FouMon: Development of an ultrasound-based fouling monitoring solution for in-situ tracking and prognosis of occurring scalings and biofilms in geothermal plants and open cooling circuits.

Fouling is an extreme problem in the industry and causes millions of dollars of damage annually, mainly due to spontaneous plant failure. In this project, a low-cost, ultrasound-based sensor network for direct detection and determination of fouling and biofilms is developed for geothermal plants and open cooling circuits. The sensor network is supported by a self-learning predictive-maintenance algorithm that enables prediction of fouling formation based on hydrogeochemical simulations and models developed in the project. Concrete recommendations for plant operation are derived from this. The detachment from fixed maintenance intervals or operation until failure increases the efficiency

Contributions to SDG

Partners

TUM Chair of non-destructive testing (Prof. Große); Z+H Wassertechnik; measX

Financial Support

BMWK Zukunftsinitiative Mittelstand

Responsible

Lilly Zacherl; Thomas Baumann

Project duration

2020 - 2023

Publications

Papers

L. Zacherl & T. Baumann (2023): Quantification of the effect of gas-water-equilibria on carbonate precipitation, Geothermal Energy 11, doi://10.1186/s40517-023-00256-4.

I. Stüwe, L. Zacherl & C. U. Grosse (2023): Ultrasonic and impact-echo testing for the detection of scaling in geothermal pipelines, J Nondestruct Eval 42, doi://10.1007/s10921-023-00926-0.

Posters

L. Zacherl & T. Baumann, Quantifizierung der Calciumkarbonatausfällungskinetik unter dynamischen Bedingungen, Wasser 2023, 15.-17.5.2023, Augsburg.

Talks

L. Zacherl & T. Baumann, Quantification of calcium carbonate precipitation kinetics under dynamic conditions, Anakon 2023, 11.-14.4.2023, Vienna.

L. Zacherl, M. Omidi & T. Baumann, Scalings in geothermal systems: Quantifying and modeling the role of degassing, European Geothermal Congress 2022, 17.-22.10.2022, Berlin.

L. Zacherl & T. Baumann, Gas phase induced carbonate precipitation - experimental proof and model verification, EGU 2022, 23.-27.5.2022, Vienna.

L. Zacherl & T. Baumann, Gasblaseninduziertes Scaling in Geothermieanlagen, Der Geothermiekongress, 30.11.-1.12.2021, Essen (online).