Scientists in Iceland have come up with an ambitious plan to drill into the magma chambers of volcanoes to obtain large amounts of clean, super-hot geothermal energy.
The project, which would be a scientific first if successful, would see a borehole drilled about 1.3 miles down through the earth’s crust at a volcano known as Krafla, located in northeast Iceland.
With over 200 volcanoes, Iceland is already a leader in geothermal energy where heat or hot water vapor is extracted and separated into liquid water and steam.
The steam is then passed through a turbine that produces electricity that is used to generate and heat its many greenhouses, used for high levels of local food production, as well as for heating.
About 90% of homes in Iceland are heated by geothermal energy, according to Energy Transition, a green energy website.
However, geothermal energy is cooler than steam in fossil fuel power plants, about 482°F and 842°F respectively, and thus tapping into magma chambers can release far more powerful energy supplies and increase energy stocks. the whole country.
“It’s pretty inefficient at that low temperature, so there’s interest in trying to develop super-hot geothermal,” John Eichelberger, a volcanologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, told New Scientist.
“The purpose of producing energy from super-hot geothermal near magma is that these wells are up to an order of magnitude more powerful in terms of producing energy than conventional wells,” said project manager Björn Þór Guðmundsson, to the Daily Mail.
Scientists in Iceland have come up with an ambitious plan to drill into the magma chambers of volcanoes to obtain large amounts of clean, super-hot geothermal energy. NurPhoto
“We can drill one well instead of 10 for the same power output.”
The project, carried out by the Krafla Magma Testbed (KMT), an Icelandic magma research organization, will build on a 2009 effort to drill close to one of Krafla’s magma chambers by a team from a nearby power plant that has produced geothermal energy from the volcano since the 1970s. an.
The intention with the project was only to approach space to explore geothermal energy options, but the space was not as deep as expected, and the project accidentally penetrated into the magma vault.
The drill hit magma and corroded the steel in the well casing as the 842°F heat destroyed the well.
KMT scientists are working on materials that will be able to withstand the scorching heat in an upcoming project.
The project, which would be a scientific first if successful, would see a borehole drilled about 1.3 miles down through the earth’s crust at a volcano known as Krafla, located in northeast Iceland. Arterra
The project confirms that drilling into magma chambers does not cause volcanoes to erupt, according to New Scientist.
“One of the main goals of the KMT is to develop wells with the right materials that can withstand these conditions,” Guðmundsson told the Daily Mail.
Krafla is one of the country’s most explosive volcanoes, having erupted about 29 times since the country was first settled, although the last eruption was in 1984.
The volcano that erupted in December was near the fishing town of Grindavik, in the southwestern part of Iceland.
“Tapping superheated or supercritical vapor from an adjacent heat source can increase energy transport to the surface by orders of magnitude and conversion efficiency to electricity by 3.5 times,” scientists wrote for KMT in a 2018 paper.
With over 200 volcanoes, Iceland is already a leader in geothermal energy where heat or hot water vapor is extracted and separated into liquid water and steam. Arterra
“When combined with the advantages of continuous operation (bed load), no need to transport either fuel or waste, limited carbon emissions, and advances in long-distance HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) power transmission, geothermal energy can transform electricity. full energy game.”
The project will also help KMT scientists monitor the magma chamber by using filters that will take pressure readings, which could improve eruption predictions.
Another experiment later in the decade could inject liquid into space to change the pressure and temperature, and measure the results, according to the Daily Mail.
“This project is driven by the need to understand the magmatic system, to improve volcano monitoring strategies, and to develop the next generation of high-enthalpy geothermal energy,” scientists wrote for KMT in a 2018 paper.
“Monitoring the temperature profile at the roof of the magma chamber will reveal the actual heat flux from the magma to the hydrothermal system, and unprecedented observations that will test the promise and sustainability of the Super Hot Geothermal System (SHGS).
SHGS is a system that exceeds 662°F,” the scientist added.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
