Technology Development and Field Trials of EGS Drilling Systems at Chocolate Mountain
Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits are routinely used in the oil and gas industry for drilling medium to hard rock but have not been adopted for geothermal drilling, largely due to past reliability issues and higher purchase costs. The Sandia Geothermal Research Department has recently completed a field demonstration of the applicability of advanced synthetic diamond drill bits for production geothermal drilling. Two commercially-available PDC bits were tested in a geothermal drilling program in the Chocolate Mountains in Southern California. These bits drilled the granitic formations with significantly better Rate of Penetration (ROP) and bit life than the roller cone bit they are compared with. Drilling records and bit performance data along with associated drilling cost savings are presented herein. The drilling trials have demonstrated PDC bit drilling technology has matured for applicability and improvements to geothermal drilling. This will be especially beneficial for development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems whereby resources can be accessed anywhere within the continental US by drilling to deep, hot resources in hard, basement rock formations.
Citation Formats
TY - DATA
AB - Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits are routinely used in the oil and gas industry for drilling medium to hard rock but have not been adopted for geothermal drilling, largely due to past reliability issues and higher purchase costs. The Sandia Geothermal Research Department has recently completed a field demonstration of the applicability of advanced synthetic diamond drill bits for production geothermal drilling. Two commercially-available PDC bits were tested in a geothermal drilling program in the Chocolate Mountains in Southern California. These bits drilled the granitic formations with significantly better Rate of Penetration (ROP) and bit life than the roller cone bit they are compared with. Drilling records and bit performance data along with associated drilling cost savings are presented herein. The drilling trials have demonstrated PDC bit drilling technology has matured for applicability and improvements to geothermal drilling. This will be especially beneficial for development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems whereby resources can be accessed anywhere within the continental US by drilling to deep, hot resources in hard, basement rock formations.
AU - Knudsen, Steven
A2 - Raymond, David
A3 - Blankenship, Doug
A4 - Bjornstad, Steve
A5 - Barbour, Joel
A6 - Schen, Aaron
DB - Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI)
DP - Open EI | National Renewable Energy Laboratory
DO - 10.15121/1225980
KW - geothermal
KW - chocolate mountains
KW - drilling
KW - pdc bit
KW - roller cone
KW - granite
KW - chocolate mountains drilling
KW - synthetic diamond
KW - rate of penetration
KW - egs
KW - lateral vibration spectrum
KW - California
KW - CA
KW - Southern California
KW - SoCal
KW - drilling records
KW - performance data
KW - drilling charts
KW - before and after
KW - pictures
KW - vibration spectrum
LA - English
DA - 2012/01/01
PY - 2012
PB - Sandia National Laboratories
T1 - Technology Development and Field Trials of EGS Drilling Systems at Chocolate Mountain
UR - https://doi.org/10.15121/1225980
ER -
Knudsen, Steven, et al. Technology Development and Field Trials of EGS Drilling Systems at Chocolate Mountain. Sandia National Laboratories, 1 January, 2012, GDR. https://doi.org/10.15121/1225980.
Knudsen, S., Raymond, D., Blankenship, D., Bjornstad, S., Barbour, J., & Schen, A. (2012). Technology Development and Field Trials of EGS Drilling Systems at Chocolate Mountain. [Data set]. GDR. Sandia National Laboratories. https://doi.org/10.15121/1225980
Knudsen, Steven, David Raymond, Doug Blankenship, Steve Bjornstad, Joel Barbour, and Aaron Schen. Technology Development and Field Trials of EGS Drilling Systems at Chocolate Mountain. Sandia National Laboratories, January, 1, 2012. Distributed by GDR. https://doi.org/10.15121/1225980
@misc{OEDI_Dataset_6503,
title = {Technology Development and Field Trials of EGS Drilling Systems at Chocolate Mountain},
author = {Knudsen, Steven and Raymond, David and Blankenship, Doug and Bjornstad, Steve and Barbour, Joel and Schen, Aaron},
abstractNote = {Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits are routinely used in the oil and gas industry for drilling medium to hard rock but have not been adopted for geothermal drilling, largely due to past reliability issues and higher purchase costs. The Sandia Geothermal Research Department has recently completed a field demonstration of the applicability of advanced synthetic diamond drill bits for production geothermal drilling. Two commercially-available PDC bits were tested in a geothermal drilling program in the Chocolate Mountains in Southern California. These bits drilled the granitic formations with significantly better Rate of Penetration (ROP) and bit life than the roller cone bit they are compared with. Drilling records and bit performance data along with associated drilling cost savings are presented herein. The drilling trials have demonstrated PDC bit drilling technology has matured for applicability and improvements to geothermal drilling. This will be especially beneficial for development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems whereby resources can be accessed anywhere within the continental US by drilling to deep, hot resources in hard, basement rock formations.
},
url = {https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/140},
year = {2012},
howpublished = {GDR, Sandia National Laboratories, https://doi.org/10.15121/1225980},
note = {Accessed: 2025-05-06},
doi = {10.15121/1225980}
}
https://dx.doi.org/10.15121/1225980
Details
Data from Jan 1, 2012
Last updated May 18, 2017
Submitted Dec 13, 2012
Organization
Sandia National Laboratories
Contact
Steven Knudsen
Authors
Original Source
https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/140Research Areas
Keywords
geothermal, chocolate mountains, drilling, pdc bit, roller cone, granite, chocolate mountains drilling, synthetic diamond, rate of penetration, egs, lateral vibration spectrum, California, CA, Southern California, SoCal, drilling records, performance data, drilling charts, before and after, pictures, vibration spectrumDOE Project Details
Project Name Technology Development and Field Trials of EGS Drilling Systems
Project Lead Arlene Anderson
Project Number AID 20008