Technical Performance Comparison between U-Shaped and Deep Borehole Heat Exchangers

Claudio Alimonti ()
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Claudio Alimonti: Department of Chemical Engineering Materials Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, I-00184 Rome, Italy

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: The geothermal industry is fronted by a fundamental decade to grow and become an energy supplier in transitioning to a sustainable energy system. The introduction of Closed-Loop Geothermal energy systems (CLG) can overcome the negative social response and increase the attractiveness of geothermal developments. The present work aims to investigate and compare the performance of CLG systems. For the comparison, the case study of Campi Flegrei was chosen. The maximum depth was fixed at 2000 m, and the two configurations were set up to analyse the performance and evaluate the best operational configuration. Both CLG configurations showed decay in the output temperature of the working fluid during the production time. For a U-shaped design, it is possible to find a working condition that allows constant thermal power over time. The DBHE specific power was always more significant, up to 350 kW/m, compared to the U-shaped, which attained a maximum of 300 W/m (15%). The comparison with Beckers et al. analysis highlights the similarity of our results with their base case. The consideration of the CLG system’s length is related to the heat exchange and investment costs. For longer exchangers, there are higher investments and lower specific power.

Keywords: geothermal energy; closed-loop systems; deep borehole heat exchanger; U-loop (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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