Quaise Energy, a subsidiary of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), plans to dig deeper into the earth’s crust than anything else has ever landed for unlimited energy. Known as a pioneering energy company, Quaise’s project aroused great interest worldwide after its introduction in 2020. The advanced fusion technology to be used in this process will be the first technology used in any drilling process. However, there are question marks about how this technology, which will be implemented for the first time, will be successful.
MIT researcher Paul Woskov thinks that only a fraction of the amount of heat below the Earth’s surface will allow it to meet worldwide energy needs for more than 20 million years. The project is designed to drill 20 kilometers deep into the Earth’s surface and use fusion technology to access this ultra-deep heat. Quaise is working to build the first prototype by 2024 and plans to run the world’s first “super hot geothermal system” at 100 megawatts by 2026.
Purpose of the Deep Hole to be Drilled
Quaise’s aim is to create a significant change in the geothermal energy field. Although geothermal energy is a clean, continuous and unlimited source of energy, the availability of suitable hot sources is low. That’s why Quaise company wants to change this situation by developing technology for drilling deep holes into the shell. The most successful hole ever made by man in the crust, reaching a depth of 12.3 km. cola deep drillingis. However, Quaise company aims to break this record and reach the deeper layers of the planet’s crust.
Quaise aims to melt atoms together by using millimeter wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation instead of grinding rocks to solve the difficulties in the extraction of geothermal energy. To do this, machines called Gyrotrons will be used. These machines will cause mass production of electromagnetic waves by shaking electrons at high speed in strong magnetic fields. This method aims to adopt the understanding of less drilling, more burning and is based on nuclear fusion research.
By connecting the mega-watt power of a gyrotron with the latest cutting tools, Quaise company aims to burn the hardest, hottest rocks and reach a depth of 20 km in a few months. The temperature of the rocks in the depths can reach 500 degrees, which is enough to turn any liquid water into steam. Quaise aims to convert legacy coal-powered power stations into steam-powered plants by 2028.
How to Drill
Quaise energy company uses a powerful millimeter wave beam technology developed to drill through rocks under the earth’s crust. The company has redesigned for its own purposes a powerful millimeter wave beam technology developed to superheat plasma in fusion experiments. This machine aims to make it possible to drill a 20-kilometer hole in 100 days, in theory, with the beam of light it produces by melting, breaking or evaporating hard materials. The company plans to use a hybrid drill rig to overcome this long wait. The use of this technology, which is stated to be specially designed to drill the previously undiscovered rocks under the earth’s crust, is likened to science fiction movies.
Quaise Energy states that this technology will enable them to go deeper than normal drilling depths and they can go down to rock layers at a temperature of about 500 degrees. This will drastically increase the efficiency of geothermal power generation, allowing water to boil at 373 degrees and 220 bar to reach a “supercritical” state. Thus, higher efficiency will be achieved in geothermal energy production. It will be able to create inexhaustible energy resources by increasing the geothermal energy efficiency of water. The result will mean reliable green energy production that can be produced 24 hours a day and without the emission of CO2.
Geothermal energy is an energy source used to generate electrical energy from underground heat energy. Currently, about 8.3% of the world’s electrical energy can be obtained from geothermal energy source. However, less than half of the electrical energy is provided from underground heat energy. To reach the target of zero net emissions by 2050, geothermal energy expansion of 13% is required each year, but only part of this expansion is currently taking place. Time is limited to reduce global warming and cut emissions, and technology and companies have a big role to play in utilizing the potential of geothermal energy and increasing interest.
