Open AccessScaling in Two-Phase Pipeline (Study Case: Sarulla Geothermal Field)
Author(s) -
Motalia Siahaan,
Muhamad Andhika,
Sahat Berutu,
Alexander H. Smith
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/732/1/012006
Subject(s) - geothermal gradient , scaling , mixing (physics) , precipitation , header , volumetric flow rate , geothermal energy , petroleum engineering , phase (matter) , environmental science , mechanics , materials science , geology , thermodynamics , chemistry , physics , meteorology , geophysics , computer science , mathematics , geometry , computer network , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Sarulla geothermal field is operating 330MW with the combined cycle plant in Indonesia. During the operation of the facilities, there have been many challenges. One of the most prominent obstacles is scaling in the surface facility. Scale deposition is a common problem in geothermal surface facilities. Temperature changes affect thermodynamics reaction which leads to scaling. Precipitation of silica reduces the diameter of the pipe which also reduces the flow rate in the pipeline. Furthermore, the generation will decrease as a result of decreasing the flow rate. In most cases, scale precipitation occurs downstream which has decreased temperature. This field is experiencing scaling in the two-phase environment although it has a higher temperature and in undersaturated condition. This is caused by the mixing of different pH levels of geothermal fluid into the header. In this case, low pH fluid mixed with neutral fluid which also has high silica content. This study investigates and discusses this phenomenon and types of scaling. The result could be used to understand the precipitation process of silica and how to prevent this from happening in the future.