Energy 34 (2009) 866–872

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Geothermal power production from abandoned oil wells

Adelina P. Davis*, Efstathios E. Michaelides 1
Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, TX 78249, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A simulation for the determination of geothermal power production from abandoned oil wells by
Received 29 November 2008 injecting and retrieving a secondary fluid was performed. The analysis takes into consideration local
Received in revised form geothermal gradients and typical well depths and pipe diameters. Isobutane is chosen as the secondary
1 March 2009
fluid, which is injected in the well at moderate pressures and allowed to heat up and produce vapor. The
Accepted 10 March 2009
computational model that was developed takes into account mass, energy, and momentum conservation
Available online 2 May 2009
equations for the well flow, and the simulation helps determine the state of the fluid from injection to
retrieval. It is observed that the operation of such systems attains a maximum power that depends on the
Keywords:
Geothermal temperature of the well bottom and the injection pressure. In general, 2–3 MW of electric power may be
Oil wells produced from wells that are typical in the South Texas region.
Energy Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Isobutane
Double-pipe heat exchanger

1. Introduction the Clausius–Rankine cycles [1–3]. In all such cases, geothermal

The current economic environment and impending climate
change from the combustion of hydrocarbons makes the use of
alternative energy sources, including geothermal, imperative for
the near future. Geothermal energy has been used since the
beginning of the 20th century for the production of electricity in
more than twenty countries. Geothermal resources that are utilized
today are essentially the high temperature resources, where wells
of moderate depth (1000–2000 m) intrude into aquifers and
produce either steam or a mixture of steam and water. Such
resources are utilized with steam turbines (e.g. Geysers) or in
single- and dual-flashing plants (e.g. Wairakei and Imperial Valley).
Since most of the high temperature aqueous resources have been
utilized, the next expansion of geothermal power plants will
necessarily be with lower temperature resources where water may
come to the surface as liquid at temperatures in the range of
120–150  C. Binary geothermal systems, which utilize a secondary
fluid such as a refrigerant or a hydrocarbon, are typically used for
the development and exploitation of such resources.
Several recent studies have evaluated the performance of
different organic substances used as working fluids in Rankine and
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 210 849 7352; fax: þ1 210 458 6504.
E-mail addresses: ihm424@my.utsa.edu (A.P. Davis), stathis.michaelides@
utsa.edu (E.E. Michaelides).
1
Tel.: þ1 210 458 5580; fax: þ1 210 458 6504.
water was used to exchange heat with working fluids in the cycle.
Other similar studies were performed based on the exergy and
energy analysis, and new plant designs to improve the performance
of geothermal power plants [4–9]. For low temperature resources,
binary-flashing units have been recommended to provide more
power than conventional geothermal units [9]. Michaelides and
Scott [10] examined Freon, ammonia and isobutane as secondary
fluids for the binary-flashing geothermal power plant. Geothermal
heat exchanger with multiple U-shaped pipes is presented for
cooling and heating up purposes in Refs. [11,12]. Due to energy
consumption in Croatia, Shneider et al. [13] have analyzed renew-
able resources such as geothermal from economic and technolog-
ical points of view. Recently Kujawa et al. [14] studied the
utilization of geological wells, from which geothermal fluid was
extracted, and they performed calculations on the heat flow and
power produced. Kujawa et al. proposed a double-pipe heat
exchanger that would inject water deeply into the geothermal
formation, and would extract heat from the well.
A glance at the geothermal potential of the United States and of
the entire planet {reference map [15]}, proves that there are many
areas where the geothermal gradient is relatively steep, but there
are no aquifers nearby, from which hot water may be drawn. If
these geothermal resources are to be utilized, one must inject and
retrieve a fluid at a higher temperature in order to extract heat and
utilize the energy of the geothermal resource. Several such sites
with excellent geothermal potential exist in the southern part of
Texas, where the geothermal gradient is relatively high. In addition,

0360-5442/$ – see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2009.03.017
 A.P. Davis, E.E. Michaelides / Energy 34 (2009) 866–872 867

several deep oil wells exist in the same areas that are currently
a To
abandoned. These are oil wells that were struck dry or are now dry,
because the oil reservoir has been depleted. Most of these wells are
plugged, and because they are in remote areas, they pose a poten-
tial environmental hazard. The production of geothermal power
from such wells will not only add more renewable energy to the Heat Heat transfer
transfer from the inner
grid, but it will also help avert environmental problems associated
from the to the outer
with accidental spillage and neglect of the area around the aban- pipe
rocks
doned wells.
This study focuses on the total power that may be extracted from
such geothermal wells. We are using an existing well and propose to
refit it in order to produce a double-pipe heat exchanger. Instead of
using water as in Ref. [14], we propose to use an organic fluid, such as H
Insulation
isobutane, which has thermodynamic properties better suited for
the extraction of heat from geothermal resources. Isobutane boils at
Bottom of
lower temperatures than water, and hence, the well would produce
the well
isobutane vapor that may be easily used in a small turbine with
a condenser. In addition, we performed a simple optimization study
on the effect of fluid injection pressure, and determined that there is Tw
always an optimum value for produced power. This optimum Twi
depends chiefly on the temperature of the well, the injection pres-
sure, and the flow rate of the isobutane.
b
2. Geothermal data and governing equations 4

Data for the gas and oil wells in Texas are available from the t R
RailRoad Commission of Texas [16]. Based on an extensive review of
such data, we have chosen an existing well with a depth of 3 km,
bottom-hole temperature of 140  C, and 0.30 m diameter (1 inch). A Δz
double-pipe heat exchanger may be easily made by retrofitting this r
well with an internal pipe of smaller diameter and with a small
amount of insulation, as shown in Fig. 1a. The bottom of the well
could be sealed off by sealants to allow the isobutane to rise on the
internal part of the pipe. Isobutane may be injected at the outer part 2
of the double pipe as a compressed liquid coming from the
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic representation of the heat transfer in the well [14]. (b) The
condenser at a temperature of 40–45  C and with pressure in the
scheme for direction of the flow and the top view of the pipes in the well.
range of 5–20 bar. It would heat up from the heat extracted from the
surrounding rocks and would reach the bottom of the well, where its
temperature reaches a maximum. There, the flow is reversed; the
fluid enters the core of the pipe and ascends to the wellhead. P1 V1 P V
The conservation equations for this model are continuity,
þ þ z1 ¼ 2 þ 2 þ z2 þ hl (4)
r1 g 2g r2 g 2g
momentum, and energy equations.
where P is the static pressure, z is the height, and g is the gravita-
tional acceleration. The pressure head loss, hl, is given by a closure
2.1. Continuity equation equation and the friction factor as follows:

The continuity equation is as follows:

1 V12 Dz
hl ¼ f (5)
_ ¼ rVA ¼ const
m (1) 2 g dh

where r is the density of the fluid, V is the velocity, and A is the area dh is the hydraulic diameter. For the downward flow, the hydraulic
of the fluid conduit. For the downward part of the flow the area is: diameter is given in terms of the outer radius, the insulation
thickness, and the outer radius is as follows:
 
Ad ¼ p R2  ðr þ tÞ2 (2) qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
dh ¼ 2 R2  ðr þ tÞ2 (6)
and for the upward flow:
For the upward flow, fluid is conveyed in a round pipe and the
Aup ¼ pr 2 (3) hydraulic diameter is equal to the diameter of the inner pipe:

dh ¼ 2r (7)
2.2. Momentum equation
The friction factor is calculated by Haaland’s equation [17]:

The momentum equation is given in terms of two states of the " 1:11 #
1 3=dh 6:9
fluid at heights z1 and z2, and is being used for the calculation of the pffiffiffi ¼ 1:8 log10 þ (8)
static pressure of isobutane as follows: f 3:7 Re
868 A.P. Davis, E.E. Michaelides / Energy 34 (2009) 866–872

where Reynolds number is:
rVdh
Re ¼
m numerical subroutines. Throughout the computations we assume
And the equivalent roughness for the cast iron piping is
3 ¼ 0.26 mm [18].
2.3. Energy equation
The energy equation is essentially the First Law of Thermody-
namics for an open system. The rate of external work in the pipeline
is always zero, and the heat that enters results in the change of the
enthalpy, which includes the kinetic and potential energy. The rate
of heat transfer from the rock to the isobutane in the outer pipe is:
Q_ ¼ 2pRhðTw ðzÞ  T1 ÞDz
And the convective heat transfer coefficient is:
enthalpy, and entropy, from Ref. [20]. Appropriate functions with
temperature and pressure as independent variables were fitted to
these tables in order to obtain expressions that were used in the
(9)
that the dimensions of the well are constant. Also, that the
temperature of the fluid injected to the well is also constant at
310 K, and that it is not affected by any other conditions. The
bottom-hole temperature and the injection pressure and flow rate
were parameterized, and their effect on the total power produced is
evaluated in the computations.
The double-pipe heat exchanger effectively replaces the pump
and boiler of a simple Rankine cycle. The fluid is compressed and
heated in its downward course. Some of the fluid pressure is spent
in its upward course, but in general, the working fluid exits the
double-pipe heat exchanger at a high temperature and supercritical
pressure. The Rankine cycle that results from this operation is
(10)
shown schematically in Fig. 2.

Re0:8 Pr0:4 3. Numerical method and results

h ¼ 0:023k (11)
dh
The initial conditions of the computer simulation are presented
The temperature of the rocks Tw at any height, z, may be in Table 1. The thickness of the insulation, t ¼ 1 inch (2.54 cm), and
approximated by a linear interpolation of the geothermal gradient, the diameter of the outer pipe, D ¼ 12 inches (30.4 cm), are kept
which is obtained from the known temperatures of the surface and constant for all of the simulations.
the bottom of the well: Fig. 3 represents the temperature change as a function of depth
with 1-inch polystyrene as the insulator. It may be observed in
Tw  To Fig. 3 that the temperature of the extracted isobutane drops by less
Tw ðzÞ ¼ Z þ To (12)
H than 3 K in the ascending path. This implies that insulation with 1-
The inner pipe has an insulation of thickness, t, as shown in inch thickness is sufficient to effectively preserve the enthalpy of
Fig. 1b. Therefore, the heat transfer in the inner section 3-4 is: the fluid. Ascend and descend of the isobutane are indicated by the
arrows in Fig. 3.
Q_ 34 ¼ 2prUðT3  Tout ÞDz ¼ mðh
_ 3  h4 Þ ¼ mc
_ p ðT3  T4 Þ (13) In the downward direction, the results obtained from the
simulations indicate that the liquid isobutane is further pressurized
The overall heat transfer coefficient for the inner pipe is: by the weight of the column and reaches supercritical pressures at
the bottom of the well. As the direction of the flow is reversed, the
1
U ¼ (14) fluid moves upwards, and the static pressure is reduced. However,
rþt 1 rþt t 1
 þ  þ because of the heat addition and the rise of temperature, the
r hi r þ t k ho density of the fluid in the upward direction is lower. Even though
2
frictional pressure losses are always present, the depressurization
Of the materials that are available, polystyrene was chosen for
of the ascending fluid occurs at lower rates than the pressurization
the insulation of the inner pipe, with a thermal conductivity equal
in the descending part. During ascend, isobutane passes from the
to k ¼ 0.027 W/mK.
The convective heat transfer coefficients, hi and ho, for the inner
and the outer pipes are calculated from Nusselt’s number as 450
follows:

hi 2r
Nu3 ¼ ¼ 0:023 Re0:8 0:4
3 Pr3 (15) 3
k

ho 2ðr þ tÞ 400
Nu4 ¼ ¼ 0:023 Re0:8 0:4
4 Pr4 (16)
Temperature, K

k
Thus, one may take into consideration the rate of heat transfer
from the inner pipe to the outer pipe, and hence, derive the
following expression for the heat transfer rate to the downward
part of the system, which is denoted as section 1-2 in Fig. 1b: 350

Q_ 12total ¼ Q_ þ Q_ 34 (17)
2
Equations (1)–(17) constitute a system of governing and closure 4s 4
1
equations for the double-pipe heat exchanger, which in the present
case extends to 3 km. In addition to the governing equations, one
300
needs to have the properties of the working fluid in the double-pipe 200 250 300 350
heat exchanger, in our case isobutane. We obtained the transport
Entropy, J/(mol K)
properties of isobutane, such as viscosity and thermal conductivity
from Ref. [19], and thermodynamic properties, such as density, Fig. 2. Temperature–entropy diagram of the Rankine cycle.
 A.P. Davis, E.E. Michaelides / Energy 34 (2009) 866–872 869

Table 1 120
Initial parameters for the computer simulation.

Depth H, m 3000
Temperature of the bottom Tw, K 430
Initial pressure of injected isobutane P, bar 10
Initial velocity of injected isobutane V, m/s 2
Initial temperature of injected isobutane To, K 310
Internal radius r, in 4

Pressure, bar
60

state of supercritical vapor to superheated vapor. It was observed in

most simulations that heating up of the fluid in the geothermal well
resulted in the production of superheated vapor without boiling
and a two-phase regime. This is illustrated in Fig. 4, which depicts
the thermodynamic P–v diagram for isobutane, as well as the state
of the fluid in the well. Fig. 5 depicts the pressure–enthalpy
diagram of the heating process. The arrows in both figures repre-
0
sent ascend and descend of the isobutane. The rise of the static
0 0.5 1
enthalpy at the upper stages of the well is due to the fact that the
Specific volume, l/mol
enthalpy of isobutane increases significantly when the pressure is
reduced. However, since entropy is also increased significantly, this Fig. 4. Thermodynamic diagram of pressure versus specific volume for isobutane.
increase of the enthalpy is accompanied by an exergy decrease.
The determination of the wellhead conditions enables us to
calculate the specific work and power produced by the well. The where r is the density of liquid isobutane as it exits the condenser
specific work is the change in the isentropic enthalpy in the and DP is the pressure difference in the pump.
turbine: Taking the component efficiencies in consideration the net
work is:
wt ¼ h1  h2 (18)
wnet ¼ wt ht  wp =hp (20)
And the ideal power delivered by the turbine may be calculated
from the specific work and mass flow rate in the well: And the actual power is evaluated from the expression:

_ t ¼ mw
W _ t (19a) _ ¼ mw
W _ net (21)
In order to obtain more realistic values for the potential of such The specific work and power obtained from this well are shown
a well to produce power, we have assumed in the computations in Figs. 6 and 7 respectively. The three curves in these figures are for
that the turbine efficiency is ht ¼ 85%, and the pump efficiency is three different bottom-hole temperatures, namely 415 K, 430 K,
hp ¼ 80%. and 450 K. The injection pressure is the variable in the two figures,
The ideal pump power is given by the expression: and the injection velocity is initially assumed constant at V ¼ 2 m/s.
This choice specifies the mass flow rate, which is constant
_ p ¼ mw m_ throughout the computations. The velocity of the fluid varies,
W _ p ¼ DP (19b)
r however, according to the variation of the density. For calculation of

440 120
Temperature, K

Pressure, bar

370
60

300
0 1500 3000 0
Depth, m 20 40 60
Enthalpy, kJ/mol
Fig. 3. Temperature change with depth when polystyrene is used with k ¼ 0.027
W/mK. Fig. 5. Thermodynamic diagram of pressure versus enthalpy for isobutane.
870 A.P. Davis, E.E. Michaelides / Energy 34 (2009) 866–872

100 velocity at V ¼ 2 m/s, and the well with the bottom temperature
T ¼ 450 K were chosen for the simulations. The results of the
calculations for specific work and total power produced are shown
in Figs. 8 and 9 respectively. It is observed that the specific work of
the fluid at the wellhead is almost the same in all three cases. This is
a consequence of the fact that the fluid exits the well at almost the
Net work, kJ/kg

same state in the three cases. However, the power produced is

50
T=450 K
T=430 K
T=415 K
0
0 30
Pressure, bar
Fig. 6. Net work for different temperatures and injection pressures with inner radius
3.5 inches.
the latter, we developed an equation of state of the form v ¼ v (P,T)
from the data by Goodwin [20] which represents the data within
0.6%.
It is observed that there is a flat maximum in all three cases,
where the maximum specific work and maximum power may be
obtained. The maximum power is obtained in such cases when the
injection pressure is approximately 30 bar. It must be pointed out
that the steep drop at the lower injection pressures in the curve,
corresponding to 450 K, is due to a significant reduction of well-
head pressure in the fluid. This implies that at injection pressures
below 7 bar, there is insufficient pressure to operate the double-
pipe heat exchanger.
The outer radius of the well is constant, but the inner radius of
the well is one of the parameters that may be optimized in such
a study. We used three values of this parameter: r ¼ 3.5, r ¼ 4.0, and
r ¼ 4.5 inches, and calculated the specific work and power
produced as a function of the injection pressure. The injection
significantly higher in the case where the inner pipe is smaller,
because the double-pipe carries a higher mass flow rate of isobu-
tane. As in the previous cases, the sharp drop in the curves at very
low injection pressures is due to insufficient pressure to drive the
double-pipe well/heat exchanger. Sufficient injection pressure is
essential for the operation of the double-pipe heat exchanger, the
heating of the secondary fluid, and the production of power.
Finally, we conducted a parametric study with the injection
velocity, which varied between the range of 1 m/s < V < 6 m/s
(Fig. 10). The injection pressure is 30 bar, and the well-bottom
temperature is 450 K. At lower velocities, frictional losses are
60
significantly lower. The mass flow rate in the well is low, and hence,
the produced power would be lower. At very high velocities, fric-
tion losses become significant and a great deal of the exergy of
the fluid is destroyed to friction. It is observed that the net power of
the well exhibits a sharp maximum at about 3.4 MW when the
injection velocity is approximately 3.5 m/s, and the inner radius is
4 inches. The other curves also exhibit sharp maxima at different
velocities and slightly lower rates of power production. This leads
us to conclude that the exact control of the injection velocity, or
equivalently, the injection mass flow rate is very important for the
power production from such wells.
4. Uncertainty analysis
This is a numerical study, where the sources of uncertainty are
the a) modeling of the geothermal well; b) the numerical error; c)
the uncertainty in the input data; and d) the condenser tempera-
ture. We examine below the overall effects of these uncertainties
on the final results of this project.
a) Modeling: there is no modeling/simulation error because the
full conservation equations have been used as the governing
equations of the problem and have been satisfied at every step
of the numerical process. We have used an explicit form of the

3000
90
Net power, kW

Net work, kJ/kg

1500
45 r=3.5 in

r=4.0 in
T=450 K
r=4.5 in
T=430 K

T=415 K

0
0 30 60 0
Pressure, bar 0 30 60
Pressure, bar
Fig. 7. Net power for different temperatures and injection pressures with inner radius
3.5 inches. Fig. 8. Net work change with pressure for different inner radii.
 A.P. Davis, E.E. Michaelides / Energy 34 (2009) 866–872
2800
Net power, kW
1400
r=3.5 in
r=4.0 in
r=4.5 in
0 454 K is as follows:
0 30
Pressure, bar
Fig. 9. Net power change with pressure for different inner radii.
continuity, the momentum and the energy equations at every
step of the computations. Thus, for every computational step
we calculated the velocity, pressure and temperature/enthalpy
of the working fluid (isobutane) by the explicit solution of the
conservation equations. Thus, the continuity, momentum and
energy equations are satisfied at any step of the computations.
b) Numerical error: this is a one-dimensional, steady-state study
and one does not expect to have the advection–diffusion error
associated with the time-step of the multidimensional
computations [21]. However, it is recognized that the compu-
tations are sensitive to the step size used. Since one of the most
important output parameters is the wellhead Pressure Pexit, we
performed a sensitivity analysis on the error introduced on this
quantity by the size of the computational step. The results for
two inlet pressures are shown in Table 2 below.
It is observed that with the choice of the step Dz ¼ 1 m in both
cases of inlet pressure, the resulting wellhead pressure is within
3400
Net power, kW
1700
r=3.5 in
r=4.0 in
r=4.5 in
0
0 3
Velocity, m/s
Fig. 10. Net power change with velocity for three different inner pipe radii.
871
Table 2
Uncertainty due to the computational step.
Dz, m 2 1 0.5 0.25 0.1
Pinlet ¼ 6 bar Pexit, bar 33.022 33.039 33.048 33.052 33.055
Pinlet ¼ 30 bar Pexit, bar 40.476 40.490 40.498 40.502 40.504
0.05% of the value obtained for the significant more stringent case
of Dz ¼ 0.1 m. This proves that the choice of the computational step,
Dz ¼ 1 m, introduces minimal error in the computations.
c) Uncertainty in the input data: the uncertainty of the input data,
such as the bottom-hole temperature or the inlet pressures is
expected to introduce significant error in the final results of
this study. An uncertainty analysis on the total power produced
when the bottom-hole temperature varies between 446 K and
60 Tw ¼ 446 K, W _ ¼ 1833 kW
Tw ¼ 448 K, W _ ¼ 1861 kW
_
Tw ¼ 450 K, W ¼ 1887 kW
_ ¼ 1913 kW
Tw ¼ 452 K, W
Tw ¼ 454 K, W _ ¼ 1939 kW
It is apparent that the uncertainty of the input data results in
significant uncertainties on the exergy of the fluid at the wellhead
and the total power produced. For this reason the well-bottom
temperature is treated as a parameter, while the inlet pressure,
which is controlled by the design of the turbine/condenser system,
is the independent variable of the study. Thus, the effects of this
source of uncertainty are included in the parametric study.
d) Condenser temperature: it was assumed throughout the simu-
lations that the condenser temperature is constant, a very
common assumption with this type of computations. However,
it is well known that the condenser temperature depends
greatly on the temperature of the cooling water. Depending on
the method of cooling (wet or dry cooling) the latter will
exhibit diurnal and seasonal fluctuations, which may be
significant. This assumption introduces a small uncertainty in
the calculations of the average net work and total power, which
is estimated to be on the order of 3%. However, the diurnal and
seasonal fluctuations of the atmospheric air have a very minor
influence on the soil/well temperature, which assumes the
value of 14–16  C at a depth of 5–10 m below the surface.
5. Practical considerations
While this paper pertains to the theory and available power
from the novel utilization of geothermal energy using existing,
abandoned oil and gas wells, it must be noted that there will be
several practical considerations one must take into account, espe-
cially in the starting phase of the utilization. At first, it is expected
that the wells would not be completely dry and that they may be
filled with saline water. Therefore, at the initial stage the water
would need to be drained. This can be accomplished either before
or after the double pipe is constructed using a common pump,
which would reach the well bottom. In the case when the internal
pipe is built first, this pipe may be used as a conduit for the removal
of the water.
6 Secondly, the proposed double-pipe heat exchanger is very
long; its volume is high and would require a significant amount of
secondary fluid to fill. With a length of 3000 m the volume of the
double-pipe heat exchanger is 164.2 m3, comprising 66.9 m3 in the
872 A.P. Davis, E.E. Michaelides / Energy 34 (2009) 866–872
outer part and 97.3 m3 in the inner part. In order to maintain the
mass flow rates contemplated for such a plant, a total of 66,434 kg
of the secondary fluid would be required. While this may be a large
quantity of fluid, it is not difficult to obtain commercially. If an
economic study shows that this fluid is expensive for such an
undertaking, one may use another cheaper fluid, such as pentane or
hexane.
Regarding the construction of the internal pipeline, one should
use rolling spacers that would keep separate the inner and the
outer parts of the pipe. Friction welding or friction bonding may be
used to join the several parts of the internal pipeline and minimize
leakages. In order to eliminate leakages completely the two pipe-
lines should be initially treated with sealants. It may also become
necessary to use polymer bonding compounds mixed with the
isobutane at the initial stage of the well operation. These
compounds solidify and form a bond at the high pressure gradient
areas (e.g. leakage spots) thus, eliminating the leak.
6. Conclusions
The results of the computational study showed that abandoned
oil wells have the potential to produce a significant amount of
power when they are modified to become double-pipe heat
exchangers and when a secondary fluid with desired thermody-
namic properties, such as isobutane, is injected at the outer rim.
The calculations show that the net power produced from such
a well may exceed 3 MW for a bottom-hole temperature of 450 K
and an injection pressure of 30 bar. This amount of power is not
intermittent as with other renewable energy sources, and it may be
available for peak demand as well as basic demand. The power
produced varies and depends significantly on the down-hole
temperature, the injection pressure, the injection velocity, and the
geometric characteristics of the pipe (inner and outer radii and
insulation thickness). For the 450 K bottom-hole temperature with
3000 m depth well examined in this study, which is typical of South
Texas oil wells, it is observed that an injection pressure of 30 bar is
sufficient and almost optimum for the operation of the system.
One-inch (2.54 cm) insulation maintains the fluid temperature to
an almost constant in its ascent. When the injection velocity and
inner pipe radius are optimized, this system would produce
approximately 3.4 MW of power.
Acknowledgements
The assistance of the office of the Texas Railroad Commissioner,
the Hon. Elizabeth Ames-Jones, is acknowledged in obtaining data
for wells in Texas and choosing a typical well for the performance of
this study.
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