Experimental Preliminary Measurements of CO2 Flux for Exploring Hidden Geothermal Systems

Abstract

Geothermal energy is a promising renewable energy source, and to enhance its use, identifying Hidden Geothermal Systems (HGS) without thermal manifestations on the surface is a challenging subject. Soil CO2 flux monitoring has become an effective method for detecting HGS, different from traditional methods that target thermal indicators. Expensive portable CO2 gas analyzers are commonly used for this purpose, but their high cost prevents wide applications. Thus, this study tries to design and test a cost-effective solution for measuring CO2 flux while keeping high accuracy and reliability of measured data. The method incorporates a self-made accumulation chamber connected to a relatively inexpensive CO2 portable meter, the GasLab Pro Carbon Dioxide Sampling Data Logger CM-1000. The device uses non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) to detect CO2 and is equipped with a data logger for continuous monitoring. The CO2 flux measurement is performed using the accumulation chamber method. The reliability of this tool for detecting CO2 flux is evaluated, and the experimental results are verified by comparing them with an intelligent gas flow meter, the Shimadzu Intelligent Flow Meter DFM-1000. The tool is tested in various conditions, with CO2 flux values ranging from 3.30 to 1013.02 g m-2 day-1, proving capable of measuring CO2 flux up to 1000 g m-2 day-1. Field tests were conducted at 60 sites to evaluate the tool’s performance. The results suggest that the lower measurement limit of the tool is approximately 0.1 g m-2 day-1. Overall, the cost-effective solution holds promise as a reliable tool for investigating HGS, with potential applications in other environments with similar or higher CO2 flux rates. In addition, conducting further comparison studies with a common sophisticated automatic flux tool such as LI-COR 850 can help improve the accuracy and reliability of the tool.