Density and viscosity of brine: An overview from a process engineers perspective

The aim of our study is to evaluate the sensitivity of the volumetric flow rate of a downhole pump in a geothermal production well on different density and viscosity functions during the startup and stationary operating phases. The geothermal fluid is modeled as an aqueous sodium chloride solution and functions for its density and viscosity are compared and applied to a model of the geothermal fluid cycle. It is shown that the deviations between viscosity functions have negligible impact on the volumetric flow rate, while the impact of the deviations between different density functions is up to 52% of the volumetric flow rate. (C) 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.