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With
Geothermal condensers, renewable energy in the form of steam or
high temperature liquid taken from the earth can be utilized to
provide district heating and power production while saving our planet's
valuable environment. From the pioneering days of Geysers in the
late 1950s and early 1960s, ECOLAIRE has applied both its field and
in-house test results to produce reliable designs in both surface
and direct contact geothermal condensers.
Under construction is this 30 MW geothermal surface condenser
with a six pass water side arrangement designed to serve the dual
purpose of providing district heating and power for the people
of Iceland. In operation it will raise the cooling water inlet
temperature by almost 100°F for the purpose of district heating
and will also provide a vacuum at the end of a low-pressure turbine-generator
for high efficient power production. Due to the highly corrosive
geothermal environment the condenser has been designed with Titanium
tubes and tube sheets in addition to internal support structures
and an outer body made of 316 stainless steel.
 This
noncondensible gas removal system including precooler has multiple
ejectors to match capacity to actual noncondensible flow. Unique
to geothermal units is the extremely large amount of noncondensibles,
as much as 10% or more of the steam flow. By comparison a typical
power plant has less than 1/10% noncondensible flow. ECOLAIRE's
designs include allowances for the heat transfer degradation by
the noncondensibles and minimize vapor carryover to reduce gas
removal equipment power consumption.
 Turbine
exhaust transition piece for a geothermal condenser is fabricated
entirely from SS 316L. To negate the effects of corrosive steam,
geothermal condensers are typically constructed entirely of stainless
steel. Our 184,000 square-foot manufacturing facility is qualified
to handle virtually any high-alloy material required.
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