Research and Development

From 2013 in cooperation with two universities and two companies we were directing a R&D Programme granted by the Climate and Energy Fund of the Austrian Federal Government. The hydrothermal energy project named REINJEKTION is dedicated to defining and analysing the determinants governing resp. limiting reinjection of thermal water after heat extraction into sandstone aquifers.

In geothermal energy production thermal water reinjection mostly works satisfyingly into carbonate aquifers (mainly limestone, dolomite) if the permeability is sufficient. Reinjection into sandstone via a reinjection well can be hard to gain, even if the well produces sufficiently. The project team (Montanuniversitaet Leoben, University of Technology Graz, Materials Centre Leoben, IB Steiner and our company) has been researching the determinants governing resp. limiting sandstone reinjection and the report will be finalized in 2016.

The picture shows a REM record of a sandstone with piles of clay minerals at the pore wall that can plug pore throats if mobilized and thus reduce permeability.

Furthermore Bernd Boechzelt is lecturer at Donau University Krems (Austria), University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and WKO (Austrian Chamber of Commerce) in the fields of water exploration and geothermal energy.