ÍSOR – Iceland GeoSurvey Ingolfur Thorbjornsson Head of Geothermal Engineering

Materials challenges for high temperature Geothermal wells

Materials for Geothermal Utilization

2016.

Outline: Case studies Well 5 in Nesjavellir Well 8 in Reykjanes Well 39 and IDDP-1 in Krafla European projects on Geothermal Wells GeoWell DeepEGS Concluding remarks

3

Failures in casings due to heating and cooling of high temperature wells.

Corrosion in well head components

KJ-39 liner after approx. 1,5 months operation.

L56

1000 m

9

Tensile testing of liner material from Well 39 at the Innovation Center Iceland.

Samples from casing materials.

− Well 5 in Nesjavellir

− Samples from well head above ground

− Well 8 at Reykjanes

− Samples from casing below ground

Hydrogen affected brittleness. Tensile testing of „J-55“ wellhead material after longer time use at Nesjavellir and Reykjanes, Iceland.

Transverse cracking of a tensile test

piece from the Nesjavellir wellhead. The

crack formation indicates that the steel is

affected by hydrogen.

Cracking inside 17-4 PH steel. Fatigue surface-Hydrogen embrittlement.

Corrosion rate from IDDP- 1

-0.0500

0.0000

0.0500

0.1000

0.1500

0.2000

0.2500

0.3000

0.3500

0.4000

0.4500

0.5000

SAF 2507 254SMO SM2550 13Cr 316L K55 TN95 S235

mm/year 0.0014 0.0056 -0.0045 0.2482 0.0059 0.4186 0.3713 0.4777

Co

rro

sio

n r

ate

[m

m/y

ear]

Corrosion rate: IDDP-1

− GeoWell funded by H2020

− Participation of Iceland, Norway, France, Holland and Germany.

− Duration March 2016 to February 2019

− Materials and Casing connections

− Flexible couplings

− Cladded materials

− Lower TRL (technology readiness level) than in DeepEGS

− Design and testing of materials and materials combinations

− New Supercritical equipment at wellhead

− Design and test new innovative Flexible Coupling.

− ISOR has applied for patent of basic principle of FC

GeoWell - Innovative materials and designs for long-life high-temperature geothermal wells

DeepEGS - Deep Enhanced Geothermal Systems for Sustainable Energy Business

− DeepEGS – funded by H2020

− Participation of Icelandic, France, Norway and German partners.

− Duration des 2015 to des 2019

− Material and casing connections

− Flexible couplings

− Cladded materials

− Higher TRL (technology than in GeoWell

− Prototypes – manufacturing perspective.

− Guidelines on technical and economical feasibility of materials and connections.

− Concluding remarks. − Liner and casing materials K55 and L 80 has been used for long

time in Icelandic geothermal wells.

− K55 and L 80 has shown to last in Icelandic non-acidic geothermal wells.

− Material problems occuring are stress and corrosion related.

− Stesses can be minimized with flexible couplings, Corrosion with materials that can withstand the environment conditions.

− Proper material choice has to take into consideration the geotermal conditions, economic validations and type of corrosion occuring/expecting.

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