Demonstration of thermal borehole enlargement to facilitate controlled reservoir engineering for deep geothermal, oil or gas systems

Kant, Michael A.; Rossi, Edoardo; Duss, Jonas; Amann, Florian; Saar, Martin O.; Rohr, Philipp Rudolf von

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.01.009

Cited by 32 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…In addition to drilling, the hydrothermal flame is also used to expand holes around the well in order to enhance the relations between geothermal reservoirs and lay a foundation for subsequent fracturing. Recently, ETH has taken the lead to develop a complete set of dedicated devices, and confirm the feasibility and great potential of the technology by field tests [114].…”

Section: Hydrothermal Spallation Drillingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on an Advanced Combustion Technology: Supercritical Hydrothermal Combustion

Cui

Wang

et al. 2020

Applied Sciences

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Supercritical hydrothermal combustion, a new and promising homogeneous combustion technology with a wide range of application scenarios and broad development prospects, provides creative ideas and means for the enhanced degradation of organic wastes, hydrothermal spallation drilling, thermal recovery of heavy oil, etc. This technology is elaborated upon in five parts: (1) introducing the main devices including semi-batch reactor and continuous reactor to study the hydrothermal flame in accordance with research institutions, (2) presenting the research status of related numerical simulation from the angles of reaction kinetics and flow-reaction, (3) summarizing the characteristics of hydrothermal flame and combustion by five key parameters, (4) dividing up ignition process and explaining ignition mechanism from the perspectives of critical physical properties of water and heat transfer and mixing conditions, (5) discussing and forecasting its industrial applications including hydrothermal spallation drilling, the thermal recovery of heavy oil, the clean conversion and utilization of coal-based fuel, and the harmless treatment of pollutants. By and large, this paper analyzed in detail everything from experimental equipment to industrial applications, from combustion characteristics to ignition mechanisms, and from summary conclusions to prospect prediction. In the end, herein is summarized a couple of existing paramount scientific and technical obstacles in hydrothermal combustion. Further significant studies in the future should include excellent reactors, advanced monitoring techniques, and powerful computational fluid dynamics.

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Section: Hydrothermal Spallation Drillingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on an Advanced Combustion Technology: Supercritical Hydrothermal Combustion

Cui

Wang

et al. 2020

Applied Sciences

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“…Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD) is a novel contactless drilling technology, which uses high-voltage electric pulses to break away the rock, without relying on mechanical abrasion (e.g., [5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]). Thus, PPGD is part of a class of new "contactless" drilling technologies, which also includes thermal spallation (e.g., [6,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]) and water jet drilling (e.g., [33][34][35][36][37]) and laser drilling (e.g., [38][39][40][41][42][43]) to name only some. PPGD has been given various names in the literature, including Electropulse Drilling, Plasma Channel Drilling, and Electric Impulse Drilling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulating Plasma Formation in Pores under Short Electric Pulses for Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD)

et al. 2021

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Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD) is a contact-less drilling technique, where an electric discharge across a rock sample causes the rock to fracture. Experimental results have shown PPGD drilling operations are successful if certain electrode spacings, pulse voltages, and pulse rise times are given. However, the underlying physics of the electric breakdown within the rock, which cause damage in the process, are still poorly understood. This study presents a novel methodology to numerically study plasma generation for electric pulses between 200 and 500 kV in rock pores with a width between 10 and 100 μm. We further investigate whether the pressure increase, induced by the plasma generation, is sufficient to cause rock fracturing, which is indicative of the onset of drilling success. We find that rock fracturing occurs in simulations with a 100 μm pore size and an imposed pulse voltage of approximately 400 kV. Furthermore, pulses with voltages lower than 400 kV induce damage near the electrodes, which expands from pulse to pulse, and eventually, rock fracturing occurs. Additionally, we find that the likelihood for fracturing increases with increasing pore voltage drop, which increases with pore size, electric pulse voltage, and rock effective relative permittivity while being inversely proportional to the rock porosity and pulse rise time.

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“…[6][7][8][9] During the HF process, the MS events are identified to determine the crack direction and location and extent of the fracture network. [6][7][8][9] During the HF process, the MS events are identified to determine the crack direction and location and extent of the fracture network.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Microseismic (MS) monitoring technique has been proposed to widely apply to the HF evaluation in geothermal resources, shale gas, tight gas, and oil reservoirs, following the recognition of microvibration caused by rock fracture. [6][7][8][9] During the HF process, the MS events are identified to determine the crack direction and location and extent of the fracture network. MS monitoring technique was used to construct the fractal-induced fracture network distribution model in shale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underground microseismic monitoring of a hydraulic fracturing operation for CBM reservoirs in a coal mine

Jiang

et al. 2019

Energy Science & Engineering

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Hydraulic fracturing can evidently improve the coalbed methane production in underground coal mines, but it is difficult to delimit the stimulated area accurately. In order to evaluate the stimulated area, microseismic (MS) monitoring technique is proposed to investigate the seismic responses of the induced fractures of hydraulic fracturing. Three coal seams were targeted to be treated in a coal mine. An array of geophones was set along the underground roadway to detect the MS signals caused by HF. In order to verify the result of MS monitoring, water content of each coal seam has been measured before and after HF treatment. The results showed that a series of MS events were detected during the entire HF process, and a sharp MS event usually occurred during the first hour of HF process. The energy of the sharp MS event had higher magnitude than others. The MS distribution exhibited complex morphological features. The directionless MS response was distributed over a radius of less than 40 m but tended to be significantly conjugated with a radius of more than 40 m. HF could stimulate both the coal seam and the rock layers nearby. The achievable stimulated area in the coal seam was determined to be 50 m × 50 m according to the MS density and water content. The stimulated area in terms of MS density was easily found to be broader than the area of water direct intrusion. The present study indicated that MS monitoring technique could potentially be used for evaluation of HF in underground coal mine.

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Demonstration of thermal borehole enlargement to facilitate controlled reservoir engineering for deep geothermal, oil or gas systems

Cited by 32 publications

References 50 publications

Review on an Advanced Combustion Technology: Supercritical Hydrothermal Combustion

Review on an Advanced Combustion Technology: Supercritical Hydrothermal Combustion

Simulating Plasma Formation in Pores under Short Electric Pulses for Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD)

Underground microseismic monitoring of a hydraulic fracturing operation for CBM reservoirs in a coal mine

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