With the Patricius medal the Federal association Geothermie honours since 1994 personalities, who made themselves earned around the development of the terrestrial heat use in outstanding way.
>>> You can view 2020`s award ceremony here. <<<
Every year the German Geothermal Energy Association awards the Patricius Medal at the Geothermal Congress 2020. It is awarded to personalities who have dedicated their life's work to the development of geothermal energy. The medal is named after the holy martyr Patricius of Bursa, who described geothermal energy as the origin of hot springs as early as 360 AD. He was executed by the Roman Proconsul Julius for insisting on this scientifically and historically remarkable declaration and was later canonized.
This year, the honorary commission under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ernst Huenges Dipl.-Phys. Manfred Reuß decided to honour his tireless work with high personal commitment for near-surface geothermal energy. In his laudation, Dr. Claus Heske emphasized Manfred Reuß' competence, many years of experience and wide-ranging creative power. He has significantly advanced the development of near-surface geothermal energy from an initially still experimental level to an established technology and an important pillar of renewable energies. In the 80s and 90s he was one of the pioneers who developed and introduced the Thermal Response Test as a planning basis and quality assurance for geothermal probe systems. His life's work is characterized by his transformation of experimental scientific work into technical standards. His expertise has also been incorporated into numerous national and European standards and stadards. Through his national and international research, committee and association work, Manfred Reuß has developed standards in all areas of near-surface geothermal energy and has made them accessible to everyone, especially through his many years of work as chairman of the VDI 4640 guideline committee.
Manfred Reuß accepted the Patricius Medal with great pleasure and was overwhelmed to receive such a high honour at the end of his professional life.
The Federal Association of Geothermal Energy thanks the sponsor Storengy Deutschland for its support in the awarding of the Patricius Medal.
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The Federal Geothermal Energy Association may award a prize for a special occasion (special prize). In particular, this is intended for political and/or public commitment to geothermal energy. The prize consists of a certificate and a medal.
The Erdwerk GmbH (Munich) was honored by the Federal association Geothermie with the special price for its outstanding pioneer achievements of many years in the planning and realization of projects in the deep Geothermie. The award ceremony took place digitally in the run-up to the Geothermiekongress.
This year the German Geothermal Energy Association awarded a special prize for the third time. The special prize includes a medal and a certificate. The Erdwerk GmbH (Munich) was honored for its pioneering role in the development of Geothermie. The success history of the Geothermie in the prealpine molasse basin would not be conceivable without the pioneer work of Erdwerk. Especially the development of deep geothermal energy and the use of hot thermal water has been advanced by Erdwerk. Today they offer services from the first steps of the feasibility study, exploration, drilling support, up to the test phase and completion and are considered as geothermal special consultants and successful, innovative and leading planning office for geothermal energy.
The laudatory speech was held by the winner of the Particius Medal 2017, Dr. Christian Pletl of Stadtwerke München. In his speech, he emphasized the special achievement of the company founder Dr. Achim Schubert, who unfortunately passed away much too early, who had understood how to lead his ever-growing team of committed scientists and technicians in a goal-oriented manner with his living work culture and how to make it internationally visible. Renate Höferle accepted the award on behalf of Erdwerk GmbH. She is co-founder of the company, which has been in existence for 18 years now and has over 40 employees. She thanked the honor committee under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ernst Huenges for the special prize. The company is proud of the appreciation and feels very honored to receive the award. Dr. Erwin Knapek, President of the German Geothermal Energy Association, wished the company the strength to continue and to successfully continue the work of its founder in the future with new ideas.
Previous award winners:
2014: Dr.-Ing. E.h. Martin Herrenknecht
2003: Josef Fell
The Science Bar is a competition for young scientists, which is organised every year as part of the German Geothermal Congress by the "Young Geothermal Energy" working group of the German Geothermal Energy Association. The competition is aimed at young scientists who would like to present their bachelor, master or doctoral thesis on the subject of geothermal energy to a broad specialist audience. The best presentation will be awarded by a renowned jury with the Young Talent Award of the Federal Association of Geothermal Energy e.V.
This year's winner of the junior researcher award was Katja Schulz (TU Darmstadt) with her lecture "Lab analysis of permeability enhancement by chemical treatment of fractured granite samples (Cornubian Batholith) in the context of the United Downs Deep Geothermal Power Project".
The German Geothermal Association presented the prize to the winner at the award ceremony on Thursday, November 12. The chairs of the Science Bar, Dr. Bastian Welsch and Mathias Nehler and the entire jury, consisting furthermore of Prof. Dr. Inga Moeck (LIAG), Rüdiger Grimm (geoENERGIE Konzept), Prof. Dr. Horst Rüter (German Geothermal Association) and Thomas Reinsch (Fraunhofer IEG) congratulate the winner!
Find her presentation as a PDF document here.
The summary of her master thesis:
In the framework of the EU-H2020 project MEET (Multidisciplinary and multi-context demonstration of EGS exploration and Exploitation Techniques and potentials, grant agreement No. 792037) and the ERDF-project UDDGP (United Downs Deep Geothermal Power), we conducted a lab analysis of permeability enhancement by chemical treatment of fractured granite samples.
In Redruth, Cornwall a hydrothermal doublet-system with a depth of 5 058 m TVD (production well, bottom temperature approximately 190 °C) and 2 214 m TVD (injection well) was completed in 2019. Geological target of the project is the NNW-SSE striking, 200 to 500 m wide-, more than 15 km long-Porthtowan strike-slip fault zone (PTF), which transects the Carnmenellis granite and links the two wells vertically. The Carnmenellis granite is one of the onshore plutons of the Cornubian Batholith, which is characterised by a strong geothermal anomaly.
The analysed samples are outcrop analogue samples taken from six different locations of the Cornubian Batholith. They have a high geochemical and mineralogical conformity with the Carnmenellis Granite and include mineralised veins, which allow analogies with hydrothermally altered zones around the faults damage zones of the PTF encountered in the production well.
The enhancement of permeability of the rock matrix and fracture systems by acidification was analysed by applying a set of analytical methods. XRF, XRD, ICP-MS, thermoscanning, helium-pycnometry, helium-permeametry, water-permeametry and sonic velocity were used to characterise the samples petrologically and petrophysically before and after chemical treatment in autoclave-experiments and Core Flooding Tests at reservoir temperatures and pressures. In the chemical treatment experiments, the samples are placed in autoclaves together with acids at 150 °C for 24 hours. The acids used are 15 % HCl and ‘white acid’, consisting of 12 % HCl and 3 % HF, which resembles Regular Mud Acid. The spent acids have been analysed after the experiments, using AAS, IC and Photometry to allow a quantification of the effectivity of the acids. In the Core Flooding Tests, which have been conducted by Fangmann Energy Services, the chemical blends SSB-007 and SFB-007 are circulated through the cores at a temperature of 150 °C and a confining pressure of 172 bar. During the flow rate-controlled test, the differential pressure is logged to calculate the permeability development over time. SSB-007 and SFB-007 have relatively similar characteristics as the fluids used in the autoclave-experiments.
The Core Flooding Tests on these samples resulted in an increase of the core permeability by a factor ranging from 4 to >20. The autoclave-experiments result in permeability variation by a factor between 0.1 and 40. Precipitates on and within the samples of the autoclave experiments, which decrease permeability were analysed using electron microscopy.
Potential target zones in the production well UD-1 have been identified by ultrasonic borehole log interpretation (UXPL), spectral gamma ray logs, fluid losses, gas intrusions and anomalies of the geothermal gradient. Drill cutting samples from these zones are analysed mineralogically to transfer the geochemical changes during autoclave or CFT experiments directly to the theoretical scenario of a chemical treatment of UD-1.
