Development of novel and cost-effective drilling technology for Geothermal Systems

Project Information

Geo-Drill

Grant agreement ID: 815319

DOI

10.3030/815319

Project closed

EC signature date 21 March 2019

Start date 1 April 2019

End date 31 July 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 4 996 400,00

EU contribution

€ 4 996 400,00

Coordinated by

TWI LIMITED
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - Geo-Drill (Development of novel and cost-effective drilling technology for Geothermal Systems)

Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Despite the opportunities offered, geothermal energy continues to be an underutilised resource due to its high upfront and maintenance costs. The process of geothermal drilling itself is a capital-intensive, constituting about more that 50% of total costs for a geothermal project development. This is principally more relevant for deep Engineered Geothermal systems (EGS) in hot dry rocks where the costs are amplified due to increased drilling distances, tripping times and harsher environments. Project Geo-Drill aims to reduce the costs of the drilling via a ‘holistic’ technology that has the potential to drastically reduce the cost of drilling to large depths (5km or more) and at high temperatures (250ºC or more). The Geo-Drill technology, with its new fluidic hammer, 3D printed sensors and cables and improved drill bit, tool joint & drill stabilizer will improve the Rate Of Penetration (ROP), lifetime and reliability compared to existing commercial technologies. As such, Geo-Drill will enhance the growth of geothermal energy as it will enable to exploit deep geothermal energy to generate electricity while significantly reducing the environmental impact during drill activity by reducing the capital expenditure.

The project’s overall objective are to:
• Develop a new DTH mud hammer
• Develop a drill monitoring system based on 3D printed sensors combined with simulators
• Develop advanced materials and coatings to prolong lifetime of drilling components
• Develop a Knowledge-based System to reduce technical, financial, and environmental risks and costs

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the 1st reporting period, the consortium has concentrated its activities to:
• Identification of the failure modes of geothermal drilling through FMEA analysis. The assessment included how such a failure would affect each component, and, importantly, how such failures impact the overall drilling process. The FMEA results are being used as guidelines for the continuation of the project to provide focus for the Geo-Drill solutions and to justify the requirement for protective solutions.
• In depth characterisation of the drilling environment including defining current industry standards for the drilling of deep geothermal wells and the characteristics required to be incorporated within the novel system under development by the consortium.
• Determination of rheological properties of drilling mud to help formulate representative environments for performing tests on the developed coupons and hammer.
• Identification of key performance indicators (KPIs)to bench mark success criterion of individual technology being developed.
• Development of high-performance coatings and materials to increase the component life. These include:
Coatings using using novel material like graphene oxide.
Duplex Electroless Nickel (EL) coatings on the substrate materials
Development of coatings using High-Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) based on HEA and cermet materials.
• Fabrication of mock-ups to test the diffusion bonding of high strength alloys to the low alloy steel constituting the tool joint or the stabiliser.
• Microstructural characterisation, design of experiments and testing matrix for new developed materials and coatings.
• Development of method for simulation and shape optimisation of fluidic switches;
• Design, prototyping, 3D printing and optimisation of Coandă based fluidic switches as central part of the novel mud hammer
• Construction and setting up of different test benches for performance, service life and lifetime testing of percussion systems and DTH hammers
• Development of Novel Holistic Drilling Sensor System

In the 2nd reporting period (M19-M30) the consortium has achieved the following:
• Continued monitoring of the KPI established in RP1 (WP1);
• Development of a novel percussion mechanism tested via different prototypes for laboratory and field operating conditions (WP4);
• Development of the 1st prototype of Geo-drill hammer (WP4);
• Development and testing of sensors in simulated conditions (WP6);
• Continued development of coatings to improve the shelf-life of the drilling components. The coatings developed have been evaluated for ‘best’ performance based on selected parameters (WP2, WP3);
• Use of flow assurance simulation (FAS) for DTH hammer and drill simulator models (WP7);
• Development of architecture for KBS database and DSS including mock-ups for visualisation (WP7);
• Participation in joint dissemination activities with other H2020 projects in the geothermal domain. A webinar was also achieved during the reporting period (WP10).

In the final reporting period the consortium has achieved the following:
• Development and testing of coated hammer prototypes;
• Testing of Geo-Drill hammer integrated with sensors and tool joint;
• Completion of design of fully functional Geo-Drill hammer
• Integration of sensors in the drill string with testing in lab and field environment.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The new fluidic hammer, 3D printed sensors and cables and improved drill bit, tool joint and drill stabiliser that will be developed through the Geo-Drill project have been designed to improve ROP, lifetime and reliability compared with existing commercial technologies.

To conclude, the Geo-Drill project has achieved so many things through its journey and while the deep high temperature geothermal market will most definitely be impacted, there are many other benefits to the drilling industry across all sectors, particularly those that have decarbonisation as its preliminary target.
Drilling is both simple and complex, having to deal with harsh environments and with limited information as to what is happening on a continuous basis. Often many extra hours of drilling take place (at a cost) as the information required by the drill/completion crew is slow in being evaluated.
The geological sequestration of CO2 will be a key beneficiary of the Geo-Drill technology, as more rapid analysis of sub-surface conditions becomes possible. Knowing that you are in suitable geology to inject scCO2 has great value and the surface coatings technology tested and evaluated will have great benefits to completions, avoiding/eliminating many of the issues around CO2 injection. Add to this the future usage of CO2 as a geothermal circulating fluid (Carbon Plume Geothermal / CPG) and the benefits of the Geo-Drill research increase exponentially.
Of course there are other sectors such as Critical Raw Materials, including the extraction of both soluble and suspended solids in brines and saline aquifers, where drilling is a key part of the mining process, and again Geo-Drill will add to the process.
The final work required to produce wired drill pipe, that can withstand the harsh environments and robust handling will be the final step of the Geo-Drill journey and once achieved will be the start of the next phase of commercialisation, becoming a service company to a broad range of drilling applications.

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