At the Core – January 2022 Keep up to date on what is going on at Utah FORGE. Read about it in the...
Cooling Tower
Plant equipment that is used to dissipate heat into air rather than into a river. Cooling is induced in two different ways. For binary plants, dry cooling towers use fans to draw air across a heat exchanger and this removes heat from a working fluid causing gas to condense into liquid. In flash steam plants, wet cooling towers condense water vapor via evaporation to provide a continuous supply of cooled water that is run through the outlet of a condensing turbine.
Geothermal Glossary
Word of the Week – Normal Fault
Normal Fault High angle fault that results from extensional stress and forms a steeply dipping planar structure. Slip movement during an earthquake is vertical and down dip. The down-dropped block is called the hanging wall and the uplifted block is called the...
Word of the Week – Packers and Plugs
Packers and Plugs Downhole devices emplaced into a well to seal zones and intervals so they can be pressurized by pumping fluid from the surface in order to stimulate fractures at a specified location. They are designed for temporary and permanent deployments,...
Word of the Week – PDC Drill Bit
PDC Drill Bit Polycrystalline diamond compact drill bits have been long used in oil and gas drilling, and only recently have they been used in geothermal drilling. The PDC cutters are known for their resistance to wear and impact, including hot crystalline rock. They...