Results of the development and field demonstration program on cavitation descaling techniques for pipes and tubes used in geothermal energy plants. Volume I

The conversion of geothermal energy into usable electrical power has become increasingly important to the overall national energy needs. A major area of technical interest which has resulted from the initial development of geothermal power plants is the scale formation developed in the facility pipes and related components. This scale formation is due to the concentration of minerals in the geothermal water and steam. The current state-of-technology utilized for descaling consists of a combination of sandblasting, water blasting, acid soaking and scraping. These cleaning methods, used individually or collectively, do not provide an acceptable descaling operation due to excessive facility downtime and cost.