A Novel Way of Using Gas and Enthalpy Data

Abstract

The carbon dioxide content of a geothermal well usually increases with increasing enthalpy of discharge. A plot of carbon dioxide content (total discharge) versus steam at inflow, calculated from Discharge enthalpy - water supply enthalpy (determined from the silica concentration) can be used to deduce the gas content of the water and steam inflows. If the carbon dioxide is constant over a range of enthalpies the increasing enthalpy is probably due to heat transfer from the rocks. Used in conjunction wi th plots of chloride concentration in the deep water versus deep water temperature (from Silica concentration), dilution, boiling and heat transfer processes can be deduced. The method is illustrated by data from Krafla and Tongonan.