Cyclic soft stimulation (CSS): a new fluid injection protocol and traffic light system to mitigate seismic risks of hydraulic stimulation treatments

Hydraulic stimulation treatments are standard techniques to access geologic resources which cannot economically be exploited with conventional methods. Fluid injection into unproductive formations may increase their permeability by forming new fractures and activating existing ones. A major risk of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGeothermal energy (Heidelberg) Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 1 - 33
Main Authors Hofmann, Hannes, Zimmermann, Günter, Zang, Arno, Min, Ki-Bok
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.12.2018
Springer Nature B.V
SpringerOpen
Subjects
Cyclic injection
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Earthquake damage
Earthquakes
Enhanced geothermal systems
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS)
Environmental risk
Fluid injection
Fractures
Geoecology/Natural Processes
Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences
Hydraulic stimulation
Induced seismicity
Injection
Permeability
Procedures
Product design
Renewable and Green Energy
Risk
Risk mitigation
Seismic activity
Stimulation
Traffic
Traffic light system
Traffic signals
Induced seismicity
Traffic light system
Hydraulic stimulation
Cyclic injection
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS)
Risk mitigation
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Summary:Hydraulic stimulation treatments are standard techniques to access geologic resources which cannot economically be exploited with conventional methods. Fluid injection into unproductive formations may increase their permeability by forming new fractures and activating existing ones. A major risk of this process is a possible occurrence of seismic events that can potentially be felt on the surface or even cause minor damage. In this paper, an advanced fluid injection scheme is proposed that aims to mitigate these unwanted events and to improve the permeability enhancement process. Amongst other procedures, it involves different types of cyclic injection and a traffic light system specifically designed for cyclic injection schemes. The concept is applied to develop a stimulation design for the Pohang enhanced geothermal system site in Korea, where it was first deployed in the field in August 2017.
ISSN:2195-9706
2195-9706
DOI:10.1186/s40517-018-0114-3