public baths (33.7 TWh), and the
second largest is the space heating sector (26.2 TWh). These two markets account for almost 805 of the total direct use in the
country, where the remaining is domestic hot water supply, greenhouse heating, aquaculture, industrial process heat, snow
melting, and agricultural drying. District heating applications show significant increase in Europe with many new plants under
operation in 2015. Nearly 100 MWth capacity installments have been made in France and the Netherlands; by early 2016, more
than 200 projects were underway. The Paris and Munich areas are the homes for many district heating projects and ideal
conditions are obtained for densely populated areas of these cities. A new 10-MW project is ongoing in Paris and was expected to
operate in 2016, with a 661C operating temperature, which is adequate for heating; however, heat pumps will assist the system for
7 MW additional heating. In recent years, interest for geothermal heat in Europe has expanded and many applications with
country reports are provided separately for direct and indirect use in the following sections.
A summary of countries with direct geothermal use capacities can be listed as follows: China, Turkey, Japan, Iceland, India,
Hungary, Italy, and USA with 6.1 GWth, 2.9 GWth, 2.1 GWth, 2.1 GWth, 2.0 GWth, 1.0 GWth, 0.9 GWth, 0.8 GWth, and 0.6
GWth, respectively. These countries occupied 80% of the total direct use capacity of the world in 2015, where China utilized the
highest amount of geothermal heat followed by Turkey, Iceland, Japan, Hungary, USA, and New Zealand. They utilized around
70% of direct geothermal energy in 2015. Additional to this quantitative listing, another approach can be taken into account by
considering the use of geothermal energy per person in countries. Here, Iceland takes the lead with a significant difference, with the
second highest rated country accounting for 22.5 MWh per person, followed by New Zealand, Hungary, Turkey, and Japan, where
per capita uses are less than 0.5 MWh. Therefore, a detailed investigation and literature review are specifically made for Iceland,
and can be found in the following sections for both direct and indirect geothermal energy use.
Infeasible conditions for geothermal energy were mainly due to low natural gas prices by 2015; however, drilling rigs, making
more rigs available, and reduction of related costs of geothermal exploration and development of new fields are making geothermal
energy applications more feasible considering lower oil prices throughout the world. In support of geothermal energy development,
Europe called on policy makers for renewed financial provisions, improved data collection in the geothermal heating sector, and
potentials for increased shares of renewable energy–based heating and cooling applications. Public risk insurance to minimize
geologic risks is another necessity specific to geothermal energy utilization. A funding of 50 million Euros was announced by the
French government for facilitation of new exploration efforts carrying high risk profiles. To integrate large shares of renewable power,
the industry continued to work for recognition of geothermal power as an abundant and reliable ally of the renewable sources.
Furthermore, the need for balancing variable grid supply, providing system inertia, and regulating voltage and baseload demand can
also be accomplished using geothermal power. These indications led to serious partnerships in 2015, such as the Ormat
Technologies–Toshiba Corporation collaboration to provide competitive solutions to their customers with integration of their binary
(Ormat) and flash (Toshiba) geothermal power configurations. One of these collaborative projects is under development in Kenya.
Engie and Reykjavik Geothermal are also conducting geothermal projects in Mexico, where a project is planned to be operating by
2018 carrying the first private exploration permit taken from the Mexican government. The consolidation of governments, industries,
and other stakeholder efforts was stated in COP21 in Paris to form an alliance in order to increase the geothermal energy use globally
during a UN Summit held in 2014. The aim of the alliance is to achieve a fivefold geothermal direct energy utilization by 2030.
1.17.3.1 Geothermal Water Composition

Sodium, calcium, sulfate, chloride, and iron are the dissolved minerals present in geothermal water in large concentrations. The
rocks that contain geothermal reservoirs contain these ions and concentrations varying by type of rock [10]. Several reactions occur
in reservoirs, and most of these reactions are due to the interactions between the rock and the geothermal water where many
reactions involve metal cations and/or sulfur [10].
Reservoir rocks’ permeability, well parameters, chemical, and physical properties of geothermal water, depths, and casing
diameter are influencing parameters on availability of the geothermal fluid at the surface. Two main forms are present in the
extracted geothermal fluid; it can either be in liquid phase or liquid–gas mixture containing dissolved gases and suspended solid
particles. However, the geothermal water should be kept in liquid form for two main reasons. The first reason is that avoiding a
pressure decrease of a near-boiling-point geothermal fluid to prevent steam formation, which may cause a significant pressure
increase in the pipeline that may jeopardize the system; the second important reason is a possible precipitation of solid phase
contaminants in the fluid resulting in incrustation of the machinery after flashing [10]. To avoid flashing, special separators are
used as a useful method to separate flashed steam from the liquid so that each phase can separately be used at different parts of the
plant. When there are unconfined aquifers, pumps are required and these pumps should be specially selected considering the fluid
content, aquifer permeability, casing diameters, etc. to prevent failed pumping and cavitation. For this purpose, for instance, Teflon
is used in pumps in Iceland specific to 330 m depth [11].
1.17.3.2 Direct Utilization

Direct geothermal energy use is one of the oldest and most common forms of utilizing geothermal energy, which has been
performed by direct use of the heat gained from the Earth. There are several applications of direct geothermal energy utilization,
listed as follows:
• geothermal heat pumps;

• space and district heating;
• greenhouse heating;
• aquacultural heating;
• agricultural drying;
• industrial process heating;
• bathing and swimming;
• cooling and snow melting;
• power generation;
• process heating; and
• others.
Since there has not been a specific distinction made by reporting countries on district or space heating, it is hard to make a
separate assessment on either space or district heating applications [5]. Worldwide share of direct utilization technologies is
presented in Fig. 3. GHP applications occupy the highest geothermal utilization followed by bathing and swimming, which have
2000 2005 2010 2015

Others
Cooling and snow melting
Bathing and swimming
Industrial use
Agricultural drying
Aquaculture ponds
Greenhouse heating
Space heating
Geothermal HP
0 50,000 10,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000

Utilization (TJ/year)
Fig. 3 Share of direct geothermal energy use worldwide. Data from Lund JW, Boyd TL. Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2015 worldwide
review. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. p. 1–31.
been conventionally available in most countries for decades. It is also obvious that geothermal energy utilization for agricultural
drying is a promising utilization scenario that might decrease cost and energy intensity of many drying processes in a clean and
sustainable way. A detailed explanation and technological and country-based developments for direct utilization applications are
discussed in next subsections.
1.17.3.2.1 Geothermal heat pumps

GHPs use the constant temperature of the Earth as the heat exchanging region instead of air. This leads to a higher temperature
difference between higher and lower reservoir temperatures, bringing a higher Carnot factor. A few feet below the Earth’s surface,
the ground remains at a relatively constant temperature even though many regions in the world experience variable temperature
changes on the Earth by season. Ground temperatures generally range from 7 to 211C related to the latitude, and with heat pumps,
if equipped, GHPs can be heaters, coolers, and residential hot water suppliers. Even though the installation price of a geothermal
system can be several times that of an air-source system of the same heating and cooling capacity, the additional costs are returned
to you in energy savings in 5–10 years. System life is estimated at 25 years for the inside components and 50 þ years for the
ground loop. There are four basic types of ground loop systems. Three of these – horizontal, vertical, and pond/lake – are closed-
loop systems. The fourth type of system is the open-loop option. Which one of these is the best system depends on the climate,
soil conditions, available land, and local installation costs at the site. All of these approaches can be used for residential and
commercial building applications. All of these approaches can be used for residential and commercial building applications.
Although the purchase and installation cost of a residential GHP system is often higher than that of other heating and cooling
systems, properly sized and installed GHPs deliver more energy per unit consumed than conventional systems. For further savings,
GHPs are equipped with a device called a "desuperheater," which can heat household water. In the summer cooling period, the
heat that is taken from the house is used to heat the water for free. In the winter, water heating costs are reduced by about half [12].
GHPs have the largest energy use and installed capacity worldwide, accounting for 70.95% of the installed capacity and 55.30%
of the annual energy use. The installed capacity is 49,898 MWt and the annual energy use is 325,028 TJ/yr. Although most of the
installations occur in North America, Europe, and China, the number of countries with installations increased by more than 100%
in the last 15 years [4].
1.17.3.2.2 Geothermal district heating and cooling

Geothermal district heating (GDH) is the use of geothermal energy to provide heat to buildings and industry through a dis-
tribution network. Geothermal energy can be utilized for space heating and cooling, domestic hot water supply, and industrial
process heat requirements by district heating using peaking stations, a distribution system, central pumping stations, and
in-building equipment (heat exchangers, circulation pumps, etc.) [13]. Space heating contains almost 88% of annual energy use
in direct utilization (for 28 countries). China leads the GDH applications, followed by Iceland and Turkey. Considering
their populations, Iceland leads the world in GDH applications per capita, and Turkey leads the individual space heating
applications [5].
1.17.3.2.3 Geothermal greenhouse heating

Geothermal energy could be a very economical energy, meeting greenhouse heating requirements throughout the year, and leaving
only a few very cold days for oil or similar conventional energy sources to provide the necessary back-up. Geothermal energy has
proved to be very beneficial for agriculture and other related activities [14]. Worldwide use of geothermal energy used for
greenhouses and covered ground heating increased by 19% in installed capacity and 16% in annual energy use. The installed
capacity is 1830 MWt and 26,662 TJ/yr in energy use. A total of 31 countries report geothermal greenhouse heating (GGH)
(compared to 34 from WGC2010), the leading countries in annual energy use being: Turkey, Russia, Hungary, China, and the
Netherlands. Most countries do not distinguish between covered greenhouses versus uncovered ground heating, and only a few
reported the actual area heated [5].
1.17.3.2.4 Geothermal aquacultural heating

The aim of geothermal aquaculture is to heat water to the optimum temperature for aquatic species. This involves the raising of
freshwater or marine organisms in a controlled environment to enhance production rates. Under controlled environmental
conditions, many biological organisms reach sexual maturity in several weeks to months. A total of 22 countries reported
geothermal uses in aquaculture in 2010. The leading countries were China, USA, Italy, Iceland, and Israel. Tilapia, salmon, and
trout are the most common species. There are about 70 fish farms in Iceland, of which 15–20 use geothermal water [15,16].
1.17.3.2.5 Geothermal crop drying

Air as drying fluid in the drying process has several responsibilities, such as carrying the heat needed for evaporation of the
moisture, transport of the evaporated water out of the plant, and, after the drying process is finished, to cool down the dried
product. Temperature of the warm air has limited value depending on the products in question. Higher temperature than the
allowed one in a drying process may cause physical and chemical damaging of the products. The industrial drying processes are
performed with consumption of heat and electricity for driving the auxiliary equipment. Basic energy requirements are connected
to heating the product to a suitable temperature in order to initiate the process of evaporation (of the moisture) and energy
necessary to evaporate a certain percentage of the moisture. Therefore, low-temperature geothermal fluids can be utilized as an
energy source to heat the air for drying of agricultural products [17]. Applications for geothermal vegetables and fruit crops drying
increased by 10% from 2010 to 2015; some examples can be given for onions, cereals, wheat, coconut meat, etc., from various
regions of the world [5].
1.17.3.2.6 Geothermal snow melting

Diligent winter maintenance is a crucial factor to guarantee certain mobility on the roads. A first intervention by winter main-
tenance vehicles is needed on bridges, on strong inclines, on important traffic intersections, on expressways in urban areas, etc.
However, obstructions in traffic due to snow and ice may also constrain the use of maintenance and emergency vehicles.
Consequently, the number and the length of the hold-ups are increasing instead of decreasing. This may even lead to a complete
breakdown of public and private traffic. Geothermally heated outside surfaces are typically based on hydronic heat exchanger
installations in the pavement. The installed heating capacity depends on the climatic conditions and the system specifications.
Snow melting needs higher system temperatures than simple prevention of ice formation. Low system temperatures implicate an
anticipatory operation control [18]. In Iceland and Argentina, snow melting of streets and sidewalks is available in some parts of
these countries, where around 2.5 million m2 area is deiced [5]. Iceland again leads the world with geothermal snow melting
(GSM) applications, where it corresponds to around 70%.
Note that direct geothermal energy is also utilized for process heating, bathing, swimming, and many other applications, which
cannot be specifically considered under a special topic to report applications.
1.17.3.3 Electricity Production

This section covers the geothermal electricity production applications and geothermal energy conversion mechanisms. Five plant
operations are available for geothermal power generation: binary, single flash, double flash, triple flash, back pressure, and dry
steam power plants. Single-, double-, and triple-flash plant operations are based on flashing of the geothermal fluid for vapor
generation, where double and triple-flash configurations utilize the unused geothermal fluid further for increased thermodynamic
performances and power production.
1.17.3.3.1 Geothermal flashing power production

Flash steam plants are the most common type of geothermal power generation plants in operation today. Fluid at temperatures
greater than 3601F (1821C) is pumped under high pressure into a tank at the surface held at a much lower pressure, causing some
of the fluid to rapidly vaporize, or "flash." The vapor then drives a turbine, which drives a generator. If any liquid remains in the
tank, it can be flashed again in a second tank to extract even more energy [19]. If this flashing is performed after the first separator,
these geothermal plants are called double-flash plants. If it is aimed to extract further steam from the geothermal fluid, pressure
control is crucial for reinjection of the fluid back to the well. A triple-flash geothermal plant also works with the same principles of
the first two, having more flashing chambers.
1.17.3.3.2 Binary geothermal power

Binary-cycle geothermal power generation plants essentially differ from dry steam and flash steam systems in that the water or
steam from the geothermal reservoir never comes in contact with the turbine/generator units. Low to moderately heated (below
4001F) geothermal fluid and a secondary (hence, "binary") fluid with a much lower boiling point than water passes through a heat
exchanger. Heat from the geothermal fluid causes the secondary fluid to flash to vapor, which then drives the turbines and
subsequently, the generators. Binary-cycle power plants are closed-loop systems, and virtually nothing (except water vapor) is
emitted to the atmosphere. Because resources below 3001F represent the most common geothermal resource, a significant pro-
portion of geothermal electricity in the future could come from binary-cycle plants.
1.17.3.3.3 Dry steam geothermal power

Dry steam plants use hydrothermal fluids that are primarily steam. The steam travels directly to a turbine, which drives a generator
that produces electricity. The steam eliminates the need to burn fossil fuels to run the turbine (also eliminating the need to
transport and store fuels). These plants emit only excess steam and very minor amounts of gases. Dry steam power plant systems
were the first type of geothermal power generation plants built (they were first used at Lardarello in Italy in 1904). Steam
technology is still effective today, and is currently in use at The Geysers in northern California, the world's largest single source of
geothermal power [20].
1.17.3.3.4 Back-pressure geothermal power production

Back-pressure type systems are the simplest of the above, least expensive, and have the lowest overall thermal efficiency. Currently,
they are largely used in multiple-use applications (such as combined electricity and hot water production) to provide temporary
power during resource development, in the mineral mining industry, where energy efficiency has low priority, and most
importantly as part of a hybrid system. Their stand-alone scope of application covers the whole of the normally useful geothermal
resource temperature range, i.e., from about 3201C to some 2001C [21]. Fig. 4 represents share of the installed geothermal power
plant shares. Single-flash geothermal power plants are the most commonly used plants under operation, followed by dry steam
and double-flash power plants under operation. Triple-flash operation is only available in North America and Oceania, which in
the future would be a more efficient option to phase out single- and double-flash options. There are also hybrid plants under
investigation and two plants under operation in North America.
1.17.3.4 Enhanced Geothermal Systems

A naturally occurring geothermal system, known as a hydrothermal system, is defined by three key elements: heat, fluid, and
permeability at depth. An enhanced geothermal system (EGS) is a man-made reservoir, created where there is hot rock but
insufficient or little natural permeability or fluid saturation. In an EGS, fluid is injected into the subsurface under carefully
controlled conditions, which cause preexisting fractures to reopen, creating permeability. Increased permeability allows fluid to
circulate throughout the now-fractured rock and to transport heat to the surface where electricity can be generated. While advanced
EGS technologies are young and still under development, EGS has been successfully realized on a pilot scale application in Europe,
and now at two DOE-funded demonstration projects in the United States [22]. Fig. 5 represents the steps of an EGS, and the
following steps that are required for an EGS to perform
• drilling an injection well into hot basement with limited permeability,

• injecting water at sufficient pressures to ensure fracturing of the hot basement rock,
Total
Oceania
Capacity 2015 (MWe)
Back pressure
Americas Dry steam
Triple flash
Double flash
Europe
Single flash
Binary
Asia
Africa
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

Fig. 4 Share of installed capacity for different geothermal power plant operations worldwide. Data from Bertani R. Geothermal power generation
in the world 2010–2014 update report. In: Proc. world geothermal congress; 2015. p. 1–19.
Water Water
Caprock Caprock
Developing reservoir
Potential reservoir
1. Drilling 2. Water injection
Injection well Production well

Water
Caprock Caprock
Developing reservoir Reservoir
3. Fracturing 4. Production
Fig. 5 Steps of an enhanced geothermal system (EGS). Courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy. Enhanced Geothermal Systems, https://energy.
gov/eere/geothermal/enhanced-geothermal-systems-0
• extension of fractures and reopening of old fractures throughout the developing reservoir, and
• drilling a production well for power generation.
EGS seeks to tap a continuum of geothermal resources, ranging from conventional hydrothermal resources to hot dry rock.
Nature has been prolific in providing large quantities of heat in the Earth’s crust, but fluids and permeability are less abundant.
1.17.4 Geothermal Energy Use in the World
Some major countries and recent developments in direct and indirect geothermal energy utilization are discussed with several
presented data. Other than the countries reported here, many data and improvements for the remaining countries can be found
elsewhere [4,5,23].
1.17.4.1 United States

Direct geothermal energy use has remained static with increases being balanced by closing of some facilities in the country. The
main increase has been in expanding the Boise City District Heating System from 48 to 58 buildings; adding additional wells for
space heating in Klamath Falls; expanding the snow melting system on the Oregon Institute of Technology campus from 316 to
3753 m2, increasing the amount of aquacultural products being produced, mainly tilapia; starting two biodiesel plants with one
having shut down during this reporting period; addition of an absorption chiller to keep an Ice Museum in Alaska during the
summer months, and more space heating for a casino in Reno. Reasons for some failed applications are: major losses in the district
heating systems at the California Correctional Center, maintenance difficulty at the New Mexico University heating system, and
failed competition with China for Empire union dehydration plant in Nevada [4].
Midwestern and eastern states take the highest growth by more than 8% in GHPs increasing from 1 to 1.4 million installed
units of 12 kW. Some states have tax rebate processes and the US Congress established a 30% tax credit for costs up to $1500 for
GHP installations. The US government does little encouragement other than the tax credit for direct use energy production from
geothermal energy resources. In addition, the Department of Energy (DOE) has a special interest in enhanced geothermal energy
systems, also mentioned in this chapter, that is a current R&D interest by the state. The technology and it is superiorities and
shortcomings are also discussed in detail. In the upcoming years, it is aimed to economically stimulate EGS systems with sufficient
volumes even though it is presently in the experimental demonstration stage. The objective is to demonstrate, build, and produce
from the EGS and also utilize this energy for combined systems as in Europe for enhanced performance [4].
For direct geothermal utilization, the capacities of the aforementioned technologies are sorted as follows: individual space
heating (139.89 MWt), district heating (81.55 MWt), air conditioning (2.31 MWt), greenhouse heating (96.91 MWt), fish farming
(141 MWt), agricultural drying (22.41 MWt), industrial process heating (15.43 MWt) and snow melting (2.53 Mwt). Mitigation is
expected in the utilization and new installments of the direct use applications if governmental encouragement is not adequate.
However, the USA still possesses one of the highest geothermal energy utilizers throughout the world.
The USA quantitatively holds the leading position in geothermal electricity production although it is significantly lower in
terms of electricity production per capita. The total production corresponds to 16,600 GWh per year net 2.5 MW under operation
in California, Utah, Hawaii, and Nevada with some new installations in other states (New Mexico, Wyoming, and Oregon). 350
MWe newly installed capacity has been accomplished in the last 5 years led by the state of California. As additional information,
the binary cycle under production in Alaska shows the lowest geothermal fluid temperature utilization by 741C only with a total of
0.73 MWe with three units. This is considered to be a world record and a breakthrough technology that can be utilized in many
parts of the world with low-temperature geothermal fluid [23]. The total of geothermal areas in the USA are around 2 million km2,
which shows this significant source of energy might be further utilized to compensate a reasonable amount of communities’
energy requirement by providing differing forms of energies. The western part of the country occupies more than 80% of the
overall projects. A strategic plan declares that it is desired to exponentially increase the geothermal electricity, which may take up to
8 years to accomplish for exploration, installation, and operation [4].
1.17.4.2 China
China is one of the largest geothermal energy-utilizing countries in East Asia, with its vast land and geothermal sources with
varying source temperatures for direct and indirect energy production utilization. Greenhouse and aquaculture heating is supplied
for an area of more than 30,000 m2 in the country, with automatic humidity control and almost 3500% increase provided from
2004 to 2014 for GHP utilization, covering more than 330 million m2 area. The largest GHP capacity belongs to the Shenyang area
followed by Beijing. Overall, the largest direct use belongs to district heating followed by greenhouse heating, fish farming,
agricultural drying, industrial process heating, bathing and swimming, and GHPs, totaling 17,870 MWt direct geothermal
energy use.
Using geothermal fluids for bathing, agriculture, and fish farming has continued to be the major application. There has been a
rapid development in the use of GHPs across the country. Renewable energy accounts for about 26% of the total heating and
cooling requirements of the Olympic venues in Beijing and served as a good demonstration of the use of these forms of energy.
In 2007, Chinese and Australian experts signed an agreement to undertake a survey of likely sites for the development of enhanced
geothermal systems. A program of work has been established in 2009 and it was hoped to have an in-depth study in
2010 of suitable sites [4,24]. Medium- and low-temperature geothermal direct uses are well developed in China; however, the
electricity generation is at an early stage. It is expected that the total power generation capacity of the country will be doubled with
a large-capacity power plant under construction in Yangyi, Tibet. An exploration of a power plant was made in Tibet in 1977, and
there was no progress in geothermal power production in China, except for an increased capacity of the same plant by 1991. One
of the main concerns from a basic human health standpoint is the environmental problems resulting from large coal-based power
and heating generation, which simply jeopardizes the human life and ecology throughout the country. Additionally, the emissions
from this country are also transferred to neighboring countries in the east (South Korea and Japan), resulting in political tensions.
Direct and indirect use of geothermal energy might – in the long term – be a significant contributor to decrease emissions and
provide sustainable energy [24]. Some wells show up to 3301C in the country at depths above 1500 m, which is suitable for use in
power generation.
1.17.4.3 Russia
Russia has by far the largest land area in the world with many untouched resources ranging from fossil fuels to geothermal energy.
The country is one of the highest geothermal energy utilizers in the world; however, looking from the per capita and/or per land
side, performance of the country in terms of geothermal energy utilization is drastically low. Since the country is already rich in
fossil fuels, short-term policies are made for renewable energy resources. Mainly district and greenhouse heating are highly
developed in many regions of the country, as well as much thermal water, steam, and hydrothermal field presence in the country.
More than 50% of the overall extracted geothermal energy is utilized for district heating and the remaining is shared by greenhouse
heating and industrial process heating. Additionally, 190 facilities and resorts are present to bottle the geothermal water in many
parts. GHP applications are at early stages, and direct utilization share is generally for individual space heating, district heating,
greenhouse heating, fish and cattle raising, agricultural drying, swimming, and bathing and industrial processing, totaling
308 MWt [25].
Around 2 GWe electricity production capacity is available in the country and several other projects for further geothermal
power generation are on the way, where installed plants generate around 76 MWe power throughout the country. Further
explorations and higher power generation are required considering the vastness of the country [25].
1.17.4.4 Japan
Japan is a country that well utilizes its resources, by combining conventional and novel technologies for both direct and
indirect geothermal energy utilization. However, recent years’ data do not show any significant change in direct utilization. The
shallow water geothermal energy is available nationwide due to its geological location; however, sources utilizable for power
generation and other medium- and high-temperature applications are available around where hot springs are abundant. GHP,
space heating and cooling, snow melting, and domestic hot water use are common nationwide from low- and medium-tem-
perature sources. Japan’s potential for geothermal energy is very large and the total geothermal power generation is only one-
fortieth of the overall capacity corresponding to 500 MWe, and has remained unchanged for more than 10 years. However,
governmental policies on geothermal energy utilization are now being reviewed, especially after the Fukushima nuclear plant
disaster [26].
1.17.4.5 France
A sixfold increase from 2006 to 2020 has been expected by France for geothermal heat use mainly with GDH and GHPs.
Governmental policies encourage private project holders to further utilize renewable energy sources to compensate the energy
requirement of the nation from renewable energy sources. A heat fund was established in 2009 that aimed to increase the number
of projects. As mentioned before, many district heating applications are present in the Paris region. Many direct energy applica-
tions are available throughout the country for district heating, GHP, greenhouse heating, and individual space heating, totaling
58.6 MWt. Combined heat and power (cogeneration) plant projects are emerging in the country even though the electrical power
generation is limited to overseas so far (i.e., Caribbean and Guadalupe). A plant of only about 1.5 MWe is under operation as the
first geothermal power generation facility in the country [26].
1.17.4.6 Iceland
The abundance and availability of geothermal energy sources make this country the highest-ranking geothermal energy user in
many applications. Up to 86% of the overall energy requirements of this country is compensated by geothermal energy. In
addition to the electricity generation applications, there are numerous opportunities in using the geothermal sources directly, as
listed below (see Ref. [27] for details):
• Space Heating: Cost of heating and fossil fuel imports are significantly decreased by using this technology throughout the
country, as well as decreased environmental footprints. Most of the country’s heating demand are already compensated by
geothermal direct use; however, exploration of new sources is still ongoing to completely utilize this energy source for further
utilization in heating.
• Swimming and Bathing: Since Iceland is relatively a cold country with long periods of winter, indoor activities such as
swimming and recreational bathing are popular among people with increased attention in recent years. Also, there are outdoor
swimming pools, which provide higher-temperature water for use even in cold winter times, ranging from 35 to 421C. Some
major swimming facilities in the country are Laugardalslaug, Bjarnarflag, Mývatn, and Hveragerdi, and contain many types of
geothermal swimming options such as water treatments and clay baths. Heating of swimming pools requires around 1600 TJ
per year in Iceland, with increased attention.
• Snow Melting: Iceland is one of highest snowing countries per square meter due to its latitude and long snow showers in
winters may make even the main roads inaccessible. Spent geothermal water from residents is discharged at around 351C,
which is adequate to deice walk yards, sidewalks, and nearby roads. The main motivation is generally to either deice the snow
or to make it easy to remove, thus at off-peak times geothermal water input to residents at high temperatures is mixed with the
spent water to make the energy content of the deicing process higher. Most sidewalks in Reykjavik are deiced using geothermal
water with some streets in the downtown area. The maximum heat output from this system is 180 W/m2, which is adequate to
deice sidewalks. Presently, 70,000 m2 area is covered with snow melting applications and the annual energy consumption for
snow melting processes are 430 kWh/m2, and the total geothermal energy consumption for this application is around 1900 TJ
per year.
• Fish Drying: Fish drying with geothermal water is already accepted as a conventional method in Iceland, as this method has
already been used for more than three decades. The country is abundant with many types of fish, which is one of the most
consumed meat products in Iceland. Salted fish, stock fish, cod heads, and many other fish types are dried using geothermal
heat. Traditional methods have generally been to dry the fish outdoors; however, variable weather conditions made this process
longer, and so indoor drying is presently chosen as the drying method. Up to 12,000 t of dried fish is exported from the
country, and generally exported to Nigeria and to some other countries for consumption. A high-temperature geothermal steam
at 2201C is utilized to produce more than 2500 t of dried fish by the company Haustak. Many other small- to medium-size
companies are present for fish drying in Iceland.
• Commercial Liquid CO2 Production: A facility in South Iceland produces commercial liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) derived
from gas containing geothermal wells. The CO2 content in a geothermal field in Haedenardi is 1.4% by weight and has been
under operation for more than 20 years. The extracted gas is almost pure CO2 with a very low content of hydrogen sulfide. This
field produces 3000 t of CO2 annually, which is utilized in many industrial and medical sectors throughout the country. A large
amount of calcium carbonate scaling can also be produced from this field; however, this is prevented by a system of heat
exchangers.
• Methanol Production: 1.7 million liters of methanol has been produced by an American company in Iceland for over 4 years.
The product is blended with gasoline for car engine fueling and as feedstock for biodiesel, and the facility uses the CO2
emissions from a geothermal power facility. With the CO2, hydrogen is also required for methanol production, which is
produced by water electrolysis. An annual power production of 5000 L per year is planned by utilizing CO2 from geothermal
power plants.
• Salt Production: Two salt facilities have recently been established in Iceland utilizing geothermal energy for production of
table salt. One of them is Nordursalt, who uses 30 L/s of 701C from a nearby seaweed plant’s hot wastewater, which is then
discharged to the sea. This water and a 1151C water form a geothermal well that is useful for heat regulation and is used for the
evaporation process for salt drying. The other salt factory is in Northwestern Iceland, and started its operation in 2011 utilizing
10 L/s of 90–951C hot water from a geothermal well that is cooled down to 701C in the salt production process, with an annual
production capacity of 70–80 t.
• Greenhouse Heating: Greenhouse heating is under automatic control in most of the applications in the country, and can be
arranged for several products ranging from 10 to 251C and varying from crops to flowers. Temperature adjustment is also made
for variable daily temperatures in winter by manipulating the thermal energy input for greenhouses. Outdoor temperatures,
wind speed, heat losses, and many other factors are the main heat loss reasons that specify the average heat requirement for a
greenhouse in Iceland corresponding to 3.67 GJ/m2. Some 600 TJ per year of geothermal energy is used in Iceland greenhouses.
• Aquaculture Heating (fish farming): At Reykjanes peninsula, a fish farming plant breeds warm-water Senegalese sole for 4 years
in Iceland. A 22,500 m2 plant is used as the first stage of a large indoor plant. A very large amount of sea water is used with an
outlet temperature of 351C heated by the geothermal energy and mixed with sea water to reach 211C, which is the optimum
living temperature for the farmed fish.
• Electricity Generation: Geothermal power production occupies a significant space in the overall electricity generation in Iceland,
resulting from a relatively fast development of the geothermal power applications during the past 15 years. 663 MWe power
production is obtained from the geothermal generating plants, while it totaled 5245 GWh in 2013, which accounted for 29% of
the total electricity production in Iceland. There is still a very large potential in the country for the share of the geothermal
power to significantly increase, since there is an abundance of medium- and high-temperature geothermal energy sources
suitable for power generation applications.
Overall, Iceland is the only sample country in the world that utilizes geothermal energy in nearly 15 sectors, even including
production of chemicals and byproducts such as CO2. Previous sections of this chapter introduced the direct utilization methods
of geothermal energy, all of which are under efficient and continuous use in Iceland. Abundant sources, low population, and
consciousness of renewable energy utilization make Iceland the world leader in geothermal energy utilization. Figs. 6 and 7 also
indicate that even though Iceland has a very low population compared to the rest of Europe, this country leads in power
generation and is in the top three in direct utilization.
1.17.4.7 Turkey
Geothermal potential in Turkey is one of the highest in the world and its utilization goes back to medieval ages, providing a high
amount of practice and expertise on geothermal energy utilization ranging from district heating to thermal tourism. The Turkish
government initiated many explorations and establishment easing laws, thus entrepreneurs have been attracted to such business
for both direct use and electricity generation with newly established technologies on the shelf. More than 200 geothermal fields
have been explored in Turkey since 1967 and direct use applications reached up to 3000 MWt, where the highest share belongs to
district heating (about 25%) followed by greenhouse heating (20%), thermal tourism (12%), and the remaining belongs to GHP
applications, balneological use, etc. Turkey is one of the most agriculture-dense countries and still a high percentage of
employment is provided in this sector. Variable weather conditions in the country have been encouraging many farmers to utilize
their lands with greenhouses during the winter to supply for increasing population and demand. In particular, the part of the
country intertidal of the Mediterranean is generally warm in winters; however, heating is still needed for greenhouse heating.
Individual space heating, district heating, greenhouse heating, agricultural heating, bathing and swimming, and GHP applications
are the main direct use methods, where Turkey is not well developed in GHP applications even though the climate and weather
conditions are suitable for this application. The total installed capacity of direct energy use is 45,126 TJ per year in Turkey, where
the highest share belongs to bathing and swimming applications [28].
Geothermal power production has reached up to 400 MWe where coproduction of liquid CO2 and dry ice production is
possible in several geothermal power plants mainly established in the Aegean part of the country. The overall explored geothermal
capacity in Turkey is so far investigated to be 5046 MWt. Since 2010 many electricity production plants have been installed and are
still under operation, which made Turkey one of the highest geothermal power–generating countries in the world. By 2018, it aims
to produce more than 750 MWt power production and more than 4000 MWt direct utilization, and Turkey is on the route for this
process, with recent developments showing that this target might even be accomplished sooner than the target year. The Tenth
Development Plan in Turkey published by the Ministry of Development suggests accelerating the exploration of geothermal energy
sources for an increased domestic energy production [28].
With the assistance of the Ministry of Energy, research on geothermal source exploration has been accelerated, resulting in a
significant increase in the explored geothermal energy from 3100 to 5000 MWt. With new laws published for geothermal sources,
private enterprises began to explore geothermal sources and the visible energy increased up to 14,000 MWt. The following
enhancements and developments have been realized from 2002 to 2015: [29]
2015 lnstalled capacity

>5000 GWh
1000−5000 GWh
100−1000 GWh
<1000
No data
5245 GWh 441 GWh
35 GWh
115 GWh
0.4 GWh
196 GWh
3127 GWh
5660 GWh
Fig. 6 Installed geothermal electricity by 2015 in Europe. Data from Bertani R. Geothermal power generation in the world 2010–2014 update
report. In: Proc. world geothermal congress; 2015. p. 1–19.
Installed capacity
(GWH/year)
>10000
1000−10000
100−1000
<100
Capacity
Country (GWh y−1)
Sweden 14,423
Turkey 12,536
lceland 7422
Germany 5425
Finland 5000
France 4407
Switzerland 3290
Hungary 2852
ltaly 2411
Norway 2294
Austria 1816
Netherlands 1785
Russia 1706
Denmark 1043
Fig. 7 Direct geothermal energy use by 2015 in Europe. Data from Lund JW, Boyd TL. Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2015 worldwide
review. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. p. 1–31.
• number of geothermal fields for electricity production have been increased from 16 to 25;
• direct utilization of geothermal energy for greenhouse heating is increased by 686%;
• geothermal residential heating is increased by 281%;
• electricity production is increased from 15 MWe to 625.63 MWe, corresponding to 3925%; and
• visible geothermal heat capacity, if the country is increased by 366%, from 3100 MWt to 14,000 MWt.
The Turkish Geothermal Association estimates that with a purchase guarantee of the Turkish Government with a feed-in-cost of
0.20 USD/kWh for the next 25 years, interest in geothermal electricity production would be significantly increased. The target
geothermal electricity production of the country is 1500 MWe by 2023, which is the 100th anniversary of the country [28].
1.17.4.8 Germany
Use of GHPs is common in this country and mostly, heat pump capacities range from 10 to 14 kW related to the working
fluid used in the system (water/water or brine/water systems). In office buildings up to 100 kW of GHPs are under use and even a
1-MWt heat pump installment is present in big office buildings totaling almost 555,000 heat pump applications, with 21 large
applications and reaching up to 16,200 TJ/yr. The remaining direct use applications can be sorted as district heating (1401 TJ/yr)
and individual space heating (1909 TJ/yr), totaling 19,531 TJ of direct geothermal energy use annually [30].
Germany is the first country to use Kalina cycle to convert geothermal energy to electrical power from medium-temperature
sources. It is well known that the technology used makes the efficiency of Kalina cycle higher than ORCs working at the same
low–high temperature reservoirs, resulting in an efficient conduction of geothermal energy. This technology is also used for district
heating purposes by extracting heat from heat-releasing exchangers of the cycle. The power production from relatively large plants
reaches up to 27 MWe, and the government still encourages research and development on such plants to convert thermal energy
into power by increasing the tariff to 0.25 €/kWh [30].
1.17.4.9 Switzerland
Power generation is not present in the country from deep geothermal sources, whereas indirect use has been one of the success
stories for the nation, varying from its use in the oldest thermal spas to residential heating. Use of GHPs has been present in the
country for more than a century and the annual growth rate is still almost 12%. Shallow geothermal water utilization is restricted
due to some environmental concerns unless it is not naturally used in applications. Most of the produced geothermal heat is
supplied for GHP applications and used in two methods; the first one is borehole heat exchangers, and the second one is
groundwater systems, deep aquifers, geo-structures, tunnel water, etc. Also, GHP systems are growing for both heating and cooling
applications in the country, with the highest density and highest drill-length borehole heat exchangers’ total length reaching to
2600 km. Total geothermal energy utilization in the country reached up to 11,836 TJ annually by 2015, and the biggest share
belongs to GHP systems, whereas district heating, fish farming, and bathing and swimming are other major applications utilizing
geothermal heat in the country [31].
1.17.4.10 Australia
Australia has a large territory with many unexplored areas and therefore not so many applications are available; however,
geothermal energy utilization in the country is not far behind those utilizing this energy source efficiently. A total of 194 TJ/yr
geothermal energy is utilized for fish farming, bathing and swimming, and GHPs. Recently, commissioning of a deep well
geothermal power plant has been made for a 1-MWe plant; however, interest in geothermal exploration has been decreasing and
many companies are leaving the business [32].
1.17.4.11 New Zealand

Geothermal power production in the country is increasing impressively due to having high-enthalpy resources fit for power
generation using several conversion technologies. Another motivation is that the cost of electricity from geothermal energy is the
lowest compared to other renewable or fossil-based resources. Geothermal power contribution to the country’s overall production
is around 16% and significant increase in this share is expected with newly planned facilities that might bring additional power
generation. Presently, the total power generation is around 1000 MWe, one of the highest rates in the world. Direct utilization is
mainly for GHPs (69 TJ/yr), individual space heating (289 TJ/yr), greenhouse heating (366 TJ/yr), fish farming (196 TJ/yr), animal
farming (2 TJ/yr), industrial processing (5043 TJ/yr), bathing and swimming (1375 TJ/yr), totaling 8621 TJ/yr through the country
by 2015 [33].
1.17.4.12 Canada
Canada is one of the largest countries in the world, with a vast land area that probably hosts a significant amount of geothermal
energy ranging from low- to high-temperature geothermal water that might be possible to extract from depths up to 1500 m. Use
of geothermal energy from shallow geothermal sources is applied to the GHP systems in the eastern part of the country with an
average capacity of 14 kW per unit operating 3000 h annually with medium coefficient of performance values totaling an installed
capacity of 11,338 TJ/year. 60% of GHP applications account for residential applications, and the remaining belong to industrial
and small–large office applications.
There have been many policy limitations in the country for substantial explorations of geothermal resources for power
generation. An estimation of over 5 GWe is present in the country and new technologies are to make this potential 15 GWe, which
would contribute to Canada’s power generation significantly. Currently, six projects are developing in the country [34].
1.17.4.13 Other Countries

A brief reporting on some other countries is also provided in this section, with general information on their progress in geothermal
energy utilization [4]:
• Argentina: Two 30-MWe capacity plants are possible at different parts of the country from newly drilled deep wells with the
expectation that private investors will utilize this source, which requires an investment cost of around USD 100 million. Low-
and high-enthalpy resources are still under investigation, and low-enthalpy resources are under use for recreational purposes in
many parts of the country.
• Costa Rica: Great development of exploration and investigation of geothermal energy has been observed in the country. An
up-to-165-MWe power generation plant is still under operation with newly commissioned plants that are expected to produce
40 MWe power with another plant being planned. 15% of the total electricity generation of the country is compensated
by geothermal power, which makes this country one of the highest geothermal power utilizers per capita compared to
other countries in the world.
• El Salvador: 24% of this country’s electrical energy requirement is provided by geothermal power plants, from a 204-MWe total
installed capacity up to 40-MWe new plants that are planned to be installed and in operation by 2020 to respond to increasing
population in the country. Additionally, new explorations show that capacities of 30 MWe and 50 MWe are reachable from
newly explored high-enthalpy geothermal energy sources.
• Guatemala: The accessible potential of the country is around 1 GWe with 14 identified areas through the country, while two
plants generating 50 MWe are under operation. Direct use has been applied for domestic heating, medical uses and agriculture,
thermal baths and spas, drying and fruit dehydration, totaling around 4 TJ geothermal energy utilization annually.
• Kenya: The total capacity of the country is around 10 GWe and the country is working hard to harvest this energy into
electricity. There is already a 600-MWe power plant under operation since 1985, to which a 300-MWe addition has been made
in the last 2 years. Some companies are also harvesting this energy to produce direct heating and electricity production.
A 100 MWe plant is under construction and further exploration is ongoing for an expected amount of 1500 MWe power
generation capacity. Since the country is in a warm climate, direct utilization for residential purposes has not been considered
as a necessity; however, direct energy utilization is performed for many other sectors such as dehumidification and crop drying.
• Mexico: In Mexico, 840-MWe power generation facilities are under operation, with the installed capacity around 1020 MWe.
Two geothermal power projects are under construction with a planned rate of 77 MWe, which would end up representing 2.4%
of country’s total electricity requirement. Geothermal energy is almost solely used to generate electricity in the country and not
so many direct use applications are present. Conventional direct use applications such as swimming and bathing, food and
crop drying, and greenhouse heating are available with small capacities.
• Nicaragua: The total geothermal power generation in the country accounts for 10% of its power requirement even though the
explored capacity is around 1100 MWe, which might be adequate to represent the overall electricity requirement of the country.
• Philippines: The government has initiated many incentives regarding promotion, exploration, and development of geothermal
sources through the country, with the 1870 MWe installed geothermal power facilities representing around 14% of the
country’s overall requirement; there is still ongoing research to further increase this rate by exploring new fields suitable for
power generation from geothermal energy.
• Portugal: Geothermal power generation on some islands in this country represents up to 40% of overall electrical energy
requirement of these islands; however, the mainland does not have significant such resources for power generation so the main
focus is on direct utilization of geothermal energy by district heating, greenhouse heating, and many balneological applications
throughout the country.
• Netherlands: The uses of geothermal energy by category in the country are 100 MWt and 1426 TJ/yr for greenhouse heating, and
690 MWt and 5000 TJ/yr for GHPs. Thus, the total for the country is 790 MWt and 6426 TJ/yr [35].
• United Kingdom. Direct utilization is made for district heating applications, balneology, and ground-source heat pumps
totaling 1906.5 TJ/yr by 2015 from low-enthalpy geothermal energy resources.
• Indonesia: The expected potential of this large country is around 28 GWe, which might be a very large energy contributor for
the country in the long term if used efficiently, especially for power generation applications. Presently, the installed power
capacity in the country is 1340 MWe, and it is planned to increase this rate up to 6000 MWe by 2025 to provide 5% of the total
power requirement nationwide. It is also advantageous for the country that high-enthalpy resources are not just in one region
of the country and there are more than 300 explored areas that provide geothermal energy grade suitable for power generation,
and expenses on grid connections could be phased out with these small-sized plants with energy security. Considering its
potential, an overall utilization might compensate more than 20% of Indonesia’s power requirement, which is a significant
value when considering a population of more than 200 million.
Table 3 Installed direct and electricity production capacities by 2015
Country Electricity (GW/h) Direct (GWh/year) Country Electricity (GW/h) Direct (GWh/year)
Albania N/A 29.89 Japan 2687 7258.94

Algeria N/A 472.25 Jordan N/A 427.81
Argentina N/A 277.81 Kenya 2848 50.73
Armenia N/A 6.25 Korea N/A 2682.65
Australia N/A 53.99 Latvia N/A 8.84
Austria N/A 1816.26 Lithuania N/A 198.04
Belarus N/A 31.54 Macedonia N/A 166.99
Belgium N/A 24.01 Madagascar N/A 21
Bosnia N/A 23.92 Mexico 6071 1158.70
Brazil N/A 1839.70 Mongolia N/A 94.58
Bulgaria N/A 340.14 Morocco N/A 13.89
Canada N/A 3226.65 Nepal N/A 22.53
Caribbean N/A 2.78 Netherlands N/A 1785.14
Chile N/A 51.7 New Zealand 7000 8621.00
China N/A 48,434.99 Nicaragua 492 N/A
Columbia N/A 80.5 Norway N/A 2294.63
Costa N/A 21 Pakistan N/A 0.68
Croatia N/A 190.15 P. New Guinea 432 0.1
Czech N/A 1790.00 Peru N/A 16.95
Denmark N/A 1043.14 Philippines 9646 11
Ecuador N/A 28.45 Poland N/A 761.89
Egypt N/A 24.45 Portugal 196 132.84
El Salvador 1442 56 Romania 0.4 529.3
Estonia N/A 98.9 Russia 441 1706.66
Ethiopia 10 11.56 Saudi Arabia N/A 42.47
Finland N/A 5000.40 Serbia N/A 500.73
France 115 4407.85 Slovak Rep. N/A 686.05
Georgia N/A 193.12 Slovenia N/A 315.93
Germany 35 5425.80 South Africa N/A 10.28
Greece N/A 368.49 Spain N/A 95.8
Greenland N/A 5.83 Sweden N/A 14,423.38
Guatemala 237 15.68 Switzerland N/A 3288.26
Honduras N/A 12.5 Tajikistan N/A 15.39
Hungary N/A 2852.47 Thailand 1.2 328.14
Iceland 5245 7422 Tunisia N/A 101.12
India N/A 1195.10 Turkey 3127.00 12,536.00
Indonesia 9600 11.83 Ukraine N/A 33
Iran N/A 306.45 UK N/A 529.63
Ireland N/A 344.62 USA 16,600 21,074.52
Israel N/A 609.22 Venezuela N/A 3.89
Italy 5660 2411.9 Vietnam N/A 25.65
Source: Adapted from Lund J W, Boyd T L. Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2015 worldwide review. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. p. 1–31.
Bertani R. Geothermal power generation in the world 2010–2014 update report. In: Proc. world geothermal congress; 2015. p. 1–19.
Some countries with mainly power generation applications are discussed in this section with their capacities and future
prospects. Geothermal direct utilization is present in many countries with mainly conventional methods. However, new tech-
nologies for GHP and district heating applications may – in the long term – contribute to decreased emissions due to fossil fuel
utilization for residential and industrial heating and cooling purposes. Present power generation applications are promising;
however, considering the capacities of all countries investigated here, there is still a long way ahead to efficiently and fully utilize
the capacity lying underground by using high technology power conversion applications. Many other applications for various
countries are reported in detail elsewhere [5,23]. This section covers some selected countries with recent geothermal energy
installed loads. Figs. 6 and 7 represent geothermal energy utilization and their capacities for Europe. Many countries somehow
utilize the geothermal energy for direct utilization while electricity production is not present in most of these countries. This is
possibly due to the grade of the heat from the geothermal energy, as low-temperature sources may not be feasible for electricity
production. However, there has been research and development to produce electricity from low-temperature geothermal sources
such as the Kalina cycle. The transcritical CO2 cycle can also be a good candidate to utilize low-temperature geothermal energy
sources.
Table 3 shows the 2015 data for direct and indirect energy production from geothermal sources for various countries in the
world. The USA is the highest geothermal energy consumer with its abundant sources for both direct and indirect applications,
followed by China. Considering their populations, Iceland, Italy, and Turkey are the most geothermal-utilizing countries in many
applications. Projections for the year 2020 are also presented in Refs. [5,23].
1.17.5 Analyses and Performance Assessment
Energy comes in many forms and thermodynamics plays a key role in the analysis of processes, systems, and devices, in which
energy transfers and energy transformations occur. The implications of thermodynamics are far-reaching and applications span
the range of the human enterprise. Throughout our technological history, our ability to harness energy and use it for society’s
needs has improved. The industrial revolution was fueled by the discovery of how to exploit energy on a large scale and how to
convert heat into work. A very important class of problems in engineering thermodynamics concerns systems or substances that
can be modeled as being in equilibrium or stable equilibrium, but that are not in mutual stable equilibrium with the
surroundings. For example, within the Earth there are reserves of fuels that are not in mutual stable equilibrium with the
atmosphere and the sea. The requirements of mutual chemical equilibrium are not met. Any system at a temperature above or
below that of the environment is not in mutual stable equilibrium with the environment. In this case, the requirements of
mutual thermal equilibrium are not met. Any lack of mutual stable equilibrium between a system and the environment can be
used to produce shaft work.
Exergy has the characteristic that it is conserved only when all processes occurring in a system and the environment are
reversible. Exergy is destroyed whenever an irreversible process occurs. When an exergy analysis is performed on a plant such as a
power station, a chemical processing plant, or a refrigeration facility, the thermodynamic imperfections can be quantified as exergy
destructions, which represent losses in energy quality or usefulness (e.g., wasted shaft work or wasted potential for the production
of shaft work). Like energy, exergy can be transferred or transported across the boundary of a system. For each type of energy
transfer or transport, there is a corresponding exergy transfer or transport. Exergy analysis takes into account the different
thermodynamic values of different energy forms and quantities, for example, work and heat. The exergy transfer associated with
shaft work is equal to the shaft work. The exergy transfer associated with heat transfer, however, depends on the temperature
at which it occurs in relation to the temperature of the environment. Some important characteristics of exergy are described and
illustrated [36]:
• A system in complete equilibrium with its environment does not have any exergy. No difference appears in temperature,
pressure, concentration, etc. so there is no driving force for any process.
• The exergy of a system increases the more it deviates from the environment. For instance, a specified quantity of hot water has a
higher exergy content during the winter than on a hot summer day. A block of ice carries little exergy in winter, whereas it can
have significant exergy in summer.
• When energy loses its quality, exergy is destroyed. Exergy is the part of energy that is useful and therefore has economic value
and is worth managing carefully.
• Exergy by definition depends not just on the state of a system or flow, but also on the state of the environment.
• Exergy efficiencies are a measure of approach to ideality (or reversibility). This is not necessarily true for energy efficiencies,
which are often misleading.
• Exergy can generally be considered a valuable resource. There are both energy or nonenergy resources and exergy is observed to
be a measure of value for both.
• Energy forms with high exergy contents are typically more valued and useful than energy forms with low exergy. Fossil fuels, for
instance, have high energy and exergy contents. Waste heat at a near environmental condition, on the other hand, has little
exergy, even though it may contain much energy, and thus, is of limited value. Solar energy, which is thermal radiation emitted
at the temperature of the Sun (approximately 5800K), contains much energy and exergy.
• A concentrated mineral deposit “contrasts” with the environment and thus has exergy. This contrast and exergy increase with
the concentration of the mineral. When the mineral is mined, the exergy content of the mineral is retained; if it is enriched or
purified, the exergy content increases. A poor quality mineral deposit contains less exergy and can accordingly be utilized only
through a larger input of external exergy. Today, this substitution of exergy often comes from exergy forms such as coal and oil.
When a concentrated mineral is dispersed, the exergy content is decreased.
As mentioned above, thermodynamic analysis of a system is based on the thermophysical and the chemical properties of
individual streams throughout the studied control region. Therefore, mass, energy, entropy, and exergy balances of any component
are required to determine efficiencies, inefficiencies, exergy destructions, and component costs. The following concepts provide
brief information for model development (see Ref. [36] for details).
The mass, energy, entropy, and exergy balances are required in the first step of the exergy analysis to determine the heat
input/output, entropy generation rate, exergy destructions, and energy and exergy efficiencies. The mass balance equation for a
steady-state condition is as follows:
X X dmCV
_ in ¼
m _ out þ
m ð1Þ
dt
where the second definition at the right-hand side is canceled when the flow is steady. Energy balance of a system can be defined
by considering all forms of energy within a system:

1 2 1 2
DEsys ¼ mDesys ¼ m uout þ vout þ gzout uin þ vin þ gzin ð2Þ
2 2
where u stands for internal energy, v is the velocity of the corresponding flow, g is the gravity, and z is the height. Energy of a
nonflowing thermodynamic system is defined as
1
e ¼ u þ v2 þ gz ð3Þ
2
Total energy of a flowing matter can be defined as sum of nonflow energy and flow work:
y ¼ e þ Pv ð4Þ
Energy balance of an open system can now be defined as follows:
X X X X X X
_ þ
my Q_ in þ _ in ¼
W _ þ
my _ out þ
Q _ out þ dðmeÞ
W ð5Þ
in out
dt sys
where the fourth definition at the right-hand side is canceled when the flow is steady. When kinetic and potential energies are
canceled, the sum of internal energy and the flow work correspond to enthalpy of the individual stream. Entropy balance of an
open system can be expressed in rate form as the sum of entropy input and generated entropy, and is equal to the sum of entropy
of output and change of control volume entropy as follows:
X X dSsys
S_ in þ S_ gen ¼ S_ out þ ð6Þ
dt
If there is heat transfer across the boundary of a control volume, then the balance equation becomes
X X Z dQ _ X X Z dQ_ dðSÞ
_ þ
ms þ S_ gen ¼ _ þ
ms þ ð7Þ
in in
T out out
T dt CV
The above equation can be further simplified by considering a steady and adiabatic process:
X X
_ þ S_ gen ¼
ms _
ms ð8Þ
in out
Exergy of a nonflow system is the sum of all forms of exergy, and flow exergy is the sum of nonflow exergy and flow work as
expressed below:
Exnf ¼ Ex ph þ Ex kin þ Ex pot þ Ex ch ð9Þ
Ex f ¼ Exnf þ ðP P0 ÞV ð10Þ
Physical exergy of any stream is expressed as
Exph ¼ ðU U0 Þ þ P0 ðV V0 Þ T0 ðS S0 Þ ð11Þ
Here, U, V, and S are internal energy, volume, and entropy of a closed system, respectively. Kinetic and potential energies are
associated directly with work, which remains the same in exergy definition as expressed in energy balance definitions. For a control
volume, exergy balance of a system can now be expressed as
X X
_ þ mex
W _ þ Ex_ Q ¼ W_ þ mex
_ þ Ex_ Q þ dEx P0 ðdVCV Þ þ Ex_ d ð12Þ
in in
dt dt
Exd is the exergy destruction and it is associated with the entropy generation rate as follows:
_ d ¼ T0 S_ gen
Ex ð13Þ
Thermal exergy is associated with the corresponding heat transfer

_ Q ¼ 1 T0 Q
Ex _ ð14Þ
T
It should be noted that the second and the third definitions in Eq. (12) are canceled when the system is steady flow. One can
now perform efficiency assessments based on energy and exergy of any system by simply considering inputs and outputs to and
from the system. Energy and exergy efficiencies are expressed in a general form as follows:
Useful output
Zen ¼
Total input
Ex useful _ d
Ex
Zex ¼ ¼1 ð15Þ
Ex in Exin
Further efficiency definitions can be made by considering geothermal plants with and without reinjection. If reinjection is
present, the total energy and exergy input for energy production is considered as the difference between the fluid from the well and
the reinjected geothermal fluid. Without reinjection, the total input is taken solely as the geothermal fluid extracted from the
injection well. The following example simply describes energy and exergy contents of geothermal energy at well heads.
Example: Geothermal water at the head of a geothermal well is in saturated liquid form at 2001C. Calculate the energy and exergy
content of the fluid if the reference temperature is 251C.
Solution: To calculate the energy and exergy contents of the geothermal fluid, enthalpy, and entropy values are required:
Tf ¼ 2001C; xf ¼ 0 - hf ¼ 852:4 kJ=kg; and sf ¼ 2:331 kJ=kg K

For the exergy content calculation, reference properties should also be obtained using thermodynamic tables or available
software packages such as Engineering Equation Solver (EES):
T0 ¼ 25 1C; P0 ¼ 100 kPa - ho ¼ 104:8 kJ=kg; and so ¼ 0:3669 kJ=kg K
The specific energy content of the geothermal is equal to the fluid enthalpy,
Ef ¼ hf ¼ 852:4 kJ=kg
The exergy content of the fluid is calculated based on Eq. (11) as follows:
Ex f ¼ hf h0 T0 ðsf s0 Þ ¼ ð852:4 104:8ÞkJ=kg 298:15 Kð2:331 0:3669ÞkJ=kg K
Exf ¼ 162 kJ=kg
1.17.6 Case Studies
This section covers applications of three geothermal power production systems and their basic comparisons by applying ther-
modynamic tools such as energy and exergy efficiency assessments. Their superiorities and shortcomings are also discussed.
Case study 1: In a single-flash geothermal power plant as in Fig. 8, 200 kg/s saturated liquid geothermal water at 2201C is
isenthalpically flashed in a flashing chamber at a pressure ratio of 3, separated in saturated form in a vapor–liquid separator, and
vapor is utilized to produce power in a steam turbine with 85% isentropic efficiency. Discharged geothermal water from the
turbine is at 10 kPa, which is then condensed and reinjected to the well. Considering the given information, calculate the energy
and exergy efficiencies of the plant with and without reinjection.
For the given schematic diagram of the problem, the state point information of the plant is given in Table 4.
The total power production from this system is
_ tur ¼ m
W _ 5 ðh3 h5a Þ
Here, the mass flow rate at state 5 is obtained with the fraction of vapor at flash chamber outlet as follows:
_5 ¼m
m _ 2 x2 ¼ 200 0:11 ¼ 22:27 kg=s
3
x=1
Steam
Seperator
turbine
2
is = 85%
5
chamber
Flash
x=0 4
PR = 3
Condenser
T0 = 25° C
1
P0 = 100 kPa
Reinjection well
Production well
Fig. 8 A schematic diagram of the single-flash system with input data.

Table 4 State point information for the single-flash geothermal plant
State _ (kg/s)
m T (C) P (kPa) h (kJ/kg) s (kJ/kg K) x (–) ex (kJ/kg) E_ x (kW)
0 N/A 25 100 104.8 0.3669 Liquid 0 0

1 200 220 2318 943.5 2.518 0 197.8 39,558
2 200 169 772.6 943.5 2.549 0.11 188.3 37,667
3 177.7 169 772.6 2767 6.674 1 783 17,440
4 22.27 169 772.6 714.9 2.032 0 113.8 20,227
5 22.27 45.82 10 2212 6.982 0.84 135.6 3,021
6 200 45.82 10 191.8 0.6493 0 2.857 63.64
The actual enthalpy outlet from the turbine is calculated based on the definition of isentropic efficiency:
Zis ¼ 0:85 ¼ ðh3 h5a Þ=ðh3 h5s Þ
The turbine power is:
_ tur ¼ 22:27 kg=sð2767 2212ÞkJ=kg ¼ 12;378 kW
W
The energy and exergy efficiencies without regeneration are
_ tur
W 12;378 kW
Zen ¼ ¼ ¼ 6:56%
_E1 200 kg=s 943:5 kJ=kg
_ tur
W 12;378 kW
Zex ¼ ¼ ¼ 31:29%
_ 1
Ex 39;558 kW
The energy and exergy efficiencies with regeneration are
W_ tur
Zen ¼
E_ 1 E_ 4 E_ 6
12;378 kW
¼ ¼ 21:58%
200 kg=s 943:5 kJ=kg 177:7 kg=s 714:9 kJ=kg 22:27 kg=s 191:8 kJ=kg
_
W tur 12;378 kW
Zex ¼ ¼ ¼ 64:24%
Ex _ 1 Ex
_ 1 Ex _ 1 ð39;558 20;227 63:64ÞkW
It should be noted that the efficiency measures with regeneration are more meaningful since the unused energy is reinjected to
the well for future use. The exergy content of unused liquid at state 4 is significant. Therefore, double- and triple-flash options are
expected to be more efficient than those of the single-flash configuration. The pressure ratio is one of the main inputs of the system
where it has influencing effect on system performances. A parametric illustration presented in Fig. 9 depicts that increased pressure
ratio is favorable for enhanced energy and exergy efficiencies without reinjection, while it decreases the exergy efficiency for both
efficiency definitions made considering reinjection.
Case study 2: Consider the same input as in the first illustrative example, and utilize the same data for a double-flash geothermal
power plant as shown in Fig. 10. Here, the only pressure ratio is now assumed to be 2, while the reference properties are taken to
be the same. The pressure outlet of the second flash chamber is taken as the same as the high-pressure turbine outlet, and the
streams are mixed to be utilized in the low-pressure turbine. Calculate the energy and exergy efficiencies with and without
reinjection.
For the given schematics of this problem, the state point information of the plant is given in Table 5.
There are now two turbines producing power, and calculated as follows:
W _ HP þ W
_ tot ¼ W _ LP ¼ m
_ 3 ðh3 h5a Þ þ m
_ 8 ðh8 h9a Þ
Here, the mass flow rate at state 5 and state 8 are obtained with the fraction of vapor at flash chamber outlets as follows:
_3 ¼m
m _ 2 x2 ¼ 200 0:07 ¼ 15:25 kg=s
m _ 6 x6 þ m
_8¼m _ 5 ¼ 184:8 0:06 þ 15:25 ¼ 26:46 kg=s
The actual enthalpy outlets from both turbines are calculated based on the definition of isentropic efficiency:
Zis ¼ 0:85 ¼ ðh3 h5a Þ=ðh3 h5s Þ
The net power production is Zis ¼ 0:85 ¼ ðh8 h9a Þ=ðh8 h9s Þ
_ tur ¼ 15:25 kg=sð2783 2673Þ kJ=kg þ 26:46 kg=sð2708 2199Þ kJ=kg ¼ 15; 137 kW
W
0.3 0.7
en,w r
0.25
0.6
en,w r
Energy efficiency (−)
Exergy efficiency (–)

0.2
0.5
0.15
0.4
en,w tr
0.1
en,w tr
0.3
0.05
0 0.2
2 2.25 2.5 2.75 3 3.25 3.5 3.75 4
Pressure ratio (–)
Fig. 9 Pressure ratio effect on energy and exergy efficiencies.
x=1 3
HP
Seperator
turbine
2
is = 85%
5
chamber
Flash
x=1 7 8
x=0 4
LP
PR = 3 Flash
turbine
Seperator
chamber 6
is = 85% 9
1
T0 = 25° C
Condenser
P0 = 100 kPa
11
10
Production well Reinjection well
Fig. 10 A schematic diagram of the double-flash system with input data.
Table 5 State point information for the double-flash geothermal plant
State m_ (kg/s) T (1C) P (kPa) h (kJ/kg) s (kJ/kg K) x (–) ex (kJ/kg) _ (kW)

Ex
0 N/A 25 100 104.8 0.3669 Liquid 0 0

1 200 220 2318 943.5 2.518 0 197.8 39,558
2 200 186.4 1159 943.5 2.532 0.07623 193.5 38,699
3 15.25 186.4 1159 2783 6.535 1 840.3 12,810
4 184.8 186.4 1159 791.7 2.202 0 140.1 25,889
5 15.25 157.5 579.5 2673 6.58 0.9605 716.2 10,919
6 184.8 157.5 579.5 791.7 2.213 0.0607 136.9 25,285
7 11.22 157.5 579.5 2755 6.772 1 741.7 8,318
8 26.46 157.5 579.5 2708 6.661 0.9772 727 19,237
9 26.46 45.82 10 2199 6.943 0.8392 134.8 3,567
10 26.46 45.82 10 191.8 0.6493 0 2.857 75.6
11 173.5 157.5 579.5 664.8 1.918 0 97.77 16,968
0.3 0.7
0.25 0.65
en,wr
0.6
Energy efficiency (−)
Exergy efficiency (−)

0.2 en,wr
ηen,wr
0.55
0.15
en,wtr
0.5
0.1 en,wtr
0.45
0.05 0.4
0 0.35
2 2.25 2.5 2.75 3 3.25 3.5 3.75 4
Pressure ratio (−)
Fig. 11 Pressure ratio effect on energy and exergy efficiencies.

_ tur
W 15;137 kW
Zen ¼ ¼ ¼ 8:02%
E_ 1 200 kg=s 943:5 kJ=kg
W_ tur 15;137 kW
Zex ¼ ¼ ¼ 38:27%
_Ex 1 39;558 kW
The energy and exergy efficiencies with regeneration are

W_ tur
Zen ¼
_E1 E_ 10 E_ 11
15;137 kW
¼ ¼ 22:18%
200 kg=s 943:5 kJ=kg 173:5 kg=s 664:8 kJ=kg 26:46 kg=s 191:8 kJ=kg
W_ tur 12;378 kW
Zex ¼ ¼ ¼ 67:23%
_ 10 Ex
_Ex 1 Ex _ 11 ð39;558 16;968 75:6ÞkW
Compared to the single-flash geothermal power plant configuration, both energy and exergy efficiencies are significantly
increased by just utilizing the unused stream (state 4 in single-flash operation). A triple-flash option is expected to enhance both
energy and exergy efficiencies. The multiple-flash plants are configured to utilize the excess geothermal energy and are more
feasible options than the conventional single-flash plants. Fig. 11 shows that the pressure ratio effect is proportional to that of the
single-flash configuration, where both efficiencies are showing the same trend.
Case study 3: The same input parameters as in the single-flash geothermal power plant in the first illustrative example are
now considered for a binary geothermal power plant as shown in Fig. 12. Here, flashed geothermal fluid is separated at the
vapor–liquid separator, and the saturated water is used in a heat exchanger to release its energy to a closed loop R600a cycle for
power production. Simply, an approach temperature of 101C is assumed in the heat exchanger. Here, it is also expected that the
heat content of the R600a condenser is also at a high level that can be utilized for residential water heating purposes, in which
residential water at 151C is heated up to 601C. This way, it is possible to make a coproduction of water and power, leading to a
cogeneration plant. Considering an effectiveness of 85% for both the heat exchanger and the R600a condenser, calculate the energy
and exergy efficiencies of this configuration, again by considering with/without reinjection, and compare to those of the previously
mentioned configurations. Discuss the potential advantages of cogeneration.
For the given system of this problem, the state point information of the plant is given in Table 6.
As useful energy products, two turbines are producing power, and residential heating is provided using the R600a condenser.
The net power production is
_ net ¼ W
W _ ST þ W
_ T;R600a W
_ P;R600a ¼ m
_ 3 ðh3 h5a Þ þ m
_ 8 ðh8 h9a Þ m
_ 10 ðh11 h10a Þ
3
Seperator
Steam
turbine
2
5
chamber
9
Flash
4 R600a
turbine
13
condenser
8
heating
Water
R600a
12
1
exchanger
T0 = 25° C
Heat
10
Condenser
P0 = 100 kPa
11
Pump
7
Production well Reinjection well
Fig. 12 A schematic diagram of the combined flash and binary geothermal system with input data.
Table 6 State point information for the binary geothermal plant
State Ref _ (kg/s)

m T (1C) P (kPa) h (kJ/kg) s (kJ/kg K) x (–) ex (kJ/kg) E_ x (kW)
0 Water NA 25 100 104.8 0.3669 NA 0 0

00 R600a NA 25 100 599 2.515 NA 0 0
1 Water 200 220 2318 943.5 2.518 0 197.8 39,558
2 Water 200 169 772.6 943.5 2.549 0.1114 188.3 37,667
3 Water 22.27 169 772.6 2767 6.674 1 783 17,440
4 Water 177.7 169 772.6 714.9 2.032 0 113.8 20,227
5 Water 22.27 45.82 10 2212 6.982 0.8445 135.6 3,021
6 Water 22.27 45.82 10 191.8 0.6493 0 2.857 63.64
7 Water 177.7 45.4 772.6 190.8 0.6435 0 3.508 623.4
8 R600a 150 159 2700 814.1 2.688 sh 163.8 24,573
9 R600a 150 104 450 738.8 2.723 sh 77.87 11,683
10 R600a 150 33.84 450 281.4 1.279 0 50.9 7,637
11 R600a 150 35.4 2700 286.3 1.281 cl 55.09 8,266
12 Water 309.9 15 110 63.02 0.2242 cl 0.7062 218.9
13 Water 309.9 60 110 251.2 0.8311 Cl 8.053 2,496
Abbreviations: cl, compressed liquid; sh, superheated.
Here, the mass flow rate is at state 5 and is obtained with the fraction of vapor at flash chamber outlet as follows:
_3¼m
m _ 2 x2 ¼ 200 0:1114 ¼ 22:27 kg=s
Mass flow rate of the R600a can be calculated by writing an energy balance for the heat exchanger as follows:
m _ 7 h7 ¼ m
_ 4 h4 m _ 8 h8 m
_ 11 h11
_4¼m
Considering the mass balances for both streams, m _ 7 and m
_8¼m
_9¼m
_ 10 ¼ m
_ 11 ¼ m
_ R600a .
Replacing
_ R600a ð814:1 286:3Þ
0:85 ½177:7 kg=sð714:9 190:8ÞkJ=kg ¼ m
_ R600a ¼ 150 kg=s
m
The actual outlet enthalpies from both turbines are calculated based on the definition of isentropic efficiency:
Zis;T1 ¼ 0:85 ¼ ðh3 h5a Þ=ðh3 h5s Þ
Zis;T2 ¼ 0:85 ¼ ðh8 h9a Þ=ðh8 h9s Þ
Zis;P ¼ 0:85 ¼ ðh11s h10 Þ=ðh11a h10 Þ
Now, the total power production can be calculated as:

_ tot ¼ 22:27 kg=sð2767 2212ÞkJ=kg þ 150 kg=sð814:1 738:8ÞkJ=kg 150 kg=sð286:3 281:4ÞkJ=kg ¼ 22; 940 kW
W
The energy content of the residential water heating is essentially calculated as the energy gained by water at the ORC condenser,
and the rate of the residential water is
_ RWH ¼ m
Q _ 12 ðh13 h12 Þ
The mass flow rate of the residential water can be calculated by writing an energy balance for the R600a condenser as follows:
m _ 10 h10 ¼ m
_ 9 h9 m _ 13 h13 m
_ 12 h12
_9¼m
where m _ 10 and m
_ 12 ¼ m
_ 13 ¼ m
_ RWH :
_ RWH ð251:2 63:02Þ
0:85 ½150 kg=sð738:8 281:4Þ kJ=kg ¼ m
_ RWH ¼ 309:9 kg=s
m
Corresponding system also allows more than 300 kg/s water heating from 15 to 601C. The energy content of the water heating
is
_ RWH ¼ 309:9 kg=sð251:2 63:02Þ ¼ 58; 328 kW
Q
A high amount of useful energy can be obtained with this simple configuration by considering cogeneration with water heating.
Here, it is also crucial to determine the exergy content of this energy:
_ RWH ¼ Ex
Ex _ 13 Ex
_ 12 ¼ 2496 218:9 ¼ 2277 kW
_ net þ Q
W _ RWH 22;940 kW þ 58;328 kW
Zen ¼ ¼ ¼ 43:07%
_E1 200 kg=s 943:5 kJ=kg
W _ RWH
_ tur þ Ex 22;940 kW þ 2277 kW
Zex ¼ ¼ ¼ 63:75%
_ 1
Ex 39;558 kW
The energy and exergy efficiencies with regeneration are defined and calculated as follows:
W_ tur þ Q _ RWH
Zen ¼
E_ 1 E_ 10 E_ 11
22;940 kW þ 58;328 kW
Zen ¼ ¼ 53:99%
188;702 kW 38;177 kW
W _ RWH
_ tur þ Ex 22;940 kW þ 2277 kW
Zex ¼ ¼ ¼ 63:76%
_ 7 Ex
_Ex 1 Ex _ 6 ð39;558 623:4 63:64Þ kW
A significant increase in the energy efficiency with regeneration is obtained due to decreased input energy content while this
change is almost negligible for the exergy efficiency. This is due to very low exergy content of the reinjected streams, which may be
interpreted as a very successful energy conversion accomplished with this cogeneration plant. Fig. 13 represents the superiority of
the cogeneration plant. Even though the cogeneration option would not be considered, the net power production is also superior
to those of single- and double-flash configurations. In terms of exergy efficiencies with reinjection, all configurations represent
similar exergy efficiencies. This proves the qualitative assessment capability of exergy analysis, which not only considers the
quantitative amounts of energy forms, but also their quality.
The Kalina cycle, already under operation in Germany, is also one of the most promising energy conversion mechanisms that
utilizes medium temperature with high efficiencies. The Kalina cycle can be regarded as a modified Rankine cycle in that the
modifications complete the transformation of the cycle from Rankine to Kalina, consisting of system designs that specifically
exploit the virtues of the ammonia–water working fluid. These designs, either applied individually or integrated together in a
number of different combinations, comprise a family of unique Kalina cycle systems. This is somewhat analogous to the Rankine
80
70
60
Efficiency (–)
50
40
30
20
10
0
Energy Exergy Energy Exergy
Without reinjection With reinjection
Single flash Double flash Binary
Fig. 13 Comparison of illustrative examples.
cycle, which, in fact, has many design options such as reheat, regenerative heating, supercritical pressure, and dual pressure, all of
which can be applied in a number of different combinations in a particular plant [37].
1.17.7 Future Directions
This chapter presents geothermal energy use only for direct use and electricity production applications. However, the abundance
and degree of the geothermal energy may be further utilized to form several forms of energy such as hydrogen production,
absorption refrigeration and chilling, and/or several other processes that use electricity to generate many forms of energy. Geo-
thermal-based hydrogen production, which basically uses geothermal energy for hydrogen production, appears to be an envir-
onmentally conscious and sustainable option for the countries with abundant geothermal energy resources [38]. Hydrogen
production from geothermal resources can be accomplished by the following methodologies:
• Direct hydrogen production. This technology is based on direct separation of hydrogen from the geothermal steam if there are
technically recoverable amounts of hydrogen present in the steam. This technology is feasible in a field in Iceland with a 50 t
hydrogen production annually.
• Hydrogen production via electrolysis. This technology can only be accomplished from electrical application of geothermal
energy. Produced electricity is utilized to run an electrolysis unit to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This technology is
mature enough and is an off-the-shelf technology. However, high electricity demand is the main disadvantage, even though the
purity of the produced hydrogen can reach up to 100%. High-temperature electrolysis is another option for hydrogen pro-
duction, while there will be an additional requirement for increased temperatures with decreased electrical work consumption.
• Hydrogen production via hybrid thermochemical cycles. High electricity demand of conventional electrolysis systems and high-
temperature demand of pure thermochemical cycles might make geothermal energy utilization for hydrogen production
infeasible. Hybrid thermochemical cycles contain at least one thermochemical step with an electrolysis step. This way, it is
possible to produce hydrogen by utilizing less electrical energy than that of the conventional electrolysis at low to medium
temperatures than those of pure thermochemical cycles.
• Geothermal-based multigeneration systems. Energy content of geothermal energy can be used to produce more than one energy
form that might lead to a well-performing and efficient system. Based on the source temperature power, heating, cooling, drying,
humidification, hydrogen production, and many other useful forms of energy are obtainable from one single source.
Many thermoelectrochemical cycles have been proposed in order to decrease the reverse Deacon reaction temperature by
using electrical work lower than water electrolysis to make the cycle feasible. Lower-temperature cycles tend to consume more
electrical work to decrease the Gibbs energy to zero. Low maximum temperatures are the most important characteristics of
hybrid cycles to utilize heat from relatively low-temperature heat sources such as nuclear and solar energy. The hybrid chlorine
cycle (Hallett Air Products) is a two-step process with an electrochemical reaction. Separation of the mixture of oxygen and HCl
is a very challenging process, and achieving a reasonable yield of reactants can be accomplished at and above 8501C with excess
steam. HCl electrolysis theoretically requires 0.99 V for 1 mol of hydrogen production. Since aqueous HCl production is
expected from the thermochemical step of the hybrid chlorine cycle, where the electrical requirement increases up to 2 V, it can
not compete with the conventional water electrolysis. Thus, this cycle may not compete with water electrolysis unless anhydrous
HCl is utilized as the electrolysis input. Another two-step hybrid process has been denoted as the CuCl–C cycle. The ther-
mochemical step produces HCl and CuCl, where these substances are the inputs for the electrochemical step. Concentration of
HCl gas is again an important parameter for lower energy requirement of this step. The theoretical voltage requirement ranges
from 0.3 to 1.2 V related to concentration of CuCl and HCl, as well as current density. Estimated efficiency for this plant is
reported as 46%.
Some promising hybrid and pure cycles can be sorted as the hybrid sulfur cycle (HyS), the copper–chlorine cycle (Cu–Cl),
magnesium–chlorine cycle (Mg–Cl), and the U–Eu–Br cycle. The HyS cycle consumes the least electricity for its electrolytic step
while the minimum temperature requirement is around 8001C. Considering the temperature availability of present geothermal
sources, it presently looks impossible to obtain such high temperature from geothermal wells. The U–Eu–Br cycle is also proposed
as a pure thermochemical cycle that might work at temperatures as low as 3001C. This cycle might be a perfect match for
geothermal hydrogen production; however, no feasibility studies or environmental impact assessments have been performed so
far, and it seems to be an immature option in short terms. The Cu–Cl and Mg–Cl cycles can work at around 450–5501C varying
with the configurations developed in recent years. Chemical heat pump usage for increased geothermal fluid temperature might
make these cycles suitable for geothermal hydrogen production [39].
The Cu–Cl cycle is one of the most promising thermochemical cycles to produce hydrogen efficiently, without emitting any
GHGs to the atmosphere. This cycle, originally proposed in the 1970s, has recently been proven in the laboratory, and several
commercially appealing variants are being evaluated. This cycle has an estimated efficiency of 40%–50% at an envisioned
operating temperature of 350–5001C. The Cu–Cl cycle is the most well-developed of the lower temperature hybrid cycles, offering
a number of potential advantages over other cycles. Geothermal source temperature can be upgraded to use maximum cycle
temperature (5001C). The recycling chemicals are relatively safe, inexpensive, and abundant. All reactions have been proven in the
laboratory and no significant side effects have been observed. The Cu–Cl cycle consists of five main steps, namely, (1) HCl (g)
production with equipment like a fluidized bed, (2) oxygen production, (3) copper (Cu) production, (4) drying, and (5) hydrogen
production. In each step of this cycle, a chemical reaction takes place, except the drying step. The fourth step in the Cu–Cl cycle
occurs electrochemically. However, compared to direct liquid water electrolysis, the electrolytic step requires significantly lower
voltages. These chemical reactions form a closed internal loop that recycles all of the copper–chlorine compounds on a continuous
basis, without emitting any GHGs externally to the atmosphere.
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) originally proposed a lithium–nitrate cycle, consisting of three steps: (1) hydrogen iodide
(HI) production, (2) hydrogen production, and (3) oxygen production. In the first step of this cycle, lithium nitrite is oxidized by
iodine at about 251C and lithium nitrate and hydrogen iodide are produced, so that hydrogen iodide produces through thermal
dissociation and lithium nitrate produces oxygen through thermal decomposition, respectively. The oxidation of lithium nitrite by
iodine involved in this cycle, however, can hardly be described as proceeding smoothly. The first step proceeds slowly and is
similar to the well-studied oxidation of sulfurous acid by iodine to form the sulfate ion and hydrogen iodide. The second step in
the cycle, the thermal decomposition of hydrogen iodide, is well known. The third step of the reaction may possibly produce LiO2,
which is a very corrosive compound, under certain reaction conditions. This cycle has not been developed to the extent of
commercial application yet [40].
The magnesium–chlorine reverse Deacon cycle has been studied by [41] at Idaho National Laboratory and ANL. The
magnesium–chlorine cycle consists of three reactions, two of which are thermochemical and one electrolytic. The thermochemical
reactions sum to the reverse Deacon reactions. The electrolytic step involves the electrolysis of anhydrous HCl instead of aqueous
HCl. Further proof-of-principle tests must be run to establish the viability of this process. Simpson et al. [41] analyzed preliminary
efficiency. The proof-of-principle experiments have been successfully performed. Their results indicated that the reverse Deacon
cycle appears to be a promising route to low-temperature hydrogen production. As reported in the in the literature, MgOHCl is
produced from lower temperature hydrolysis of MgCl2 at temperatures starting from 230 to 3001C. For this option, water is
superheated to a relatively lower temperature than the conventional option to form HCl gas and MgOHCl. A simple Aspen Plus
simulation for the low-temperature hydrolysis reaction is conducted to make a rough comparison for the actual steam require-
ments of both high- and low-temperature reactions. A previous study showed that Rgibbs-type reactor shows full conversion at a
3.1:1 steam/magnesium ratio for the high-temperature hydrolysis in a theoretical manner [42]. This value decreases to 1.8:1 when
low-temperature hydrolysis is considered. This rate is simply adapted to the simulation with experimental results and resulted in
11:1. Since all comparisons are based on 3600 kmole/h hydrogen production, the amounts of the reactants should be doubled,
which would require higher amounts of steam and MgCl2. As the last alternative, a fourth step is introduced to decompose
MgOHCl in order to recover the remaining HCl without a need for a higher steam requirement. This step is developed for the
following reasons:
1. It is possible to obtain dry HCl gas by decomposing MgOHCl, which leads to dry HCl electrolysis. Considering the practical
voltage requirements, this option directly reduces the electrical work consumption by 11.2%.
2. The stoichiometry to produce same amount of hydrogen as in the Mg–Cl–B option can be reduced from two to one, by
capturing the HCl gas in the decomposition step.
3. MgO produced from high-temperature hydrolysis is less reactive with the chlorine gas and has less surface area for proper
reaction than hydrolysis of Mg(OH)2. However, experimental studies showed that fine MgO can be produced from decom-
position of MgOHCl, which would enhance the reactivity of MgO with the chlorine gas.
4. The only endothermic reaction is decomposition of MgOHCl, and the maximum temperature of the reaction can be reduced to
4501C by using an inert gas (nitrogen or argon) to remove HCl gas from the surface of MgO particles. This also leads to a very
fast conversion of the reactant into the desired product. The lower maximum temperature provides the option to link this cycle
to lower-temperature heat sources.
A separation process to absorb HCl gas from the mixture can make this cycle more efficient and compatible. Thus, a modified
four-step Mg-Cl cycle is considered with dry HCl capture. It is roughly estimated that capturing all of the HCl from the steam
mixture can lead this cycle to consume 22.3% less electrical work than the three-step options and 12.4% less work than the four-
step option. HCl capture can make this cycle more feasible than all other options and can be competitive with existing hybrid
thermochemical cycles and the water electrolysis. The unique difference of this final design from the four-step option is the
adaption of a possible separation process to capture HCl from the mixture after the hydrolysis step. Captured HCl is mixed with
the HCl gas from the decomposition step to increase the amount of the dry HCl gas from the hydrogen production at a low
voltage. The remaining stream after the separation process is either in mixture or with a low content of HCl with high amount of
steam. Based on the amount of captured HCl, this stream can be scrubbed and sent back to hydrolysis reactor or utilized for
aqueous HCl electrolysis. However, the aqueous HCl electrolysis step is included in this option by considering the molarity of HCl
gas in steam. Ozcan’s thesis results show that the newly developed four-step Mg–Cl–C cycle is a more feasible option that that of
previous configurations in terms of efficiency and power consumption. Energy and exergy efficiencies of the Mg–Cl–C cycle are
43.7% and 52%, respectively, where the electrical energy consumption is 3.1% lower than that of water electrolysis. The energy and
exergy efficiencies of the modified four-step Mg–Cl–C cycle is 44.3% and 53%, respectively, after adaptation of experimental
results. The modified cycle is more efficient than all other configurations. The electrical power requirement of the final config-
uration is 14.5% lower than direct aqueous HCl electrolysis, and 6.7% lower than the water electrolysis. This cycle is clearly
outlined and discussed in Ref. [42] and further discussed in elsewhere [43–46].
The sulfuric acid cycle has been developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency [47]. This cycle consists of three steps: (1)
hydrogen production, (2) sulfur trioxide (SO3) production, and (3) oxygen production. Steps 1 and 3 are considered elec-
trolytic reactions. The system is based on a sulfuric acid (H2SO4) process, which was originally developed by Westinghouse
Corp. The sulfur trioxide (SO3) decomposition process is facilitated by electrolysis using a solid electrolyte that conducts
oxygen ions. In this way, the temperature of the step can be reduced approximately 2501C compared to the Westinghouse
process. Details about the cycle reviewed here for coupling with geothermal can be found in elsewhere [47]. The theoretical
thermal efficiency of the system based on chemical reactions depending on the H2SO4 concentration and heat recovery was in
the range of 35%–55%. In the ANL, improved SO3 electrolysis cells have been developed to lower the needed voltage and
increase overall efficiency for step 3.
The U–Eu–Br cycle is based on heavy element halide chemistry with a maximum reaction temperature of 300C. The
heavy element halide cycle is the lowest known temperature for a purely thermochemical hydrogen production process. The
heavy element halide cycle consists of four steps. Steps 1 and 3 are endothermic, while steps 2 and 4 are exothermic.
This cycle was developed and studied at ANL to establish the key steps for the process as follows: (1) to determine the
chemical products that result from thermal decomposition of UO2Br23H2O, (2) to investigate and model the factors that
influence reaction of Eu2 þ ions with H þ ions in aqueous hydrobromic acid to generate H2 gas, (3) to study the thermal
reduction of EuBr3 to EuBr2 and establish the degree of completion at 3001C and whether a potentially interfering EuOBr
impurity is produced, and (4) to determine the chemical consequences of reacting hydrated uranium trioxide (UO3H2O(s))
with an excess amount of “bromine water.” As a result, lack of thermodynamic data about this thermochemical cycle and its
reactions is still an issue. There are also some engineering issues about the application of this heavy element halide cycle,
such as corrosiveness of the chemicals. Hence, there is strong need for further research about this cycle and its practical
applications [48].
One of the potential methods for thermochemical hydrogen production involved the use of cesium through the Astrojet central
cycle [40]. This cycle consists of four steps with a maximum reaction temperature of 450C: (1) hydrogen production, (2) CsO2
production, (3) oxygen production, and (4) oxygen and cesium production. This cycle is technically a closed cycle, in which water
is the only consumable raw material. The ideal hydrogen production efficiency for this cycle was estimated as 66%, where the
efficiency was defined as the higher heating value (HHV) of combustion of H2 (286 kJ/mole) divided by the external thermal heat
supplied to the process per gram-mole of H2 produced.
Since some hybrid cycles require high relatively high temperatures to accomplish all reactions through the cycle, degree of
the geothermal energy might not be adequate to accomplish this process. Therefore, chemical heat pumps are utilized to
increase the temperature of geothermal fluid with some subsequent reactions. A sufficient increase in the temperature of heat
transfer from the geothermal fluid to a thermochemical water splitting cycle might be achieved by application of a chemical
heat pump, which increases the temperature of the heat supplied via a cyclic process driven by mechanical or electrical work.
The development of high-temperature heat pumps and their applications in high-temperature nuclear reactors is a sub-
stantially new area in engineering. Some examples include a proposal for a high-temperature continuous chemical heat pump
connected to a gas-cooled nuclear reactor, where a shift from heat absorption to heat release was achieved by a pressure drop
of the gaseous reaction mixture; and an investigation on a chemical heat pump that uses the reaction system of calcium
oxide/lead oxide/carbon dioxide, which was developed for use on high-temperature heat (above 8001C). The heat transfer
from lower (about 8001C) to higher (about 9001C) temperature proceeds periodically through the heat storage and heat
output modes [39].
The development of a concept of renewable energy-based multigeneration options for producing a number of outputs, such as
power, heat, hot water, cooling, hydrogen, fresh water, etc. from renewable energy sources, including geothermal energy, and
discussion of their benefits, is made in [37]. Such multigeneration options obviously lead to improved system performance and
reduced environmental impacts. First, single-generation (power generation only) and cogeneration systems are compared with
respect to the energy utilization efficiency, exergy efficiency, GHG emissions mitigation, and payback period. It is found that the
cogeneration increases GHG mitigation about 2 to 4 times, whereas the payback time decreased about 2.8 times with respect to the
single-generation case. The results showed that multigeneration energy systems help increase both energy and exergy efficiencies,
reduce cost and environmental impact, and increase sustainability.
1.17.8 Conclusions
This chapter provides detailed information on direct and indirect geothermal energy utilization technologies, and presents
comprehensive data retrieved from several countries around the world. Illustrative examples with thermodynamic aspects of
several geothermal electricity applications are also comparatively presented in order to shed light on performance characteristics of
such systems with their energy and exergy efficiencies.
Presented data show that the highest geothermal energy utilization and highest number of direct and indirect geothermal
energy varieties are applied in the United States, followed by China, Italy, Turkey, and Iceland. Iceland, with its population of
350,000, makes up 86% of its overall space heating requirements with its abundant geothermal energy sources, thus making the
country as a whole almost zero-emission in terms of space heating. However, considering the abundance of geothermal energy on
Earth, Iceland might be seen as a visionary for the rest of the world. Italy and Turkey also show high performance, comparing their
annual energy production rate to their populations. As to continents, Africa, with its high potential, shows the minimum
utilization rate, which shows that the potential should be used for energy production from geothermal sources for communities
and even for remote areas.
Overall direct utilization of geothermal energy is very variable and under long-term operation in many of the countries that
have been investigated. The main application areas are district heating; greenhouse heating; GHP applications for heating and
cooling; swimming and bathing; balneological heating; fish, food, and crop drying; humidification and dehumidification; dry ice
and CO2 production and supplying produced CO2 for methanol production with hydrogen electrolysis assistance; thermal
tourism; medical care applications; useful mineral extraction; and so on. It is possible to apply geothermal energy from low and
medium sources to produce many forms of energy with direct utilization. Geothermal power generation is another way of
producing sustainable energy from generally high-temperature geothermal energy sources; this is not possible to explore in some
parts of the world, but it is abundant in many parts in the world. As investigated in this chapter, it is possible to extract a high
amount of high-temperature geothermal energy from the small land of Guatemala, whereas no applications are present in Canada.
This is due to two main factors: the first one being political limitations and the second being availability of this geothermal energy.
Illustrative examples present a comparative performance assessment of a single-flash, a double-flash, and a hybrid geothermal
electricity application system. Double- and multiple-flash geothermal power plants show superiority to those of single-flash
operations. The hybrid system overwhelms both single- and multiple-flash power applications by integrating an ORC with a
suitable working fluid. Cost aspects and technical challenges should also be discussed. Single-flash power plants are the most
commonly used plant configuration; which makes it very challenging to integrate a second flashing option for enhanced system
performance.
High electricity demand of conventional electrolysis systems and high-temperature demand of pure thermochemical cycles
might make geothermal energy utilization for hydrogen production infeasible. Hybrid thermochemical cycles contain at least one
thermochemical step with an electrolysis step. This way, it is possible to produce hydrogen by utilizing less electrical energy than
that of the conventional electrolysis at lower temperatures than those of pure thermochemical cycles. Therefore, chemical heat
pumps are utilized to increase the temperature of geothermal fluid with some subsequent reactions. A sufficient increase in the
temperature of heat transfer from the geothermal fluid to a thermochemical water splitting cycle might be achieved by application
of a chemical heat pump, which increases the temperature of the heat supplied via a cyclic process driven by mechanical or
electrical work.
As a final remark, it should be noted that geothermal energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy sources, without
showing any intermittence as in solar, wind, and biomass applications. Considering 90% of the Earth is hotter than 1001C,
utilization and further investigations on geothermal energy utilization for many applications, ranging from direct use to electricity
production, are a sustainable solution to the world’s challenges on energy shortcomings and a logical alternative to fossil fuel
utilization. The world has a long history in utilization of geothermal energy and further enhancements make this renewable energy
more feasible not only for geothermal heat, but also for power production. Multigeneration of geothermal-based energy systems
helps increase both energy and exergy efficiencies, reduce cost and environmental impact, and increase sustainability. Therefore, it
is also of importance to utilize geothermal energy sources more efficiently by integrating these sources to such mechanisms that
may produce more than one energy form.
References
[1] Dincer I. Renewable energy and sustainable development: a crucial review. Renew Sust Energy Rev 2010;4(2):157–75.
[2] Fridleifsson IB. Status of geothermal energy amongst the world’s energy sources. Geothermics 2003;32:379–88.
[3] U.S. Department of Energy. Annual Report, https://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/pdfs/geothermalannualreport2012.pdf; 2012.
[4] World Geothermal Association, https://www.geothermal-energy.org/.
[5] Lund JW, Boyd TL. Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2015 worldwide review. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. p. 1–31.
[6] Wright M. Nature of geothermal resources. In: John W Lund, editor. Geothermal Direct-Use Engineering and Design Guidebook. Klamath Falls, OR: Geo-Heat Center;
1998. p. 27–69.
[7] Lund JW, Bjelm L, Bloomquist G, Mortensen AK. Characteristics, development and utilization of geothermal resources – a Nordic perspective. Episodes 2008;31:140–7.
[8] Dincer I. Environmental impacts of energy. Energy Policy 1999;27:845–54.
[9] Dincer I, Rosen MA. Thermodynamic aspects of renewables and sustainable development. Renew Sust Energy Rev 2005;9:169–89.
[10] Sanyal SK. Classification of geothermal systems – a possible scheme. In: Proc. 13th workshop on geothermal reservoir engineering, SGP-TR-176, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA; 2005. 8p.
[11] Barbier E, Fanelli M. Non-electrical uses of geothermal energy. Prog Energy Combust Sci 1977;3:73–103.
[12] U.S. Department of Energy. Geothermal heat pumps, https://energy.gov/energysaver/geothermal-heat-pumps.
[13] Lund JW. Chena Hot Springs. Geo-Heat Center Quart Bull 2006;27:2–4.
[14] Bakos GC, Fidanidis D, Tsagas NF. Greenhouse heating using geothermal energy. Geothermics 1999;28:759–65.
[15] Ragnarsson A. Geothermal energy in aquaculture. In: Short course IV on utilization of low- and medium-enthalpy geothermal resources and financial aspects of utilization,
El Salvador; 2014. p. 1–5.
[16] Smith KC. A Layman’s guide to geothermal aquaculture. Klamath Falls, OR: Geo-heat Center, Oregon Institute of Technology; 1981.
[17] Sanja P-V. Drying of agricultural products with geothermal energy. In: International summer school on direct application of geothermal energy, Izmir, Turkey; 2003.
p. 2–15.
[18] European Geothermal Energy council (EGEC). Geothermal Snow Melting and De-icing, http://egec.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Brochure-Snow-Melting-De-Icing.pdf.
[19] U.S. Department of Energy. Electricity Generation, https://energy.gov/eere/geothermal/electricity-generation.
[20] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Geothermal power explained, http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=geothermal_power_plants.
[21] Eliasson ET, Thorhallsson S, Steingrimsson B. Geothermal power plants In: Short course IV on utilization of low- and medium-enthalpy geothermal resources and
financial aspects of utilization, El Salvador; 2014. p. 1–5.
[22] U.S. Department of Energy. Enhanced Geothermal Systems, https://energy.gov/eere/geothermal/enhanced-geothermal-systems-0.
[23] Bertani R. Geothermal power generation in the world 2010–2014 update report. In: Proc. world geothermal congress; 2015. p. 1–19.
[24] Zheng K, Dong Y, Chen Z, Tian T, Wang G. Speeding up industrialized development of geothermal resources in China – country update report 2010–2014. In: Proc.
world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 9p.
[25] Svalova V, Pavarov K. Geothermal energy use in Russia. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 5p.
[26] Yasukawa K, Sasada M. Country update of Japan: renewed opportunities. In: Proc. geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 8p.
[27] Ragnarsson A. Geothermal development in Iceland 2010–2014. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 14p.
[28] Mertoglu O, Simsek S, Basarir N. Geothermal country update of Turkey (2010–2015). In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 7p.
[29] General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration, http://bulletin.mta.gov.tr/.
[30] Weber J, Ganz B, Schellschmidt R, Sanner B, Schulz R. Geothermal energy use in Germany. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 15p.
[31] Link K, Raybach L, Imhasly S, Wyss R. Geothermal energy in Switzerland – country update. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 10p.
[32] Beardsmore G, Budd A, Huddlestone C, Davidson C. Country update – Australia. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 11p.
[33] Carey B, Dunstall M, McClintock S et al. 2010–2015 New Zealand country update. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia, 2015. 16p.
[34] Raymond J, Malo M, Tanguay D, Grasby S, Bakhteyar F. Direct utilization of geothermal energy from coast to coast: a review of current applications and research in
canada. In: Proc. world geothermal congress; 2015. 10p.
[35] van Heekeren V, Bakema G. The Netherlands country update on geothermal energy. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 6p.
[36] Dincer I, Zamfirescu C. Advanced power generation systems. New York: Academic Press; 2014.
[37] Dincer I, Zamfirescu C. Renewable‐energy‐based multigeneration systems. Int J Energy Res 2012;36:1403–15.
[38] Balta MT, Dincer I, Hepbasli A. Geothermal‐based hydrogen production using thermochemical and hybrid cycles: a review and analysis. Int J Energy Res 2010;34:757–75.
[39] Granovskii M, Dincer I, Rosen MA, Pioro I. Thermodynamic analysis of the use a chemical heat pump to link a supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor and a
thermochemical water-splitting cycle for hydrogen production. J Power Energy Syst 2008;2:756–67.
[40] Balta MT, Dincer I, Hepbasli A. Thermodynamic assessment of geothermal energy use in hydrogen production. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2009;34:2925–39.
[41] Simpson MF, Herrmann SD, Boyle BD. A hybrid thermochemical electrolytic process for hydrogen production based on the reverse Deacon reaction. Int J Hydrogen
Energy 2006;31:1241–6.
[42] Ozcan H, Dincer I. Comparative performance assessment of three configurations of magnesium–chlorine cycle. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2016;41:845–56.
[43] Ozcan H, Dincer I. Exergoeconomic optimization of four-step magnesium–chlorine cycle. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2017;42(4):2435–45.
[44] Ozcan H, Dincer I. Comparative performance assessment of three configurations of magnesium–chlorine cycle. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2016;41:845–56.
[45] Ozcan H, Dincer I. Modeling of a new four-step magnesium-chlorine cycle with dry HCl capture for more efficient hydrogen production. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2016;41:7792–801.
[46] Ozcan H, Dincer I. Performance investigation of magnesium–chloride hybrid thermochemical cycle for hydrogen production. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2014;39:76–85.
[47] Onuki K, Kubo S, Terada A, Sakaba N, Hino R. Thermochemical water-splitting cycle using iodine and sulfur. Energy Environ Sci 2009;2:491–7.
[48] Petri MC, Yildiz B, Klickman AE. US work on technical and economic aspects of electrolytic, thermochemical, and hybrid processes for hydrogen production at
temperatures below 5501C. Int J Nuclear Hydrogen Prod Appl 2006;1:79–91.
Further Reading
Batchelor T, Curtis R, Ledingham P, Law R. Country update for United Kingdom. In: Proc. world geothermal congress, Melbourne, Australia; 2015. 7p.
Ogriseck S. 2009. Integration of Kalina cycle in a combined heat and power plant, a case study. Appl Therm Eng 2009;29:2843–8.
World Geothermal Association, What is geothermal energy? http://www.geothermal-energy.org/314,what_is_geothermal_energy.html.
Relevant Websites
https://www.geothermal-energy.org/
International Geothermal Association.
https://energy.gov/eere/geothermal/geothermal-energy-us-department-energy
Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.
http://www.renewablegreenenergypower.com/category/renewable-energy-2/geothermal-energy/
Renewable Green Energy Power.
View publication stats

1.17 Geothermal Energy: February 2018

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

1.17 Geothermal Energy: February 2018

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

1.17 Geothermal Energy

Chapter · February 2018

Ibrahim Dincer Hasan Ozcan

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Battery Pack Testing and Modeling View project

Phd thesis of my previous Msc student View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

1.17 Geothermal Energy

1.17.1 Introduction 703

Nomenclature Q_ Heat transfer rate (k/W)

Acronyms GGH Geothermal greenhouse heating

702 Comprehensive Energy Systems, Volume 1 doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-809597-3.00119-X

Greek letters Z Energy efﬁciency (%)

World installed capacity (GWh)

1.17.2 Technical and Environmental Dimensions

• research and development;

Table 1 Some worldwide historical events of geothermal energy

Source: World Geothermal Association, What is geothermal energy? http://www.geothermal-energy.org/314,what_is_geothermal_energy.html

• public awareness of sustainability investment beneﬁts;

Table 2 Geothermal energy classiﬁcation by source and thermophysical properties

Nonelectrical o1001C Liquid water Liquid water Direct use

1.17.3 Geothermal Energy Utilization

1.17.3.1 Geothermal Water Composition

1.17.3.2 Direct Utilization

• geothermal heat pumps;

2000 2005 2010 2015

Cooling and snow melting

Bathing and swimming

0 50,000 10,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000

1.17.3.2.1 Geothermal heat pumps

1.17.3.2.2 Geothermal district heating and cooling

1.17.3.2.3 Geothermal greenhouse heating

1.17.3.2.4 Geothermal aquacultural heating

1.17.3.2.5 Geothermal crop drying

1.17.3.2.6 Geothermal snow melting

1.17.3.3 Electricity Production

1.17.3.3.1 Geothermal ﬂashing power production

1.17.3.3.2 Binary geothermal power

1.17.3.3.3 Dry steam geothermal power

1.17.3.3.4 Back-pressure geothermal power production

1.17.3.4 Enhanced Geothermal Systems

• drilling an injection well into hot basement with limited permeability,

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

1. Drilling 2. Water injection

Injection well Production well

Developing reservoir Reservoir

1.17.4 Geothermal Energy Use in the World

1.17.4.1 United States

2015 lnstalled capacity

5245 GWh 441 GWh

1.17.4.11 New Zealand

1.17.4.13 Other Countries

Table 3 Installed direct and electricity production capacities by 2015

Albania N/A 29.89 Japan 2687 7258.94

1.17.5 Analyses and Performance Assessment

by considering all forms of energy within a system:

Tf ¼ 2001C; xf ¼ 0 - hf ¼ 852:4 kJ=kg; and sf ¼ 2:331 kJ=kg K

Exf ¼ 162 kJ=kg

1.17.6 Case Studies

Fig. 8 A schematic diagram of the single-ﬂash system with input data.

Table 4 State point information for the single-ﬂash geothermal plant

0 N/A 25 100 104.8 0.3669 Liquid 0 0