Geothermal Power Plant Reduces Downtime and Cleaning Costs with Novel Cleaning Program

GoalReduce downtime and cleaning costs.

<h6>Customer Challenge</h6> <p>A binary geothermal power plant located in Turkey was experiencing&nbsp;deposition in its preheater exchangers and vaporizer due to the&nbsp;presence of stibnite (antimony sulfide) in the brine. The stibnite&nbsp;deposition significantly impacted the profitability of the plant as two- to&nbsp;three-day shutdowns were required three to four times a year to carry&nbsp;out offline cleaning using strong caustic solutions or hydrofluoric acid.&nbsp;In some cases, the plant had to employ mechanical cleaning after&nbsp;chemical cleaning. As stibnite is carcinogenic, any spills during&nbsp;mechanical cleaning posed health risks to plant personnel and the&nbsp;local community.</p> <h6>Recommended Solution</h6> <p>After evaluating the plant&rsquo;s operation, Solenis recommended its&nbsp;GeoSol online well cleaning program to address the stibnite&nbsp;deposition. The program called for the use of a scale remover and a&nbsp;caustic solution during production for a period of one to three hours.&nbsp;The cleaning solution would be removed along with the brine.</p> <h6>Results Achieved</h6> <p>After just two hours, the online well cleaning program significantly&nbsp;improved the Delta pressure of the plant&rsquo;s preheater exchangers and&nbsp;vaporizer (see chart below). Ultimately, the cleaning program enabled&nbsp;the plant to quickly return to optimal production, reduce its downtime&nbsp;for cleaning, decrease its chemical costs, and eliminate health risks&nbsp;related to mechanical cleaning.</p> <p><img style="max-width: 100%; width: auto; height: auto;" src="/link/e86384f1aad7423baa7908bf5aa0b382.aspx?1752579516579" width="1100" /></p> <p><strong>Delta pressure drops after the GeoSol online well cleaning program was performed.</strong></p>