30 FEBRUARY 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® University Completes Exploration Borehole Adapted from Information by Cornell University Cornell University’s Ithaca Campus in Central New York is home to the Earth Source Heat (ESH) project, a plan to use a deep geothermal system to warm the campus without the use of fossil fuels. Water will be circulated through geothermal wells drilled into deep sedimentary rock layers or deeper crystalline basement rock. Cornell’s faculty and engineers are exploring a hybrid system to couple ESH with biofuels to meet supplemental heating needs during sustained or extreme cold spells. The technology to extract the heat is similar to shallow geothermal heat systems: the heat will be transferred to a separate supply of water flowing within Cornell’s heating distribution pipeline to warm most of the Ithaca campus buildings. However, the heat source is much deeper and far hotter. The project is a research collaboration across several academic departments along with campus facilities staff, and is a major component of the university's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035. Before they can proceed with the ESH project, researchers need to determine the viability of the geological features of the area. The university decided to drill an exploratory borehole, called CUBO (Cornell University Borehole Observatory). This special borehole will allow scientists to explore deep surface rock conditions and heat output. Completed earlier this year, the CUBO well was drilled to a total depth of 9790 feet, including over 300 feet into the crystalline basement rock. Once the well was set, researchers began taking geophysical, geological, and hydrological measurements and testing the properties of the bedrock, fractures, and fluids within potential geothermal development zones at depths between 8,000 - 10,000 feet. This included measurements of rock properties and stresses, imaging of the rock layers and fractures, a collection several hundred feet of rock sample cores, as well as measurements of water flow and temperature. Environmental monitoring programs were put in place to measure groundwater and surface water quality, as well as microseismicity. The team also took measurements to verify the condition and integrity of the steel casing pipe and cement installed in the upper portion of the well. Additionally, drill cuttings were collected in containers on-site, characterized by laboratory testing, and sent to a licensed landfill for safe disposal. The CUBO exploratory borehole will exist solely for the collection of data and future monitoring, such as tracking the change of fluids, temperature, and mechanical conditions in the subsurface. “This well will provide scientific information, but it will not be a production well,” said Jeff Tester, the David Croll Fellow and professor in the Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and principal investigator for the project. “Measurements made in the well will validate the temperatures and other properties at certain depths. This information will tell us a lot about the characteristics of the rock in a range where those temperatures could be useful for geothermal heat production, and will help us design and build an actual energy extraction process in the next phase.” If the project proves feasible, it could become a scalable solution for renewable heating in New York and other cold-climate regions across the globe. GEO Looking for a Unique Birthday Gift? Purchase a gift subscription to WWDR Print Only $12 ($20 for Foreign Mailing) Online Only $12 Print and Online $15 ($23 for Foreign Mailing) Don’t miss an issue michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com 850-547-0102
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