Geological and Thermodynamic Analysis of Low Enthalpy Geothermal Resources to Electricity Generation Using ORC and Kalina Cycle Technology

Abstract

The article presents an assessment of the potential for using low enthalpy geothermal resources for electricity generation on the basis of the Małopolskie Voivodeship (southern Poland). Identification the locations providing the best prospects with the highest efficiency and possible gross power output. Thermodynamic calculations of power plants were based on data from several geothermal wells: the Bańska PGP-1, Bańska IG-1, Bańska PGP-3 and Chochołów PIG-1 which are working wells located in one of the best geothermal reservoirs in Poland. As the temperature of geothermal waters from the wells does not exceed 86 °C, considerations include the use of binary technologies—the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and Kalina Cycle. The potential gross capacity calculated for existing geothermal wells will not exceed 900 kW for ORC and 1.6 MW for Kalina Cycle. In the case of gross electricity, the total production will not exceed 3.3 GWh/year using the ORC, and will not exceed 6.3 GWh/year for the Kalina Cycle.

The potential to improve air quality by increasing the use of deep geothermal energy

“…It has been confirmed by Zhang et al (2020), who, in their research, emphasise a much lower environmental impact of geothermal heating than in case of coal heating, while referring to the issue of combined heat and power generation from geothermal energy. The validity of such an approach, provided that geothermal resources with appropriate parameters (temperature, capacity of production wells) are available, is also confirmed by the research conducted by Kaczmarczyk et al (2020c).…”

A Literature Review of the Kalina Cycle and Trends

“…Ozahi and Tozlu [53] used the Kalina cycle for a 5.66 MW solid waste power plant in Turkey to recover power from the waste heat of the plant. The heat source is taken at 566 K with the Kalina cycle producing 954.6 kW of power at 24.15% efficiency There are no geothermal power plant in Poland but there is potential to generate power from low enthalpy geothermal resource available at 86°C [54]. ORC and Kalina cycle comparison was made to determine which technology will be appropriate for the said application.…”

Low - medium enthalpy geothermal resource assessment in deep reservoirs of the Llanos Basin - Colombia

“…The mean surface temperature (T P ) values added to downhole temperature data available in the literature [16], served to calculate the apparent geothermal gradient -temperature gradient between downhole and surface -at each well point using the following equation [72]-[74]:…”