4 ms·
One reason may be contaminants. Most sewage water has a lot of salts, proteins, weird minerals, heavy metals, etc. in it which can cause cause significant corro
by lazide 2y ago
One reason may be contaminants. Most sewage water has a lot of salts, proteins, weird minerals, heavy metals, etc. in it which can cause cause significant corrosion and other issues even at room temperature.
However, most geothermal systems already have issues with lots of salts and minerals being pulled from the surrounding rock (even with in-Situ water), to the point that maintaining equipment when things are constantly trying to dissolve and/or crystallize in them is one of the dominant costs.
So as long as the water is treated enough it doesn’t ‘cook’ into a gelatinous mass when it hits the hot rocks, it probably isn’t making the problem any worse.
- pfdietz 2y agoIf anything, I imagine the geothermal system could act to destroy otherwise hard to remove organics, like drug residues. Various dissolved metals and metal-rich surfaces could act as catalysts. Some geothermal systems in the Salton Sea have had issues with deposition of metal sulfides, with the deposits being so rich in silver they are in effect high grade ores (including native silver metal). Unfortunately these weren't economical to extract, but they do act as artificial replicas of natural ore forming systems.