Fully coupled wellbore-reservoir modeling of geothermal heat extraction using CO 2 as the working fluid

We consider using CO2 as an alternative to water as a working fluid to produce geothermal electricity through the application of a coupled reservoir, wellbore, and surface power-plant model. Our approach has relaxed some of the simplifying assumptions others have made in previous work, through the application of a subsurface reservoir model fully coupled with a detailed wellbore simulator. We also include a simplified representation of CO2 turbomachinery for a surface plant optimized for direct use of supercritical CO2. The wellbore model includes heat transfer between the fluid in the well and the surrounding formation, in addition to frictional, inertial, and gravitational forces. Our results show that thermophysical operating conditions and the amount of power production are greatly influenced by wellbore flow processes and by wellbore/caprock heat transfer. We investigate competing effects that control development of a thermosiphon, which enables production of geothermal electricity without the need for a continuously operating external pump.