US 12,372,273 B2
Natural enhanced geothermal system using a hot sedimentary aquifer
Bruce D. Marsh, Hunt Valley, MD (US); and Saman Karimi, Baltimore, MD (US)
Assigned to The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (US)
Appl. No. 17/760,453
Filed by The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (US)
PCT Filed Jul. 23, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/070305
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 10, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/167701, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 26, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/979,033, filed on Feb. 20, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0098906 A1, Mar. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. F24T 10/20 (2018.01); E21B 43/26 (2006.01); F03G 4/00 (2006.01); F03G 7/04 (2006.01)
CPC F24T 10/20 (2018.05) [E21B 43/26 (2013.01); F03G 4/00 (2021.08); F03G 7/04 (2013.01); Y02E 10/10 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
15. A natural enhanced geothermal system (NAT-EGS) comprising:
an energy capture unit;
a pump system;
a disjointed well system within a hot sedimentary aquifer (HSA),
wherein the disjointed well system includes:
an extraction well that enables the pump system to provide heated water at an extraction depth of the HSA to the energy capture unit, and
an injection well that enables the pump system to inject cooled water from the energy capture unit into the HSA at an injection depth that is deeper than the extraction depth,
wherein a difference between the extraction depth and the injection depth is based on a geothermal characteristic of the HSA; and
a regulatory device to:
cause the pump system to pump the heated water, from the extraction well, to the energy capture unit;
cause the energy capture unit to extract thermal energy from the heated water; and
cause the pump system to pump the cooled water from the energy capture unit to the injection well,
wherein the cooled water results from the thermal energy being extracted from the heated water.