Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Geothermal power: Extracting energy from over-salted, carbonated rock soup
Generating geothermal power involves extracting heat from large quantities of natural steam or much larger quantities of hot subterranean brines. Geothermal steam commonly contains hydrogen sulfide and sometimes contains hydrogen chloride making it corrosive. Geothermal brines contain dissolved salts, carbon dioxide and other gases, silica and metal ions leached from rock. The steam and brine commonly corrode steel. Separation of steam (which raises brine pH) and cooling cause a variety of minerals to precipitate forming deposits in wellbores and surface equipment. Corrosion and scaling must be controlled, and because very large volumes of brine are involved, they must be controlled at low cost per ton of brine.
Bio: Dr. Oleh Weres attended the University of Chicago and earned a BS in Chemistry in June 1972, and a PhD in Physical Chemistry in September 1972. Following that he was Miller Institute Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley from 1972-1974, before joining the Earth Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory where he worked from 1974-1988. Since then, he has been the owner of Sonoma Research Company in Napa, California from 1988-2008 and Chief Scientist at PowerChem Technology in Minden, NV from 2008-2009. Since 2009 he has been Chief Scientist at PowerChem a division of ChemTreat in Minden and Reno, NV. He is a US Patent Agent, Licensed Miner in Surface Operations, and California Qualified Pesticide Applicator.
Friday, February 28, 2014 at 2:00 pm
Davidson Math and Science Center, DMS 102
1055 Evans Avenue, Reno, NV 89512, USA
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