Plant Thermodynamic Cycles

Introduction
Enthalpy of
Geothermal Type of Fluid Separation Plant Heat Transfer Prime Mover
Resource

High

Dry or Superheated Back Pressure Steam

Steam Turbine

Single Flash
Condensing Steam
Turbine

Two Phase Fluid Double Flash

Medium

Triple Flash

Heat Organic
Hot Water
Exchangers RankineTurbine
Low

Reinjection Reinjection

General Process Flow Diagram for Geothermal Plant Cycles

Page 2
A. Dry Steam Power plants
B. Flash/Steam Plants

C. Binary Cycle power plant

A power plant where steam is released from the pressure of
a deep reservoir,through a rock catcher, and then past the
power generator turbines.

 Dry Steam extracted from natural reservoir

- Pressure 4- 8 Mpa (580 – 1160 Psi)

- Temperature 180 – 225 0C (356 – 437 0F)

 Steam is used to drive a turbo-Generator

 Steam is condensed and pumped back into the ground

 Can Achieve 1 kWh per 6.5 kg of Steam (Example)

- A 55 MW plant requires 100 kg/s of steam

A power plant where water is pumped under great
pressure to the surface. When it surfaces, the pressure
is reduced and as a result some of the water changes to
steam. This creates a blast of steam. The water is then
returned to the earth to be heated up by geothermal
rocks again.
 Steam with water extracted from ground
 Pressure of mixture drops at surface and more water "flashes" to
steam
 Steam separated from water
 Steam drives a turbine
 Turbine drives an electric generator
 Generate between 5 and 100 MW Use 6 to 9 tones of steam per hour
(example)
S : Silencer T/G : Turbin Generator
PW : Production Well SE/C : Steam Ejector/Condenser
WV : Wellhead Valve C : Condenser
CS : Cyclone Separator CP : Condensate Pump
BCV : Ball Check Valve CWP : Cooling Water pump
SP : Stem Pipeline CT : Cooling tower Fan
MR : Moisture Removal WP : Water (brine) piping
CSV : Control & Stop Valve IW : Injection Well *DiPippo 2007
• WP : Water Pipeline • F : Flasher
• TV : Throttle Valve
*DiPippo 2007
WS : Wellhead Separator
SPS : Standard-pressure separator
LPS : Low Pressure Separator
HCL : Asam Klorida
D : Drain

*DiPippo 2007
A power plant where warm geothermal water is
pumped to the surface and passed through a heat
exchanger that contains a special fluid that boils the
water. The heat from the water makes this secondary
fluid flash into vapor. The newly created vapor spins
the turbines, while the cooled steam is injected back
into the earth.
 Low temperature – 100oC - 150oC
 Use heat to vaporize organic Liquid (i.e : iso-butane,
iso-pentane)
 Use vapor to drive turbine
- Causes vapor to condense
- Recycle continously
 Typically 7 – 12 % efficient
 0.1 – 40 MW units common
P : Pump PH : Preheater
SR : Sand remover IP : Injection pump
E : Evaporator FF : Final filter
*DiPippo 2007
ST : Steam Turbine
BT : Binary Turbine

*DiPippo 2007
A. Production Well
B. Separator /Scrubber
C. Heat Exchanger
D. Steam Turbine
E. Condenser
F. Generator
G. Cooling Tower
H. Injection Well
 Source of steam
 Depth 3 km to 10 km
 Similar to production well of an oil rig
 Wells may be located as far as 10 km to 14
km from power plant
 Steam can be moist or dry, Moist steam
passes through separator
 Water or brine is reinjected through
injection well
Separator is pressure vessel used for separating well
fluids produced from oil and gas wells into gaseous and
liquid components., where the method of separation can
be done in several ways.
- Pressure drop
- Gravity setlink
- Flow turbulence or change in flow direction
- Fluid breakdown or collision
 Steam contains non condensable gases including
Hydrogen sulphide (H2S)

 Separator are used for the purpose to remove

these gases

 2 phase and 3 phase separators are used

according to requirement

 Separators are vertically horizontally designed

Scrubber is one type of separator that functions
to filter back the liquid granules (droplets) that
may still be included in the gas. Generally this
tool is placed after the separator (initial
separator).
A heat exchanger is a device used to transfer
heat between two or more fluids. The fluids can
be single or two phase and, depending on the
exchanger type, may be separated or in direct
contact. Devices involving energy sources such
as nuclear fuel pins or fired heaters are not
normally regarded as heat exchangers although
many of the principles involved in their design
are the same.
Classification of Heat Exchangers by
Flow Configuration
There are four basic flow configurations:
Counter Flow
Cocurrent Flow
Crossflow
Hybrids such as Cross Counterflow and
Multi Pass Flow
 Specially designed steam turbine are used for
geothermal power plants
 Steam can be corrosive due to many non condensable
gases e.g. Hydrogen sulphide
 To protect rotor blades and nozzles from corrosion
special coatings and materials are used
 The generation and transmission side of geothermal
power plants is similar to conventional power plants
In systems involving heat transfer,
a condenser is a device or unit used
to condense a substance from its gaseous to
its liquid state, by cooling it. In so doing,
the latent heat is given up by the substance
and transferred to the surrounding
environment.
Steam condensed at a vacuum at the
turbine exit

Most plants use direct contact

condensers that uses water itself as
the cooling media.
In this type of condenser the condensing vapor flows
inside a bank of finned tubes and ambient air blown
across the tubes by fans serves as the coolant. Air-
cooled condensers are used where water is scarce (such
as desert climates). Their efficiency can reach up
to 30% although it is lower in summer due to high dry-
bulb temperature. Natural draft cooling towers are used
at some plants such as Larderello, Matsukawa, and
Ohaaki, NZ. These have lower operating costs and
reliable, continuous operations compared to mechanical
draft
Gas Scrubber dan Filter pada dasarnya adalah equipment yang digunakan
untuk memisahkan fasa liquid dari aliran gas (aliran didominasi oleh fraksi gas).

Perbedaannya terletak pada prinsip pemisahan sehingga kemudian

penerapannya juga berbeda.
Gas Scrubber beroperasi dengan prinsip flash, seperti halnya separator, akan
tetapi berbeda dalam design dan parameter operasi (level liquid). Oleh karena
itu, pemisahan hanya optimal untuk droplet liquid sampai 100 mikron, untuk
droplet liquid yang lebih kecil maka biasanya dipasang demister (itupun juga
masih ada yang lolos). Gas Filter (misal tipe coalleser) digunakan untuk
menjebak droplet liquid yang lebih kecil (mampu hingga 1 mikron dengan
efisiensi pemisahan 90 %), prinsip pemisahan dapat dengan menggunakan
adsorber (solid).

Berdasarkan karakter tersebut maka penerapannya akan bergantung kondisi

gas yang ada. Kalau gasnya kaya kondensat biasanya perlu scrubber dan filter
(terutama kalau setalah itu masuk ke kompressor), kalau gasnya dijamin dry ya
bisa cukup penggunaan gas filter/scrubber saja.