At Geo-Engines one of the important areas of research has been ensuring the longevity of the Geo-Engine given the aggressive operational fluids that power them. Even with the gentlest working fluid, dry, sweet, contamination free methane the internal temperatures can be a minimum of 150C and as high as 270C. Change to a sour or acid gas geothermal fluid and the metallurgy gets a lot more challenging very quickly. Our collaboration partner Lloyds Register early on highlighted the extreme metallurgy challenges inside a Geo-Engines and identified suitable materials to counter potential problems during a Geo-Engines 20 year lifespan. To build on this Innovate UK funded work, we worked with the University of Liverpool and our then PhD candidate Dr James Brown, with the support of Professor Karl Whittle. Dr Brown over 4 years explored the metallurgical requirements inside a Geo-Engine with extreme concentrations of contaminants and very high temperature ranges modelled and trialled. This comprehensive EU funded research, like all our internal and external research projects, builds comprehensive knowledge within the business so that we are fully prepared for any use of our technology. We are of the firm belief that good technology must be built on firm foundations to be able to move up the technology readiness levels smoothly. With our granted patents and the depth of understanding that can only be achieved through intensive research we are ready to take these next steps.
Our founders’ careers as inventors have always centred on reducing waste across a diversity of industries, including food packaging, infrastructure security, electricity use, etc. Their approach with Geo-Engines 10 years ago was the most ambitious yet, to decarbonise natural gas production. Natural Gas is broadly recognised as a key component in the energy transition; natural gas is a much cleaner energy source than oil or coal and an important industrial ingredient. It is also a major source of hydrogen through reforming and pyrolysis, with the later capable of generating hydrogen with no associated CO2 release, provided carbon neutral electricity is used. Natural gas like oil is generated deep underground, commonly deeper than oil, it permeates vertically up from it’s source to eventually be trapped in a rock reservoir. Natural gas extraction has focussed on the shallowest reservoirs, as these are easier to drill into, but a hundred years of extraction has depleted many of these shallow reserves, forcing exploration company to search deeper into the earth. These deeper reservoirs are more challenging for companies, as the deeper they drill, the hotter the rock is and the higher the pressures are. For Geo-Engines these industry problems provide a valuable silver lining as deep, hot, high pressure gas is exactly what is needed to generate geothermal power. When installed on high pressure and high temperature gas wells Geo-Engines can convert some of the heat and pressure into carbon neutral geothermal energy, which can be used by the operator to replace hydrocarbon based power for drilling, geological injection, gas cleaning and gas compression. This in turn eliminates the carbon footprint for gas production, with large gas fields even capable of producing enough geothermal electricity to feed local grids and support unrelated industries such as data centres, refining or water purification.
If you would like to learn more about Geo-Engines technology or explore potential collaboration opportunities, please get in touch.
