Vacuumized Pipe-in-Pipe Solution for Efficient Geothermal Heat Extraction Everywhere for District Cooling and Heating and Industrial Usage

Abstract

A unique geothermal single horizontal well closed loop solution drilled to a depth of 2-5 km with a 2-7 km horizontal section can achieve sufficient heated water energy output for district cooling and heating and different industrial usages with low risk, environmentally friendly and virtually no CO2 emissions. Fluid will flow in the outer string with contact to the geological formations, and in this process, the fluid will be heated along the horizontal section to the approximate temperature of the subsurface before returning to the surface in the inner continuous newly developed vacuumized insolated string with minimum heat loss. The vacuum in the pipe-in-pipe nearly eliminates the heat loss as it acts like a thermos flask compared to a standard solution loosing 30-40% of the heat on its return to the surface. A near global application is possible due to the limited geological requirements of the solution.