Patent ID: 8235141
Filing Date: 2012-08-07
Classification: E21B,F24T,Y02C,Y02E,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A method of recovering a fossil fuel from a fossil carbon deposit site, which comprises the steps of: (a) driving several boreholes into the earth's crust through plutonic rock to depths below the surface at which supercritical conditions predominate, by means of a molten metal drilling process, wherein each of the several boreholes is provided with a continuously created, one-piece metal borehole casing and wherein the several boreholes are drilled, so that they are spaced from one another in a lower borehole region, and connected there to one another through crack formation in the plutonic rock to form a geo-heat exchanger resulting in creation of a supercritical geo-steam system; (b) injecting a fluid into at least one of the several boreholes, operating as an injection borehole, into the plutonic rock, to convert the injected fluid into a supercritical fluid, and extracting the supercritical fluid from the plutonic rock through other of the several boreholes operating as at least one production borehole; and (c) injecting the supercritical fluid extracted according to step (b) into the fossil carbon deposit site to dissolve hydrocarbons from the fossil carbon deposit site in the supercritical fluid, and transporting the supercritical fluid laden with the hydrocarbons to the surface and recovering of the hydrocarbons.