1992 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Fundamental Study on Power Generation by Volcano Energy
| Project/Area Number |
01420038
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (A)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
資源開発工学
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| Research Institution | KYUSHU UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
EHARA Sachio Kyushu University,Faculty of Engineering Professor, 工学部, 教授 (10002346)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
ITOI Ryuich Kyushu University,Faculty of Engineering Associate Professor, 工学部, 助教授 (50108768)
MOGI Tohru Kyushu University,Faculty of Engineering Research Associate, 工学部, 助手 (80182161)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1989 – 1992
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| Keywords | VOLCANO ENERGY / GEOTHERMAL ENERGY / VOLCANIC ACTIVITY / HEAT EXTRACTION / POWER GENERATION / GEOTHERMAL EXPLOITATION / THERMAL STRUCTURE / MAGMA |
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| Research Abstract |
Kuju volcano is chosen as a study area for volcano energy utilization. The kuju volcano group, composed of many lava domes, is situated in the Beppu-Shimabara graben in central Kyushu, Japan. It is an typical andesitic volcano. The volcanic activity started about 0.3 Ma and the youngest radiometric age is several tens of thousands of years. In historic times, only phreatic explosions have occurred several times. An active solfatara field in an explosive crater of Mt. Hosshoyama of the group shows the most intense geothermal activity in central Kyusu. the natural heat discharge is estimated at about 100 MW, most of it from steaming ground and fumaroles. The temperatures of fumaroles generally exceed 200 ﾟC and the muximum observed temperature was 508ﾟC.
Simulation of the regional high heat flow around Kuju volcano shows most of the underlying magma reservoir are not moiten at present but high temperatures of 400-700ﾟC at a depth of 5 km. Simulation of the reservoir model beneath the solfatara field which is above the central part of the cooling magma suggests that the volcanic thermal fluid reservoir is a two-phase reservoir heated by magmatic fluids. Production processes were simulated by extracting fluids from the shallower part of the reservoir (250-500m). As a result,it was concluded that the heat ex- traction comparable to 10 MWe power generation for more than 10 years is possible without greatly affecting natural geothermal activities. The development of the two-phase reservoir beneath the active fumarolic area is a possible method to utilize volcano energy as a first step.
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