Hydraulic Geofracture Energy Storage System with Desalinization

摘要

Energy is stored by injecting fluid into a hydraulic fracture in the earth and producing the fluid back while recovering power and/or desalinating water. The method is particularly adapted to storage of large amounts of energy such as in grid-scale electric energy systems. The hydraulic fracture may be formed and treated with resin so as to limit fluid loss and to increase propagation pressure. The fluid may be water containing a dissolved salt or fresh water and a portion or all of the water may be desalinated using pressure in the water when it is produced.

主权项

1. A method for storing and producing energy and desalinating water, comprising:
pumping water containing a dissolved salt down a well at a pressure greater than fracturing pressure and into a hydraulic fracture in a rock formation around the well; before leak-off of the water containing a dissolved salt from the hydraulic fracture, reducing pressure in the well so as to produce a portion of the water containing a dissolved salt up the well as produced water and using pressure of a first portion of the produced water to generate power and using pressure of a second portion of the produced water to desalinate the second portion of the produced water.