Geothermal Plant tour pictures

Frank Boyd, plant manager, explaining how the steam needs to be dry steam. If the steam contained water, the water would corrode the metal due to the high pressure within.

Frank releasing some of the excess runoff water. Oh and Adam posing there hah.

Spotted: A splitter! Definitely cooler in real life rather than drawing a flowchart symbol for a splitter.

Pressure valves.

Lubricant Oil container vessels.

Water runoff from the huge cooling towers.

Standing next a huge tank of NaOH! Organic Chemistry, yeah!

Frank showing us the control system! Double-monitors, double-the-fun.

A close up of the flash steam system. Parameters are clearly listed.

Ooo! The brain!

Couldn't pass up taking my picture.

The plant was named after Volcano Miravilles, conveniently in sight as we ended our plant tour.

Miravalles III Geothermal Plant

After our Geothermal class, we ventured to Guanacaste, to Miravalles III Geothermal Plant. As we pulled up, I instantly was taken aback at how we were actually given any access to it. Costa Rica is seriously such an easy-going place to be. The term, "Pura Vida," means pure life. It is used for just about anything. I like hearing it because it is a nice reminder of how good life is and can be.

So, we walked into the administration office where we then met Frank Boyd, one of the plant managers. He's this cool, easy-going, tico with long black dreads. He instructed us to put on the protective eyewear and hard hat before we did anything. We proceeded into the conference room so Frank could better inform us of the components of the plant. He warned us that while we were inside the single flash steam system, we would not be able to hear him. Frank began to explain the system and my eyes lit up. He drew a flowchart of the flash steam system (which I will post) that I was quickly familiar with from my Material and Energy Balances course. That is all we did! Flowcharts and parameters on paper as well as on a program called 'Unisim'. So after his explanation he brought us through the actual thing. This aspect of the program in which we learn about a system, and then we get to see it first-hand is probably what I love the most. I am a visual learner and I thrive on applied learning.

A Geothermal Morning

Woke up feeling exhausted, as per usual. Each day is so jam-packed with things to do, I feel so out-of-shape! I know I'm young, but my 8-year-old self would have so much more stamina. Anyway, our mornings always start with a traditional "tico" (tico describes anything Costa Rican) breakfast which includes- rice and black beans, scrambled eggs, fried cheese and juice made from water apples. After breakfast, we had our second class called "Geothermal Energy." Pretty amazing stuff. There were so many references to things I have learned in my chemical engineering courses, I got the chills. So that's why our coursework is the way it is.. it all makes sense now.. *sarcastic tone* haha.

We learned what single flash steam power plants are and how they work. JP, our instructor, mentioned that we will be visiting a single flash steam power plant after class so we could see one 'in live'. Single flash steam power plants use hot water from wells for steam to spin a turbine generator. A condenser unit is also in the system which then redirects the water to a hot well, which can be used for direct heat uses or sent to cooling towers. A binary cycle power plant, on the other hand, uses a heat exchanger to heat an organic fluid such as iso-butane to make iso-butane vapor. *My organic chemistry knowledge came into play here* (Completing Organic I and II in one summer actually paid off!) Another reference to organic was the presence of hydrogen sulfide as a waste product for geothermal steam and water. More significantly, my Material and Energy Balances Chem-E course came into play because in order to clean the air of hydrogen sulfide, scrubber systems are installed! Our final group project for the class involved Limestone Slurry Scrubbing.

Alright, so off to the power plant!

So Much To Say!

Wow! I've missed a whole day of blogging.. No bueno! There is so much to say and it is necessary for me to break it up into different posts.

So, here we go!

Teaming up

It is currently 1:30am Costa Rican time and I should be sleeping because our Merengue dance lesson wore me out! I paired off and danced with multiple people, which was fun, but now it's time to get down to business. 'Business' being a loose term. We were told that tomorrow morning we should have chosen another student, that shares the same passion, to collaborate with for the Capstone project. I've danced around with other people's ideas, and I have yet to find someone as passionate about biofuels as I am. I will say though, that the other students in this program are meant to be in this program. Their ideas sound so great and I could sense their passion as they spoke about their ideas.

Tomorrow morning will be our second class on geothermal energy. Following the class will be a volcano geothermal plant visit. I can not express through text how excited I have been every moment of this trip thus far. (Hand gestures and facial expressions would be necessary).

Energy in Transition Class

We had our first class today titled, "Energy in Transition." Our teacher, JP, informed us of some of the statistics as far as energy consumption goes. He also made an emphasis on policy. Many of the renewable energy resources today are not being used to their fullest potential.. and, well, that is just a shame. Why wouldn't people want to be as efficient and as environmentally-friendly as they could possibly be? It isn't like pulling teeth.. If government policy were to enforce the use of renewable energy, that would facilitate the leap from nonrenewable to renewable energy. JP's spiel on policy definitely has inspired me to look into what the current U.S. policies are as well as potential policies. The best thing I saw was that Biofuel use showed exponential growth. Being a part of Engineers without Borders, there is a huge emphasis on biofuel and how biofuel can be brought to rural areas where energy is scarce. An important part of this program is the "Capstone" project. In the words of the GREEN program, "the purpose [of the Capstone project] is to promote the use of creative analysis and resourcefulness in creating beneficial proposals dealing with renewable energy, policy, business, and environment for the community." The project is not graded but is advised for students to choose something they are passionate about. And I can definitely say I will do just that. I believe anything you do, has to be done with passion.

I will post again maybe later on tonight, but that all depends on how tired I am after our Merengue lesson!

Lebano Waterfall

We just got back from visiting the waterfalls of Lebano. I am exhausted! It was so beautiful. The water current was so powerful. Our counselor, Brady, mentioned we will be learning a lot about hydropower. I'm excited about that. Currently, it is 2:20pm Costa Rican time and our first class called "Energy in Transition" will start at 3pm. I will post again after class!

En route to San Jose

8am Wednesday morning I got a call saying my noon flight was cancelled. American Airlines put me on another flight departing a t 2:55pm and arriving 3:40pm Costa Rican time. Flight complications furthered and I was then put on a flight leaving Miami at 8:10pm arriving 8:55pm Costa Rican time. By that point I just wanted to teleport there. Anyway, I finally arrived at the airport went through immigration, got my luggage, and looked for my GREEN counselors, wearing green, so they can then lead me to the hotel so I could then crash. I was made aware that our hotel was 3 hours away.. 3 hours! Thankfully, our taxi driver was talkative and welcoming. For the first hour of the drive, I was alert at what our taxi driver had to say. The second and third hour, I was out like a light. Our taxi driver was extremely informed about how electricity was distributed in the country and how telecommunications was lacking in comparison and how the government controls everything.

The hotel is beautiful and I'm rushing out of our room for breakfast, but I will post more later.