Reconfiguring In-Situ Thermal Oil Recovery facilities for Steam Assisted Geothermal Power (SAGP) Extraction

地热能在降低碳氢化合物能源开采的碳足迹方面发挥着越来越大的作用。然而，它在加拿大仍处于起步阶段。由于其在地下技术和地球物理方面的专业知识，阿尔伯塔省在开发地热能开采技术方面具有天然优势。此外，多年来的注蒸汽采油（例如，流辅助重力排水—SAGD）导致地下积累了大量的高温（170摄氏度）蒸汽。该项目将开发利用这些浪费的热能发电的技术。我们把这个过程称为蒸汽辅助地热发电（SAGP）。在帝国石油公司的支持下，该项目的最终目标是在阿尔伯塔省开发第一个SAGP试点。该技术基于对废弃的提高采收率井（例如SAGD）的重新调试，蒸汽与油的比为bbbb3， SAGP作业。它利用并重新利用现有的采油设施和储层的热容量来提取能量。本项目将完成两项技术开发：(1)利用膜同时发电和净化废水的下一代热能收集；(2)对现有设施的地下管道进行设计修改，降低热损失率，限制在温度下降20摄氏度。所提出的技术将以相对较低的成本提供净零碳能源的新来源。

Geothermal energy has a great potential to play a growing role to lower the carbon footprint of hydrocarbon energy extraction. However, it is still in its infancy in Canada. Alberta has a natural advantage in developing geothermal energy extraction technologies given its expertise in subsurface technology and geophysics. Furthermore, years of oil recovery by steam injection (e.g., Stream Assisted Gravity Drainage - SAGD) has resulted in the accumulation of substantial amounts of high-temperature (170 degree C) steam underground. This project will develop technologies that takes advantage of this wasted thermal energy for power generation. We refer to the process as Steam Assisted Geothermal Power (SAGP). The final aim of this project, with the support of Imperial Oil, is to develop the first SAGP pilot in Alberta. The proposed technology works based on recommissioning of abandoned enhanced oil recovery wells (e.g., SAGD) with Steam-to-Oil-Ratio of >3 to SAGP operations. It takes advantage and re-purposes existing facilities for oil recovery and the thermal capacity of reservoirs to extract energy. There are 2 technology developments to be completed in this project: (1) Next generation thermal energy harvesting using membranes that generate power and decontaminate waste-water simultaneously; (2) design modifications to subsurface tubing in existing facilities with a lower rate of heat loss limited to a temperature drop of 20 degree C. The proposed technologies will provide a new source of net-zero-carbon energy at relatively low cost.