LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 21 (UPI) -- A University of California scientist has proposed a method for using carbon dioxide under high pressure to extract energy from geothermal reservoirs.
Geoscientist Donald Brown, working at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has proposed a method for producing geothermal energy using supercritical fluids, such as carbon dioxide, for the stimulation of underground reservoirs, production of the geothermal energy, and heat transport.
Brown's process stimulates underground reservoirs by pumping a supercritical fluid into a formation at depths ranging from about 5,000 feet to about 20,000 feet below surface to fracture the rock. At such depths, underground temperatures are in the range of roughly 200 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit in the western United States.
The fluid is allowed to heat up and expand, then it's pumped out of the reservoir to a surface power generating plant or other application requiring heat. The recovered fluid is sent back down into the reservoir and the heat-extraction process is repeated.
A patent has been granted on the process.
