Geothermal energy from salt formations
AssigneeThe Dow Chemical Company
InventorSidney J. Altschuler
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Abstract
A method of obtaining geothermal energy from salt formations in which a well is drilled and cased into a suitable salt formation to a depth where the temperature is such that the salt behaves plastically. A weighted, closed end pipe is inserted into the well with its lower, closed end at about the bottom of the salt formation and thereafter an insulated open end pipe is inserted, after the weight has been removed from the closed end pipe, within said closed end pipe, thus forming a double pipe heat exchanger. A heat exchange fluid is circulated, usually in a closed loop, through the double pipe heat exchanger, an energy extracting means, such as, for example, a steam generator or an hydraulic turbine, and back through the heat exchanger.
Claims6
A method of extracting geothermal energy comprising the steps of:
- a. drilling and casing a well into a rock salt formation to a depth at which the rock salt behaves plastically;
- b. inserting a closed end pipe into the well said pipe being filled with removable weighted material;
- c. sinking the pipe in the plastic salt to a depth at which the calculated energy output is of a selected value;
- d. inserting an insulated pipe within the sunken closed end pipe, said closed end pipe and said insulated pipe thus forming, in combination, a double pipe heat exchanger;
- e. circulating a heat exchange fluid through both the double pipe heat exchanger and through an energy extracting means;
- and
- f. recovering energy from the heat exchange fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.