R&D PROJECTS

GEOHEX

Acronym: GeoHex

Project title: Advanced material for cost-efficient and enhanced heat exchanger performance for geothermal application

Project website: https://www.geohexproject.eu/

Time period: November 2019 to October 2022

Funder: Horizon 2020 (Grant agreement ID: 851917)

Total budget: € 4,989,401.25

Partners:

  • TWI LIMITED (Coordinator)
  • COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
  • GREIN RESEARCH EHF
  • TECHNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
  • SPIKE RENEWABLES SRL
  • UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER
  • NYSKOPUNARMIDSTOD ISLANDS
  • FLOWPHYS AS
  • HASKOLI ISLANDS
  • ENOGIA
  • ORKUVEITA REYKJAVIKUR SF
  • UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCURESTI
  • QUANTUM LEAP JMB MKTG INC

Short description:

Heat exchangers (HXs) play a crucial role in geothermal power plants. Their maintenance is expensive and they are vulnerable to corrosion, especially in the case of organic Rankine cycle (ORC). Existing alternative anticorrosive materials are negative for HX performance and require an increase in HX size. The EU-funded GeoHex project will support the development of novel materials for geothermal use. Using low-cost carbon steel as base, the material surface will be modified with nano porous coating and the side exposed to brine will have (via electroless method) a Ni-P/Ni-P-PTFE duplex coat. These coatings will endow the HXs with anti-scaling, anticorrosion and upgraded heat transfer properties that will significantly improve its performance, efficiency and costs in ORC systems.