Geothermal energy has been exploited for decades to generate both heating and electricity. Recently, in the international context, closed-loop systems allowing thermal energy recovery from the subsurface without water transfer from the aquifer appeared.

The report shows modeling insights related to two closed-loop technologies: the Eavor Loop systems, developed by a technology-leader Canadian company, and the WellBore Heat eXchanger – WBHX; the aim is to assess the applicability of both systems. The study can provide useful knowledge for operators intending to achieve specialized surveys for geothermal resource exploitation in the Italian context.

Starting from a territorial analysis developed in 2022, temperature maps have been produced, to identify suitable areas for Eavor Loop operability and to select specific areas to carry out detailed studies. The commissioning of an Eavor 2.0 system will be simulated, concerning a test area for which we developed the geological model. The study area refers to the Campania region and joins the list of the Italian sectors that have been studied in the last years. During the 2024, the geological model will be used to set the numerical simulations for the Eavor 2.0 system. Choosing the computational code for simulations is an important part of the work; some tests were performed and the commercial software of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) ANSYS/CFX has been selected.

WellBore Heat eXchanger systems were analyzed using a similar approach. Based on previous investigations focused on range operability definition and suitable area identification, a specific area in Sicily has been selected and the geological model has been developed. We set the fluid dynamic model using the geological model’s parameters. The aim is to perform numerical simulations to assess the applicability of this technology in the Italian context.

FeFlow software has been used for this purpose and the simulation results will be presented in 2024. The current study provides the setting of the tri-dimensional grid and the main parameters for the numerical modeling.

The Report is available on the Italian site