Preliminary study on emission abatement and use of gas from geothermal power plants in El Savador

Abstract

Geothermal energy is regarded worldwide as a clean and renewable energy source. Electricity production using geothermal resources is much more environmentally favourable than the combustion of fossil fuels; however, gas emission is regarded as one of the most important environmental impacts of geothermal energy production and must be handled with special care. The environmental and economic effects of the treatment of gas emitted from the Berlín geothermal power plant were studied. Different methods for gas emission abatement were reviewed and an economical assessment for the application of a H2S removal and CO2 cleaning process was carried out. It was found that carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide can be successfully treated for elemental sulphur recovery and purified liquid carbon dioxide production. Environmental impacts such as global warming, acidification of rain and soil would be reduced by using the geothermal non-condensable gases instead of releasing them to the atmosphere; attractive incomes can be generated by selling liquid CO2 and carbon certified emission reduction credits.