The condensed vaporized rock is particularly interesting to me. I think it could be an asset instead of a hindrance. Mining expends a ton of energy just crushing rock into small pieces for processing, turning ores into dust you can pump with air could be pretty valuable.
In this context, the most important advantage of supercritical water is that it contains nearly SIX times as much energy per ton—e.g. at 300 bar and 600°C—than in 160 bar 300°C superheated steam. As a result, almost 5 times less water has to be driven through the heat exchanger system at depth—whereby—due to the higher pressure—the pump load is about three times lower—and about five times the output is possible with the same borehole diameter. Stone is a poor conductor of heat. So after the initial heat loss to heat up the wall of the riser borehole, only a small part of the 600°C depth temperature at 15-16 km depth is lost, so that about 500°C reaches the turbines. Then the 300 liters per second are enough for about 1 GW production—with a pump output of about 0.1%
Super useful post, thank you!
The condensed vaporized rock is particularly interesting to me. I think it could be an asset instead of a hindrance. Mining expends a ton of energy just crushing rock into small pieces for processing, turning ores into dust you can pump with air could be pretty valuable.
I was always skeptical of enhanced geothermal beating solar on cost, though I do think the supercritical water Quaise could generate has interesting chemical applications: https://splittinginfinity.substack.com/p/recycling-atoms-with-supercritical
In this context, the most important advantage of supercritical water is that it contains nearly SIX times as much energy per ton—e.g. at 300 bar and 600°C—than in 160 bar 300°C superheated steam.
As a result, almost 5 times less water has to be driven through the heat exchanger system at depth—whereby—due to the higher pressure—the pump load is about three times lower—and about five times the output is possible with the same borehole diameter. Stone is a poor conductor of heat. So after the initial heat loss to heat up the wall of the riser borehole, only a small part of the 600°C depth temperature at 15-16 km depth is lost, so that about 500°C reaches the turbines. Then the 300 liters per second are enough for about 1 GW production—with a pump output of about 0.1%