Best Practice Guide

The PERFORM study has prepared a new Best Practice guide, with the objective to minimize scaling and corrosion in geothermal plants. The best practice reviews the typical plant designs and materials for geothermal plants, and then introduces possible scaling and corrosion types that can occur in the saline geothermal water (brine). The best practice manual is supplemented with an interactive toolbox that allows you to analyze your own data, e.g. principal component analysis of arbitrary brine composition data. This easy-to-use toolbox is designed for operators and others interested in data analysis and can be accessed here

Scaling mitigations involves e.g. strict control of dissolved gasses, use of inhibitors or installation of filters. In general, corrosion is a pronounced operational challenge, since most plants are made from non-coated or carbon steel with the potential for corroding materials and release of rust debris etc.  Such particles will lead to clogging and subsequent pressure build-up in the wells, and the clogging may only be removed by costly work-over operations. Several methods to monitor and mitigate different type of scaling and corrosion is described in the best practice document, from the use of corrosion resistant alloys for the casing and top-side facilities to different operational strategies to increase the system pressure. Apart from corrosion and scaling monitoring and mitigation practices,  guidelines on water sampling procedures and methods to better estimate the corrosion and scaling issues are presented. The advice from the operators of the geothermal plants are incorporated in the best practice to provide practical knowledge on how to operate the systems in different phases including start-up, operation, shutdown, standstill and well-head and heat exchanger services. For further details on best practice and lessons learned from operations etc., reference is made to the PERFORM WP4 Study Report: Best practice for geothermal plants to minimize scaling and corrosion.