The University of Glasgow in the UK has an open PhD opportunity to study the performance of advanced closed loop geothermal systems in supercritical environments.
University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom A PhD opportunity funded by the College of Science and Engineering has been announced for the topic “Performance of Deep Closed Loop Geothermal Systems in Unconventional Environments”.
Applications will only be accepted until 30 September 2024. The opportunity is open to European and UK students only. Click here to register your registration.
Closed-loop geothermal systems or advanced geothermal systems (AGS) offer the opportunity to provide heat and electricity without carbon emissions by using heat within the Earth. The first AGS is currently under construction in Germany and other projects are being considered, including in the UK. Compared to open-loop designs, AGS reduce environmental risks because they do not emit carbon dioxide during operation, do not require permeability improvement, and the working fluid is not in direct contact with the subsurface.
Current AGS is designed to operate at temperatures close to 200°C and depths of 3 to 4 km. The working fluid is heated by conduction as it circulates within the Earth; at the surface, the extracted heat is used to generate power and heating. Scaling the AGS design to temperatures close to the supercritical level (375°C for pure water) and above would result in a significant increase in energy production, but would require addressing fundamental technical issues.
To date, AGS performance evaluation has focused exclusively on applications in hot dry rocks and conventional wet permeable rocks. Very little is known about how these systems behave in “supercritical” or “ultra-hot” regimes, which have been the subject of limited exploration and which endure the harsh conditions found around the brittle-ductile transition zone in the Earth’s crust.
The objectives of this research are:
- Predicting the hydraulic and thermodynamic behavior of AGS in supercritical environments, taking into account subsurface uncertainties in these frontier geological reservoirs.
- Determine optimal closed loop designs based on subsurface and wellbore parameters, surface operating conditions, and energy production.
- Evaluating the long-term integrity of well materials in relation to exposure to supercritical conditions. The successful candidate must possess at least a UK upper second class honours degree or international equivalent in a relevant scientific or engineering discipline.
Funding is available to cover tuition fees for domestic students for 3.5 years, plus a stipend at the Research Council rate (£19,237 in the 2024/25 session and rising in line with UKRI levels in subsequent sessions).
Reference source via Our global platform ThinkGeoEnergy / University of Glasgow via FindaPhD
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