Abstract
Thermite and related processes have attracted considerable attentions as highly useful technologies for material and energy supplies in extreme environments such as geothermal and disaster-stricken areas as well as in space exploration. As part of the development of casing pipes used in geothermal power plants started from the 1970s, long ceramic-lined pipes have been obtained via thermite reaction under effective centrifugal force without any additional heat treatment [Centrifugal-Thermite (C-T) process]. The potentials of the ceramic-lined pipes in deeper geothermal utilizations are revalidated in details by reviewing the results obtained through the erosion-corrosion tests carried out under the conditions of high velocities (up to 100 m/s) and various acidities (from pH 2.0 to pH 4.0) of two-phase flows provided by the geothermal field test apparatus at the Onikobe geothermal power plant in Japan. By reducing the FeO content of the ceramic layer processed under proper additives and reactant amounts, the tested ceramic-lined pipes were significantly improved compared to highly corrosion-resistant stainless steels. The technological advantages obtained through the development of the C-T process can show a useful model to promote thermite-related technologies onward.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Limberger, J., Boxem, T., Pluymaekers, M., Bruhn, D., Manzella, A., Calcagno, P., Beekman, F., Cloetingh, S., and van Wees, J.-D., Geothermal energy in deep aquifers: A global assessment of the resource base for direct heat utilization, Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev., 2018, vol. 82, part 1, pp. 961–975. doi 10.1016/j.rser.2017.09.084
Northrup, C.J.M., Jr., Gerlach, T.M., Modreski, P.J., and Galt, J.K., Magma: A potential source of fuels, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 1978, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1–10.
Odawara, O., Method for providing ceramic lining to a hollow body by thermite reaction, US Patent 4363832, 1982.
Odawara, O., Ceramic lined pipes produced by a centrifugal-thermite process, Trans. Jpn. Inst. Met., 1985, vol. 26, no. 8, 578–586.
Meir, Y. and Jerbya, E., Underwater microwave ignition of hydrophobic thermite powder enabled by the bubble-marble effect, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2015, vol. 107, no. 5, 054101. doi 10.1063/1.4928110
Lowry, B. and Nielson, D., Application of controlledporosity ceramic material in geothermal drilling, Proc. 43rd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, SGP-TR-213, 2018, pp. 1–5.
Kant, M.A., Rossi E., Höser, D., and von Rohr, P.R., Thermal spallation drilling, an alternative drilling technology for deep heat mining: Performance analysis, cost assessment, and design aspects, Proc. 42nd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, SGP-TR-212, 2017, pp. 1–10.
Miyazaki, E. and Odawara, O., Effect of microgravity and pressure on combustion synthesis applied to in-situ resource utilization, J. Space Technol. Sci., 2002, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 17–25.
Faierson, E.J., Logan, K.V., Stewart, B.K., and Hunt, M.P., Demonstration of concept for fabrication of lunar physical assets, Acta Astronaut., 2010, vol. 67, nos. 1–2, pp. 38–45. doi 10.1016/j.actaastro. 2009.12.006
Miller, T.F., Paul, M.V., and Oleson, S.R., Combustion-based power source for Venus surface missions, Acta Astronaut., 2016, vol. 127, pp. 197–208. doi 10.1016/j.actaastro.2016.05.006
Xanthopoulou, G., Marinou, A.M., Karanasios, K., and Vekinis, G., Combustion synthesis during flame spraying (CAFSY) for the production of catalysts on substrates, Coatings, 2017, vol. 7, no. 1, p. 14. doi 10.3390/coatings7010014
Risha, G.A., Connell, T.L. Jr., Yetter, R.A., and Yang, V., Aluminum-ice (ALICE) propellants for hydrogen generation and propulsion, AIAA, 2009, AIAA2009–4877, pp. 1–16.
Chen, Y.-K., Teng, H.-T., Lee, T.-Y., and Wang, H.-W., Rapid hydrogen generation from aluminum–water system by adjusting water ratio to various aluminum/aluminum hydroxide, Int. J. Energy Environ. Eng., 2014, vol. 5:87, pp. 1–6.
Zhu, B., Li, F., Sun, Y., Wang, Q., Wu, Y., and Zhu, Z., The effects of additives on the combustion characteristics of aluminum powder in steam, RSC Adv., 2017, vol. 7, 5725–5732. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C6RA24911F
Khasin, E. and Zaban, A., Porous clusters of silver powder promoted by zirconium oxide for use as a catalyst in gas diffusion electrodes, and method for the production thereof, US Patent 9666874, 2017.
Sundaram, D., Metal–water mixtures for propulsion and energy-conversion applications: Recent progress and future directions, Eurasian Chem.-Technol. J., 2018, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 53–62.
Odawara, O., Long ceramic-lined pipes produced by a centrifugal–thermite process, J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 1990, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 629–633.
Mahmoodian, R., Rahbari, R.G., Hamdi, M., and Sparham, M., A new attempt to adopt a machine for SHS lining ceramics inside pipes, High-Temp. Mater. Process., 2012, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 15–23.
Xuan, X.H., Su, Z.G., Wen, Z., An, J., and Liang, C., High-performance ceramic-lined composite pipes with ZrO2 additive prepared by centrifugal SHS process, Mater. Trans., 2016, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 573–581.
Li, Y., Jiang, L., Lu, Q., Bai, P., Liu, B., and Wang, J., A study of ceramic-lined composite steel pipes prepared by SHS centrifugal–thermite process, Sci. Sinter., 2016, vol. 48, pp. 81–86. doi 10.2298/SOS1601081L
Merzhanov, A.G., Thermal explosion and ignition as a method for formal kinetic studies of exothermic reactions in the condensed phase, Combust. Flame, 1967, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 201–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-2180(67)90046-6.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The article is published in the original.
About this article
Cite this article
Odawara, O., Fujita, T., Gubarevich, A.V. et al. Thermite-Related Technologies for Use in Extreme Geothermal Environments. Int. J Self-Propag. High-Temp. Synth. 27, 228–235 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3103/S1061386218040040
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S1061386218040040