A team of Chemical Engineering students of Universitas Gadjah Mada has won the paper competition Geophysics Atmosphere (Geosphere) 2016. They became the first and third winners in the competition that was organised by Geophysics Students Association of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) in Surabaya, East Java, from 9-11 March.
The UGM team with members Salma Mergiana and Afta Wiranda wrote a paper titled Reduction of Silica Scaling Occuring in Geothermal Plant Using Silica Scaling Predictor and Addition of Ca(OH)2 to Geothermal Brine. The other team with members Adimas Prasetyaaji and I Made Dananjaya wrote a paper entitled Implementation of Hybrid Binary Regenerative Rankine Cycle in Geothemal Field of Lahendong that Takes into Account the Environment, Economic and Sustainability Aspects.
Salma Mergiana said the Geosphere 2016 was joined by tens of student teams from Indonesian universities. There were ten best teams making it to the finals, including from Institut Teknologi Bandung, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, and Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Yogyakarta.
“Salma said their papers contain ideas on efforts to reduce silica scaling that occured in geothermal plant using addition of Ca(OH)2 that can reduce the amount of silica getting encrusted in the plant pipes. They did the research in 2015, funded through grants from CaRED Programme.
Afta Wiranda added silica scaling that often occurs in geothermal plants was due to temperature and pressure changes. Indonesia geothermal plants have actually tried to minimise the silica getting encrusted by making small channels around it to reduce surface temperature, hindering the crusts.
“Under this system, however, power efficiency reduces by 30 percent,” Afta Wiranda said.Their laboratorium scale research showed the addition of Ca(OH)2 proved to be able to reduce the silica crust, so this is potential to reduce silica scaling in geothermal plants.