LA-80-06-2 -- Geothermal Energy for Sugar Beet Processing PDF

The commercial exploitation of geothermal energy is being implemented at a sugar beet processing plant in Brawley, CA under the auspices of the Department of Energy. This program capitalizes on the geothermal energy potentially available from a company-owned resource and applies the energy directly to the processing of sugar beets in their facility. At its completion, the program will provide energy to replace over 225,000 barrels of fuel oil per year (more than two-thirds of the current plant consumption) by a technically straightforward, economically sound and environmentally acceptable geothermal application. This paper describes the geothermal resource, the technique for transporting the geothermal energy to the beet processing facility and discusses the various tradeoffs and configurations within the facility that interface and use the geothermal energy.