Geothermal 

Energy  Resources  and  Utilization

D. Chandrasekharam

1.  INTRODUCTION

This paper gives an overview of the present status of non-conventional energy sources of
India, world geothermal resources, its advantages over other conventional energy sources,
various uses and technologies involved in utilizing this energy source. Exploration methods
used to assess the resources are explained in brief. Various geothermal provinces of India and
their power generating /direct use potential are described in detail.

2. ADVANTAGES OF GEOTHERMAL  ENERGY

Geothermal energy is a domestic energy resource with cost, reliability and environmental
advantages over conventional energy sources. It contributes both to energy supply, with
electrical power generation and direct-heat uses.

For generation of electricity, hot water is brought from the underground reservoir to the
surface through production wells, and is flashed to steam in special vessels by release of
pressure. The steam is separated from the liquid and fed to a turbine engine, which turns a
generator. Spent geothermal fluid is injected back into peripheral parts of the reservoir to help
maintain reservoir pressure.  In the absence of steam, heat from hot water is extracted through
a secondary fluid and the high pressure vapour from the secondary fluid is utilized to run the
turbine.

If the reservoir is to be used for direct-heat application, the geothermal water is usually fed to
a heat  exchanger and the heat thus extracted is used for home heating, greenhouse, vegetable
drying and a wide variety of other small scale industries. Hot water at temperatures less than
120 o C can be used for this purpose.  Further, the spent hot water, after generating electricity
can also be used for direct application.

As a result of today's geothermal production, consumption of exhaustible fossil fuels is offset,

along with the release of acid-rain and greenhouse gases that are caused by fossil-fuel use.
Systems for use of geothermal energy have proven to be extremely reliable and flexible.
Geothermal electric power plants are on line  97% of the time, whereas nuclear plants
average only 65% and coal plants only 75% on-line time. Geothermal plants are modular, and
can be installed in increments as needed. Because they are modular, then can be transported
conveniently to any site. Both baseline and peaking power can be generated. Construction
time can be as little as 6 months for plants in the range 0.5 to 10 MW and as little as 2 years
for clusters of plants totalling 250 MW or more.

The competing goals of increased energy production for worldwide social development and
of mitigating release of atmosphere-polluting gases are not compatible using today's fuel mix,
which relies heavily on coal and petroleum. Development of geothermal energy has a large
net positive impact on the environment compared with development of conventional energy
sources. Geothermal power plants have sulphur-emissions rates that average only a few
percent of those from fossil-fuel alternatives. The newest generation of geothermal power
plants emits only ~135 gm of carbon (as carbon dioxide) per megawatt-hour (MW-hr) of
electricity generated. This figure compares with 128 kg /MW-hr of carbon for a plant
operating on natural gas (methane) and 225 kg/MW-hr of carbon for a plant using bituminous
coal. Nitrogen oxide emissions are much lower in geothermal power plants than in fossil
power plants. Nitrogen-oxides combine with hydrocarbon vapours in the atmosphere to
produce ground-level ozone, a gas that causes adverse health effects and crop losses as well
as smog. There are other environmental advantages to geothermal energy. Geothermal power
plants require very little land, taking up only a fraction of that needed by other energy
sources.  Thus  emission of  CO2 and  SO2 by geothermal power plants is far less compared
with conventional fossil fuel based power plants (Figure 1).

Figure1. CO2 and SO2 emission by geothermal and

conventional power plants.
 

3.  PRESENT STATUS OF NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY  RESOURCES IN

INDIA:

The estimated power shortage in India in the next  five years will be  43,000 MW while the
total potential of non-conventional energy is  about 50,000 MW. The power production status
of non-conventional energy in India is  shown  in Table 1(Chandrasekharam, 2000a):

Table 1. Power production status  of non-conventional energy in India

                      

Renewable Power                   Potential                    Achieved

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wind Power                        20,000 MW                  1,000 MW

Small Hydro Power             10,000 MW                     172 MW

Biomass                              20,000 MW                     141 MW

Solar photo-voltic Power            20 MW/sq.km            810 KW    

Geothermal energy is not included here, although it has an estimated  potential of about
10,000 MW (Ravi Shankar, 1996). The IPPs (Independent Power Producers) are not aware of
this potential and the country is not keen in developing this source due to the availability of
190 billion tones of recoverable coal resources which is supporting coal based power projects
and hampering the healthy growth of non-conventional energy program.

Excessive use of this source without adopting strategies to mitigate its effects will have
deteriorating effect on the quality of human life. In another decade emission of CO 2, SO2 and
Nx  will exceed 1500 million tones, 1900 kilo tones and 1200 kilo tones respectively ( World
Bank Report 1999). This means CO2 emissions will be 775 million metric tones per year as
compared to 1000 million metric tones per year produced in the entire European Union!  No
doubt the cost of electricity produced from coal is far less expensive compared with other
fuels. The present day cost of one unit of power is less than a rupee in the case of coal based
power while liquid fuel based power costs about Rs. 2 per unit (Mehta, 1999) and hydro
power costs about Rs. 1.50 (World Bank Report, 1999). But the expenditure spent to meet the
consequences (like disposal of fly ash; treating the coal with high ash content etc) is high
which automatically increases one rupee a unit to several rupees. The ash content in Indian
coal is about 45% and the annual production of fly ash is about 75 million tons and it may
cross 100 million mark very shortly. (Chandrasekharam, 2000). Only 5% of this ash is being
utilized at present.

The reasons for low targets (Table 1) achieved through non-conventional energy sources are
many. For example, solar photo-voltaic (SPV) and solar thermal are far less economically
attractive than conventional technologies for, the current estimated cost of SPV modules are
around $ 4 to 5 Wp (peak watt). Assuming the cost to decline by 50% in future, the estimated
cost would be around $2.5 Wp which is highly uncompetitive compared with $ 1.05 for other
conventional sources.  In the case of wind power, operational problems in matching demand
and supply exists since the wind velocity is seasonal (World Bank Report 1999). The
estimated cost of power produced using geothermal resources is less than Rs. 2 /kWh
(Entingh et al., 1994).

In future India has to fall in line with other countries in controlling emission of  CO2, SO2 and
Nx into the atmosphere and  thus has to depend on cheap, environmentally clean geothermal
energy resources.

4.  Resources definition:

Geothermal energy, in the broad sense, is the heat in the earth and released by conduction at
an average heat flux of 60 mW/m 2. The four prerequisites necessary to exploit geothermal
energy are (Economides and Ungemach, 1987):
a).  A heat source which could be a magma body, or a simple hot rock at depth, b) Heat
carrier fluid, c) Permeable or fractured rock acting as a reservoir and d) Cap rocks providing
an impermeable and insulating cover

The most obviously usable geothermal resources require convective heat transfer i.e.
presence of fluid. This occurs at a limited number of locations. When ever conduction alone
prevails (any where)  heat recovery requires that a fluid be forced through a large fractured
heat exchange area to sweep the energy stored in the rocks at depth. This is basically the
concept of hot dry rock technology, which is very promising. Hydrothermal resources are
classified according to the specific enthalpy of the fluid. Waters with temperatures between
30 - 120oC are called low enthalpy resources (0.03 to 0.4 MJ/kg); Waters with temperatures
above 120oC are termed as high enthalpy fluids (0.5 to 3 MJ/kg)

Location of geothermal provinces is dictated by the geodynamic model of the earth's crust,
known as the global plate tectonics. This theory accounts for the most of the geodynamic
processes affecting the earth's crust.  These geodynamic processes include subduction,
subsidence, uplift, fracturing etc. These occurrences result in associated geothermal features
such as the distribution of heat flow, active tectonics, volcanism and hydrothermal
convection.

                           Table 2. World Geothermal energy production

Country 1990 (MW electricity installed) 1999 (MW electricity installed)

USA 2775 2850
Philippines 891 1848
Italy 545 769
Mexico 700 753
Indonesia 145 590
Japan 215 530
New Zealand 283 345
Iceland 45 140
Costa Rica 0 120
El Salvador 95 105
Nicaragua 70 70
Kenya 45 45
China 19 32
Guatemala 0 29
Turkey 20 20.4
Totals installed
electrical generating 5867 8246
capacity

5.  World geothermal energy status

Currently there are an estimated 12,000 MW of direct use and over 8,000 MW of generating capacity in
geothermal resources world-wide. To put geothermal generation into perspective, this generating capacity is
about 0.4% of the World total installed generating capacity. The USA, Philippines, Italy, Mexico, Iceland
Indonesia, Japan and New Zealand are the largest users of geothermal energy resources (both direct and
indirect). Table 2 shows the location of present electric power generation from geothermal energy in order of
size per country. The 1999 capacity of 8246MW electricity was a 40% increase from the capacity installed in
1990.  
Other countries with less than 20 MW generation are: Argentina, Australia Ethiopia, France (Guadeloupe)
,Greece, Portugal(Azores), Russia, Thailand (World Geothermal Congress, 2000). Currently geothermal
resources in over 30 countries provide directly used heat capacity of over 12,000 MW. These countries include:
Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Nicaragua, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia,
Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey.

The majority of the earlier geothermal plants were funded and operated by National Power agencies around the
world with the exception of California where the development of the Geysers geothermal field was carried out
by privately funded utility companies. With the recent international trend towards de-regulation in the power
industry, private developers have become more directly involved in both resource assessment and development.
This has been particularly so in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The world map (Fig. 2) illustrates where geothermal resources are currently being utilised. The red dots indicate
power generation which includes small scale, rural development as well as large scale power plants. Direct use
is also applicable to the red dots. The blue dots indicate both high temperature and medium to low temperature
resources where direct use of the geothermal heat is being applied. The yellow dots indicate World Bank funded
projects, and the green dots indicate Hot Dry Rock (HDR) research is underway.

                        Figure 2. Geothermal energy utilization map of the world

Flash steam plants totally dominate the marketplace, but over the past ten years many smaller
scale binary cycle plants have been installed while several combined (flash steam/binary
plants) have been installed. The majority of the World's geothermal power stations are base
load stations meaning that they operate 24 hours a day  for 365 days. Allowing for a load
factor of about 80% and an average steam cost of Rs. 2 per kWh geothermal power.

6.  Technology and Resource Type

Geothermal resources vary in temperature from 30-350 o C, and can either be dry, mainly
steam, a mixture of steam and water or just liquid water. In order to extract geothermal heat
from the earth, water is the transfer medium. Naturally occurring groundwater is available for
this task in most places but more recently technologies are being developed to even extract
the energy from hot dry rock resources. The temperature of the resource is a major
determinant of the type of technologies required to extract the heat and the uses to which it
can be put. The Table 3  lists the basic technologies normally utilised according to resource
temperature.

                                       Table 3. Basic technology commonly used

Reservoir Temperature Reservoir Common Use Technology commonly chosen

Fluid
High Temperature Water or Power Flash Steam; Combined
Steam Generation (Flash and Binary) Cycle
>220oC
Direct Use Direct Fluid Use Heat
Exchangers Heat Pumps
Intermediate Temperature Water Power Binary Cycle
Generation
100-220oC Direct Fluid Use; Heat
Direct Use Exchangers ;  Heat Pumps
.
Low Temperature Water Direct Use Direct Fluid Use; Heat
Exchangers; Heat Pumps
50-150oC

7.   Power Generation Technology

  7.1  High Temperature Resources

High temperature geothermal reservoirs containing water and/or steam can provide steam to directly drive steam
turbines and electrical generation plant. More recently developed binary power plant technologies enables more
of the heat from the resource to be utilised for power generation. A combination of conventional flash and
binary cycle technology is becoming increasingly popular.

High temperature resources commonly produce either steam, or a mixture of steam and water from the
production wells. The steam and water is separated in a pressure vessel (Separator), with the steam piped to the
power station where it drives one or more steam turbines to produce electric power. The separated geothermal
water (brine) is either utilised in a binary cycle type plant to produce more power, or is disposed of back into the
reservoir down deep (injection) wells. The following is a brief description of each of the technologies most
commonly used to utilise high temperature resources for power generation.

Flash Steam Power Plant

This is the most common type of geothermal power plant. The illustration (Fig. 3) below
shows the principal elements of this type of plant. The steam, once it has been separated from
the water, is piped to the powerhouse where it is used to drive the steam turbine. The steam is
condensed after leaving the turbine, creating a partial vacuum and thereby maximizing the
power generated by the turbine-generator. The steam is usually condensed either in a direct
contact condenser, or a heat exchanger type condenser. In a direct contact condenser the
cooling water from the cooling tower is sprayed onto and mixes with the steam. The
condensed steam then forms part of the cooling water circuit, and a substantial portion is
subsequently evaporated and is dispersed into the atmosphere through the cooling tower.
Excess cooling water called blow down is often disposed of in shallow injection wells. As an
alternative to direct contact condensers shell and tube type condensers are sometimes used, as
is shown in the schematic below. In this type of plant, the condensed steam does not come
into contact with the cooling water, and is disposed of in injection wells.

Fig. 3. Single Flash Power Plant

 

Typically, flash condensing geothermal power plants vary in size from 5 MW to over 100 MW. Depending on
the steam characteristics, gas content, pressures, and power plant design, between 6000 kg and 9000 kg of steam
each hour is required to produce each MW of electrical power. Small power plants (less than 10 MW) are often
called well head units as they only require the steam of one well and are located adjacent to the well on the
drilling pad in order to reduce pipeline costs. Often such well head units do not have a condenser, and are called
backpressure units. They are very cheap and simple to install, but are inefficient (typically 10-20 tonne per hour
of steam for every MW of electricity) and can have higher environmental impacts.

Binary Cycle Power Plants

In reservoirs where temperatures are typically less than 220 o C. but greater than 100o C binary cycle plants are
often utilised. The illustration (Fig. 4) shows the principal elements of this type of plant. The reservoir fluid
(either steam or water or both) is passed through a heat exchanger which heats a secondary working fluid
(organic) which has a boiling point lower than 100 o C. This is typically an organic fluid such as Isopentane,
which is vaporised and is used to drive the turbine. The organic fluid is then condensed in a similar manner to
the steam in the flash power plant described above, except that a shell and tube type condenser rather than direct
contact is used. The fluid in a binary plant is recycled back to the heat exchanger and forms a closed loop. The
cooled reservoir fluid is again re-injected back into the reservoir.

Fig. 4. Binary Cycle Power Plant

 
Binary cycle type plants are usually between 7 and 12 % efficient, depending on the
temperature of the primary (geothermal) fluid. Binary Cycle plant typically vary in size from
500 kW to 10 MW. The curves (Fig. 5)  give an indication of the electrical power output from
a binary plant over a range of flows and geothermal reservoir temperatures.

 
Fig. 5. Power  From Moderate - Low  Temperature  Fluids
 

Combined Cycle (Flash and Binary)

Combined Cycle power plants are a combination of conventional steam turbine technology
and binary cycle technology. By combining both technologies, higher overall utilization
efficiencies can be gained, as the conventional steam turbine is more efficient at generation of
power from high temperature steam, and the binary cycle from the lower temperature
separated water. In addition, by replacing the condenser-cooling tower cooling system in a
conventional plant by a binary plant, the heat available from condensing the spent steam after
it has left the steam turbine can be utilized to produce more power.

7.2    Medium Temperature Resources

Medium temperature resources are normally hot water with temperatures ranging from 100 o C to 220o C. The
most common technology for utilising such resources for power generation is the binary cycle technology . This
technology is described above under high temperature resources.

8.  Direct Use Technology

Direct use technologies are where geothermal heat is used directly rather than for power generation and are built
around the extraction of heat from relatively low temperature geothermal resources, generally of less than 150 o
C. Because geothermal heat is non-transportable, (except short distances by fluid pipeline) any applications
must generally be sited within10 km or less of the resource . For many resources, the relatively low temperatures
and/or pressures in the reservoirs means that they have insufficient energy and/or pressure differences to
naturally carry the fluids to the surface and pumps are frequently used (either down-hole or at the surface).

The type of technology selected for utilising geothermal heat for direct use applications is dependent on the
nature of the geothermal fluid and the type of direct use planned. In many direct use applications, the
geothermal fluid cannot be used directly, such as in drying processes or where clean steam or hot water is
necessary, as geothermal fluid often contains chemical contaminants. In such cases heat exchangers are utilised
to extract the heat from the hot geothermal fluid and transfer it to either clean water, or in the case of drying
processes, to air.

There are two main types of heat exchangers commonly used. They are plate heat exchangers and shell and
tube. The heat exchanger technology employed in the geothermal industry is the same as is commonly used over
a wide range of industries where heat exchangers are utilised.

Commonly used heat pump technology can also be employed in order to utilise geothermal heat for air
conditioning and refrigeration applications.

9. Technological Issues with Geothermal Developments

Whether geothermal energy is utilized for power production or for direct use applications,
there are issues in geothermal utilization that often have technical implications.
Geothermal fluids often contain significant quantities of gases such as hydrogen sulphide as
well as dissolved chemicals and can sometimes be acidic. Because of this, corrosion, erosion
and chemical deposition may be issues, which require attention at the design stage and during
operation of the geothermal project. Well casings and pipelines can suffer corrosion and /or
scale deposition, and turbines, especially blades can suffer damage leading to higher
maintenance costs and reduced  power  output.

However, provided careful consideration of such potential problems is made at the design stage, there are a
number of technological solutions available. Such potential problems can be normally overcome by a
combination of utilising corrosion resistant materials, careful control of brine temperatures, the use of steam
scrubbers and occasionally using corrosion inhibitors.

Provided such readily available solutions are employed, geothermal projects generally have a very good history
of operational reliability. Geothermal power plants for example, can boast of high capacity factors (typically 85-
95%)

With all projects of significant size, geothermal projects are developed through a series of
logical stages, which may be summarized in the Geothermal Development Flow Chart (Fig.
6). This figure shows the various stages in a typical geothermal project. Decisions to proceed
to the next stage are normally made progressively through out the project.

Design of Pipelines, steam

collection system and power
station Reconnaissance and Exploration
 

Fig. 6. Geothermal Development Geothermal resources are usually located

and defined by a progressively more
Flow Chart intensive (and expensive) exploration
 
programme that starts at a regional level
and eventually results in a drilling
Commissioning program to positively delineate the
  resource.

Construction Reconnaissance surveys will identify the most

  suitable prospect areas by recognition of
favourable geological settings and locating any hot
springs or other surface thermal discharge.
Production Drilling Reconnaissance studies involve mapping any hot
  springs or other surface thermal features and the
identification of favourable geological structures.
Site Development The chemical composition of the discharging
fluids reveals information about the deeper
  reservoir, including temperature and fluid
characteristics. Geological studies provide
Economic assessment information about the probable distribution and
    extent of aquifers, as well as the likely heat source
and heat flow regime. Areas identified as having
Power demand assessment high potential or that are favoured because of
proximity to an energy use centre, will be explored
  by more comprehensive scientific survey methods.
In addition to more detailed geological and
Sociological impact geochemical studies, a range of geophysical
  techniques may be used including gravity,
magnetic and resistivity surveys. Resistivity
Environmental impact surveys in particular can locate anomalies that are
directly related to the presence of geothermal
  fluids. Interpretation of these integrated
geoscientific studies leads to prioritisation of
Resources availability targets for exploration drilling programmes. The
  application of sound scientific method and
analysis during these early phases increases the
probability of success with subsequent drilling and
Feasibility Study development. If these surveys provide very good
  indications for the presence of a useful geothermal
reservoir, the resource is tested by the drilling of
Exploration Drilling and exploration wells so that actual subsurface
temperatures can be measured and reservoir
Testing productivity tested. The exploration programme
  should therefore be designed to suit the type of
resource expected, the amount of energy expected
  Infrastructure pre-feasibility to be produced from the project and the
timeframe for the development.

       assessment
 

 Sociological & environmental

       base line surveys

 

Surface exploration
 

Resources prioritization
 

Individual field and surface

inventory and assessment
 

   Recconnaissance and 

           exploration
 
10.  Application of Chemical techniques in geothermal exploration

The application of chemical techniques has become an integral part of any geothermal
exploration programme. During the pre-drilling stages of exploration, geochemistry of
thermal waters and gases may provide information on deep conditions and processes not
obtainable by geological or geophysical techniques.  The dissolved constituents in the
thermal waters can be grouped into two major groups  i.e.  a) chemically, non-reactive and 
b)  chemically reactive groups. The first group may be called tracers and the second, the geo-
indicators.

The tracers, once enter the fluid phase, ideally remain unchanged, providing a tag allowing
their origin to be traced back to their. These include noble gases like He and Ar and other
conservative elements like Cl, Li, B, Rb, Cs and N2 .

Geo-indicators are reactive species, responding to changes in their environment (especially

temperature and type of rock with which the fluids interact) in a controlled and well
understood manner. These include Na, K, Mg, Ca and SiO 2, which take part in temperature
dependent reactions with Al-silicate rocks which house geothermal systems, and H 2, H2S,
CH4 and CO2 which are involved in temperature -pressure dependent redox reactions within
them or redox systems of the rock phase such as FeII/FeIII reaction.

Out of the constituents mentioned above, Na, K, Mg, Ca, SiO2, Cl, Li, B, Rb and  Cs enter the
liquid phase while He, Ar H 2, H2S, CH4 and CO2 enter the vapour phase in geothermal
systems. These constituents are very useful in estimating the thermal  reservoir conditions
and the reservoir temperature. We shall see how these constituents are used in estimating the
reservoir temperature.  Those chemical constituents that are used in estimating the reservoir
temperature are known as geochemical thermometers. Two such important geothermometers,
the silica and cation  geothermometers, are discussed below. They are known as water
geothermometers because they enter the liquid phase in geothermal systems.

11.  Silica and Cations as geothermometers

Water geothermometers are classified into two groups i.e. 1) based on temperature dependent
variations in solubility of individual minerals and 2) based on temperature dependent
exchange reactions which fix the ratios of certain dissolved constituents (Fournier, 1991). 
The silica minerals are ideal members under group 1 while other cations such as Ca, Mg, Na
and K are ideal under group 2.  Temperature estimation based on group 2  members require
evaluation of activity coefficients for two or more dissolved species in order to calculate the
temperature at which solution-mineral equilibrium was last attained. The calculation of
activity coefficients must take into account the total composition of the fluid and the result
vary as a function of temperature. Simple techniques for estimating the reservoir
temperatures based on silica and cations are described here.

11.1 Silica geothermometer

The solubility of silica mineral decreases drastically and linearly as temperature decreases
below 340o C. If temperature vs silica concentration in thermal waters are plotted, they define
a straight line within this temperature limits. Similarly the dissolved silica in liquid after
steam separation (90 - 250o C) also defines a similar line.  The equations for such straight
lines  results in the following equations:
Quartz -no steam loss                       to C  =  ( 1309/5.19 - log S ) - 273.15         (1)

Quartz -max. steam loss                   to C  =  ( 1522/5.75 - log S ) - 273.15         (2)

 The above two equations are extensively been used for  calculating  geothermometer
temperatures in the range of  100 - 250o C. However (Fournier, 1991).

11.2 Silica- enthalpy diagram

It is useful to use enthalpy instead of temperature in the silica- temperature diagrams to

estimate the reservoir temperatures. This is because, the combined heat contents (enthalpies)
of two types of waters at different temperatures are conserved when they mix, thus the
dilution effect is eliminated here. Enthalpy-silica diagrams can be used to correct silica
concentrations for adiabatic cooling with single stage steam loss at any temperature. 

12.  Cation geothermometers

Cation geothermometers are widely used to calculate the reservoir temperatures from surface
thermal waters. This technique is based on ion exchange reactions with temperature
dependent equilibrium constants. An example is the exchange of Na and K between co-
existing alkali feldspars:

                                               Na Al Si3 O8 + K   =  K Al Si3 O8 

The equilibrium constant K eq for the above reaction is

[K Al Si 3 O 8] [Na]                      
                                                 K eq    =     

[Na Al Si3 O8] [ K ]                       3

                                                                      

The above equation can be written as 

                                      K eq    =   Na / K                                           4

Similar equation can be written  for monovalent and divalent ions such as K and Mg , thus

                                       K eq    =  K / Ö Mg

The variation of K eq with temperature can be obtained by an integrated form of van't  Hoff
equation

                                   

                                      Log  K eq  =   1 Ho / 2.303 RT + C

Where 1 Ho is the enthalpy of the reaction, T is temperature in Kelvin, R is the gas constant
and C is a constant of integration.

Since 1 Ho changes little with temperature in the range of 0 to 300o C, a plot of  log Na/K
versus temperature will  approximately be a straight line.  Equations for straight line, like that
develpped for silica geothermometery have been proposed by several workers and two most
widely used equations are given below:

        

               Na - K           to C = 1217 / 1.483 + log (Na/K) - 273.15                         5

            

              Na - K            to C = 1390 / 1.750 + log (Na/K) - 273.15                         6

Equation 5 is proposed by Fournier (1983) and 6 is proposed by Giggenbach et al., (1983).

Besides these two, several other equations such as  Na-K-Ca and K-Ca, Na -Ca and  K- Mg 
have also been proposed and are in use. Giggenbach (1988) evolved a new geothermometer
where both K/Na (tkn) and K/Mg (tkm) geothermometers are combined. This geothermometer,
represented in the form a figure by Giggenbach (1988) is wide used for the above purpose.
Selecting suitable thermal water samples is very essential in estimating reservoir
temperatures using geochemical thermometers.

13.  Indian Geothermal Provinces

In  India nearly 400 thermal springs occur, distributed in seven geothermal provinces. These
provinces include The Himalayas: Sohana: West coast; Cambay: Son-Narmada-Tapi
(SONATA):  Godavari and Mahanadi.  These springs are perennial and their surface 
temperature  range  from 37 to 90o C with a cumulative surface  discharge of over  1000  l/m.
Figure 7 shows the location of  these geothermal provinces.  These provinces are associated
with major rifts or  subduction tectonics and registered high heat flow and  high geothermal
gradient (Figure 7)  For example the heat flow values and thermal gradients of  these
provinces are 468 mW/m2; 234o C/km (Himalayas); 93 mW/m2; 70o C/km (Cambay); 120 -
260 mW/m2; 60-90o C/km (SONATA); 129 mW/m2; 59o C/km (west coast); 104 mW/m2; 60o
C/km (Godavari) and  200 mW/m2; 90o C/km (Bakreswar, Bihar). The reservoir temperature
estimated using the above described geothermometers are 120 o C (west coast), 150o C
(Tattapani) and 200o C (Cambay). The depth of the reservoir in these provinces is at a depth
of about 1 to 2 km (Chandrasekharam, 2000; Minissale et al., 2000 and references therein:
see web : dchandra.hypermart.net). These geothermal systems are liquid dominated and
steam dominated systems prevail only in Himalayan and Tattapani geothermal provinces. The
issuing temperature of water at Tattapani is 90o C; at Puga (Himalaya) is 98o C and at Tuwa
(Gujarat) is 98o C. The power generating capacity of these thermal springs is about 10,000
MW (Ravi Shanker, 1996). These are, as mentioned above, medium enthalpy resources.
From the point of power generation technology described above in Part I, these resources can
be utilized effectively to generate power using binary cycle method (Fig. 4).  Since majority
of these springs are located in rural India, these springs can support small scale industries in
such areas. Dehydrated vegetables and fruits have a potential export market and India being
an agricultural country, this industry is best suited for India conditions. An example of the
cost involved in dehydration of fruits using conventional heat and geothermal heat, from
Central America,  is given in the following table 4. This gives an idea about the economic
potential of geothermal resource.

Table 4. showing the cost of dehydrated fruits using conventional and

geothermal heat
           
PRODUCT  CAPACITY TIME HEAT COST. HEAT COST  
  (Kg) (hours) GEOTHERMAL SYSTEM CONVENTIONAL SYSTEM  
           
PINEAPPLE 800 18 900 5000  
APPLE (SLICES) 700 16 800 4500  
APPLE  (CUBES) 900 16 800 4500  
BANANA 800 24 1300 6000  
PLANTAIN 700 30 1500 6500  
           
Courtesy: M/s Eco-Fruit Agro Industry,Gautimala, Central America ( Cost in rupees).  
           

        
 

References