SuperC Geothermal Project at RWTH Aachen University

The paper reveals the technical aspects of the new SuperC students’ service centre of RWTH Aachen University. This building will be equipped with a cooling and heating system based on geothermal energy that will be recovered by a deep geothermal heat exchanger (DHE). The DHE is supposed to be installed in the 2,544 m deep geothermal well “RWTH-1” which was drilled in 2004 prior to the construction of the SuperC building. The DHE consists of an outer steel casing and an inner production pipe. Water as heat fluid will be circulated through this coaxial pipe system taking up the heat from the outside rocks to the surface for further use in the building. The geothermal well “RWTH-1” was drilled by using standard rotary drilling technique. As a special technical feature a standard water-hydraulic down-the-hole hammer (DTH) with water based drilling mud as hydraulic medium was used to drill a section of the well. The Drilplex mud system of the oil field service company MI Drilling Fluids was used for the first time in Germany for perfect well cleaning. To enhance the heat flow from the surrounding rocks into the deep heat exchanger (DHE) a special heat conductive well cement was pumped in the lower section of the well whereas a light weight cement was used above, aiming at thermal insulation of the upper section. Another technical feature of the project was the installation and cementation of a fibre optic cable for temperature measurements in the casing annulus. The cable is foreseen to survey annulus temperatures while running the DHE. Analysis of noise emission data of the drilling rig showed that the exploration of geothermal energy on an inner urban location is feasible and acceptable according to the German Federal Emission Control Act.

Keywords:

SuperC , Geothermal energy , RWTH Aachen , Drilling , noise