Comparative study of novel backfill coupled heat exchangers using different waste materials in underground stopes

Underground mines in China are rich in geothermal resources. Based on backfill mining technology, the collaborative development of deep mineral resources and geothermal resources can be realized. The key of this approach is to form artificial thermal reservoirs by heat storage backfill body and to extract geothermal energy as much as possible through the built-in pipe. It is important to investigate the backfill material and system parameter design to improve the heat storage and release performance of backfill body and enhance the extraction efficiency of geothermal energy in mine. In this paper, experimental and simulation studies of backfill coupled heat exchanger system with different backfill materials are carried out to make a comparative study. The backfill materials involved include traditional backfill material, natural flake graphite backfill material and paraffin RT28 backfill material. After comparing the heat storage and heat release behavior, liquid fraction variation and efficiency of different systems, the natural flake graphite backfill body which has better engi-neering value is selected to further conduct experiments to study the influence of surrounding rock temperature, initial temperature of backfill body and inlet water temperature on the thermal performance of the system. The results show that with the increase of surrounding rock temperature, initial temperature of backfill body, or the decrease of inlet water temperature, the total heat storage, heat release and energy utilization coefficient of the system all increase. When the initial temperature of backfill is 26 degrees C, surrounding rock temperature is 45 degrees C, inlet velocity and temperature are respectively 0.7 m/s and 18 degrees C, the energy utilization coefficient of the system is the highest, which is 81.4%. The research results are helpful to the design of heat storage backfill body and the improvement of thermal performance of the system.