Геотермальные энерготехнологии России

Abstract

The results of scientific and technical investigations and development of geothermal technologies in Russia are presented. Information on the geothermal resources in Russia, the characteristics of geothermal fields and the physicochemical properties of geothermal fluids is given. The article presents the most significant results from experimental studies and numerical modeling of crisis phenomena in wet steam flows in the zone near the upper boundary curve, the generation and precipitation of a dispersed liquid phase, the flow of liquid films and moisture separation, and the formation of deposits and regularities relating to flow accelerated corrosion of structural metals in a multicomponent geothermal fluid. The article also discusses the design features and advantages of Russian geothermal equipment, including gravity separators, steam turbines with a developed system for intra-channel separation of moisture from the flow path, a cooling system, and a system for reinjection of waste geothermal fluid. It is shown that the use of gravity separators produced by the JSC Machine Building Plant ZiO Podolsk makes it possible to keep the moisture content of steam at the turbine inlet at a level of 0.1-0.5%, thereby significantly reducing the deposit formation rate in the turbine stages. It is also shown that the use of the intra-channel separation system and the steam turbine’s dedicated separation stage makes it possible to remove more than 80% of moisture from the flow path. Basic information about the process flow diagrams, design and technical characteristics of the equipment installed at the operating Russian geothermal power plants, including the Verkhne-Mutnovskaya GeoPP and the Mutnovskaya GeoPP in Kamchatka, is given. Some results from recent studies on achieving more efficient use of the geothermal fluid heat are presented, in particular, through applying a system for superheating steam at the turbine inlet and secondary flashed steam by using hydrogen-oxygen steam generators. Promising sites for constructing new Russian geothermal power plants have been identified.