1.

Steam Generator

Another key component of a geothermal plant is the steam production unit, which can take
multiple forms. In a flash steam vent, superheated pressurized water is drawn from its place
underground to low-pressure tanks. The pressure of the Earth kept the water in liquid form despite
its high temperature, and by removing that pressure the hot water instantly turns to steam, hence
the term flash steam. In a dry steam plant, the plant technicians pump water to the bottom of the
vent where the Earth's heat boils the water and turns it into steam.
2. Turbine

Regardless of the plant type, both flash steam and dry steam plants pump the steam from
the geothermal vent to a large turbine. The steam passes this turbine, turning it in the process. This
turbine is attached to an electric generator, and as the turbine turns the generator turns the
mechanical energy into electric energy, thus converting the heat from the Earth into usable
electricity.
3. Condenser

After the steam passes through the turbine, it continues to a condenser chamber. This
chamber condenses the steam back into liquid water by cooling it. The excess heat lost as the
steam turns to liquid water may be used for other applications, such as heating or greenhouse
farming. The cooled liquid water is then typically pumped back into the ground to either restart the
boiling process for dry steam or to replenish the natural heated aquifer for flash steam plants.

Types Of Condenser Used In Geothermal Power Plants

1. Direct Contact Condensers
In direct contact condensing, the coolant is sprayed directly into the condensing vapor.
This method is sometimes used for intermediate heat removal from distillation and absorption
columns by means of pump arounds. While direct contacting provides a high rate of heat transfer
with low-pressure drop, it is obviously limited to applications in which mixing of coolant and
condensate is permissible. It is less expensive than surface condensers.
2. Surface Condensers
Surface condensers are tubular exchangers, but their construction differs somewhat from
shell and tube equipment used to condense process vapors. They are most often designed for
vacuum operation on the shell (steam) side, and hence must handle a large volumetric flow rate of
vapor with very low-pressure drop. Smaller units may have circular cross-flow shells similar to Xshells, but larger units usually employ a box-type shell. The main heat transfer mechanisms in a
surface condenser are the condensing of saturated steam on the outside of the tubes and the
heating of the circulating water inside the tubes
3. Air Cooled Condensers
In this type of condenser the condensing vapor flows inside a bank of finned tubes and
ambient air blown across the tubes by fans serves as the coolant. Air-cooled condensers are used
where water is scarce (such as desert climates). Their efficiency can reach up to 30% although it is
lower in summer due to high dry-bulb temperature.
4. Gasketed Plate Condensers
The plate heat exchanger is basically a series of individual plates pressed between two
heavy end covers. The entire assembly is held together by the tie bolts. Individual plates are hung
from the top carrying bar and are guided by the bottom carrying bar. For single-pass circuiting, hot
and cold side fluid connections are usually located on the fixed end cover

Suitable Type of Condenser Used in Geothermal Power Plant

In single flash power plants the steam from the turbine is condensed by means of either a
surface type condenser or in a directcontact condenser of either the barometric or low-level
type. Most plants now employ surface condensers in which the geothermal steam passes through
the shell side and cooling water passes through the tube side. This maintains physical and

chemical separation between the geothermal steam and the cooling water, and allows more
effective removal and treatment of non-condensable gases.
In dry steam power plants the condensers can be either direct-contact (barometric or lowlevel jet) or surface-type (shell-and-tube). For small units, it is often advantageous to arrange
the turbine and condenser side-by-side, rather than the more usual condenser below-turbine
arrangement seen in most power plants.

How Do Geothermal Power Plants Work?

1. Heat from the Earth

"Geothermal" means heat coming from within the Earth itself. There are a wide variety of sources
that warm the interior of the planet, but the major source is thought to be the energy from the decay of
natural radioactive elements and compression. Depending on the study, this accounts for between 45 and
90 percent of all the interior's heat. Another source is compression.
2. Geothermal Energy
The upper layer of Earth is called the crust. It is only a few miles thick, and floats on a giant pool of liquid
rock called the mantle. Over years, water can seep down deep below the surface of the earth. When this
water comes into contact with magma welling up from the mantle, it heats to extremely high temperatures.
Geothermal power plants use this hot water to produce electricity.
3. Geothermal Plants
Geothermal power plants use steam to drive a turbine, which turns a generator to produce electricity. The
turbine is like a large propeller. When the steam flows through it, it creates lift along the edge of the blades,
spinning the turbine. The turbine is attached to an electric generator, which is basically a spinning magnet
surrounded by coils of wire. When the magnet spins, its magnetic field moves through the wire. This
creates a moving electric current in the wire called alternating current, or AC. That electric current is then
sent out to power homes, businesses and other buildings.
4. Dry and Flash Steam Power Plants

Dry Geothermal Power

This is the classic power plant design, which basically taps the steam from an underground
geyser and feeds it directly into a steam turbine. The water must be at least 300-degrees
Fahrenheit for this to work.
The oldest design in geothermal power plants is the dry steam plant, in which steam from
deep underground runs up a tube to spin the turbine. Then the steam is either cooled and pumped
back underground or released.

Flash Steam Power

This model works by directing high pressure hot water from deep in the Earth and putting it
into a low-pressure tank, creating a powerful flash of steam to drive the steam turbines. To work,
the water must be at least 355-degrees Fahrenheit, and usually should be much hotter.

5. Binary Plants
In binary geothermal plants, the subterranean water doesn't actually drive the turbines. It is
pressurized and pumped up through a tube, as in a flash steam plant, to where it meets a secondary tube.
The secondary tube also has water in it, but at a lower pressure. Heat from the first tube flows into the
second tube, boiling the water to drive the turbine. The water in the first tube is then pumped back down
into the earth to gather more heat.

Binary Cycle Power

This is the latest in geothermal technology. It can use water that is much cooler than the older
designs, all the way down to degrees 135-degrees Fahrenheit. This water is run over a liquid with a
lower boiling point with water, causing it to flash into steam. That steam, rather than the geothermally
heated water, is used to run the turbine.