Hydrophilic Liquid in Glacier Boreholes
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cold regions science and technology ELSEVIER Cold Regions Science and Technology22 (1994) 243-251 Hydrophilic liquid in glacier boreholes V.S. Zagorodnov a,*, V.A. Morev b, O.V. Nagornov c, J.J. Kelley d, T.A. Gosink d, B.R. Koci d alnstitute of Geography, the Russian Academy of Sciences, 29 Staromonetny per., Moscow, 109017, Russia bArctic and Antarctic Research Institute, 38 Bering Str., St. Petersburg, 199226, Russia CMoscow Engineering Physics Institute, 31 Kashirskoe Shosse, Moscow, 115409, Russia dpolar Ice Coring Office, University ofAlaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AL 99775-1710, USA Received 22 December 1992; accepted after revision 9 August 1993) Abstract Environmental impact is a primary criterion for selecting any liquid used for filling boreholes in glaciers. Anti- freeze solutions based on ethanol and other high molecular weight alcohols are among several potential fluids used for drilling deep holes in the Arctic and Antarctic glaciers. At relatively high ice temperatures in boreholes, the concentration of ethanol in the solution can be low. Therefore, using such drilling fluids causes less environmental impact. Ethanol-water solutions (EWS) have been used for filling boreholes at various temperatures from 0 to - 58 ° C (Morev et al., 1988; Zagorodnov, 1988a; Zotikov, 1979 ). Ethanol requirements for deep drilling are sig- nificantly less than the volume of the borehole. Under normal operating conditions, ice core dissolution is about 1-mm ply per 40 min. Use of EWS for thermal drilling leads to slush formation. However, experience has shown that this is not a major drilling problem. The lifetime of the boreholes in central Antarctica is not less than one year. 1. Introduction mental impact (Gosink et al., 1991 a). In recent years, new liquids for filling boreholes have been When drilling in glaciers, the boreholes must tested in different countries. Hopefully, these will be filled with a non-freezing liquid to compen- be free of many of the drawbacks. sate for hydrostatic pressure. The liquids need to For the last twenty years, EWS has been used satisfy the following conditions: ( 1 ) low ecolog- for thermal drilling of deep holes in glaciers at ical impact and personal safety; (2) low ice core temperatures (Ti) from 0 to - 58 °C (Korotkev- contamination; (3) low viscosity; (4) should not ich et al., 1979; Morev et al., 1988; Raikovskiy damage instrument components. et al., 1990; Zagorodnov, 1988a,b; Zotikov, Currently, oil-based liquids are widely used for 1979 ). The deepest borehole (870 m) has been filling deep holes in glaciers (Gundestrup, 1988; drilled by antifreeze thermal electrical drill Kudriashov et al., 1984). Such liquids have the (ATED) in central Antarctica filled with an advantage of low viscosity, but they have a num- EWS. At 800.6 m depth the drilling has been ber of drawbacks, including a negative environ- stopped for eleven months and the operation was resumed without any difficulty (Morev et al., *V.S. Zagorodnov is presently a visiting research professor at 1988). On the Amery Ice Shelf, a 252-m deep PICO, University of Alaska Fairbanks. borehole, at a minimum temperature of 0165-232X/94/$07.00 © 1994 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved SSDI 0165-232X (93) E0022-B 244 KS. Zagorodnov et al. /CoM Regions Science and Technology 22 (1994) 243-251 -16.3°C, has also been preserved approxi- philic" liquids which have a tendency to com- mately eleven months, after which drilling was bine with ice and dissolve it at temperatures be- continued (Raikovskiy et al., 1990). The bore- low 0 ° C. The term "hydrophilic liquid" implies hole at Dome B location (central Antarctica, the major dissimilarity from other types of drill- Ti= -58°C, pore close-off 120 m) reached 780 ing fluids (DFA, kerosene, and butyl acetate) m depth in 1988 after seven weeks of drilling. which have antagonistic or hydrophobic tend- Four years later, only the upper 40 m of the hole encies (i.e., they do not combine with ice). have been accessible. The ethanol requirement If the quantity of ice is infinite and the quan- varied from 3 to 80% ofborehole volume. Mea- tity of ethanol is finite, a thermodynamic equi- surements indicate that the temperature of the librium will occur: T= Te, and C= Coq, where Te, EWS in the borehole comes to a stable equilib- and Ceq are the equilibrium temperature and rium 120 hr after drilling is finished (Zagorod- concentration, respectively. If one of these con- nov and Arkhipov, 1990). ditions breaks down, ice dissolution or ice for- Two major advantages of the EWS attract at- mation will occur. Equilibrium of the EWS in the tention: ( 1 ) environmental and personal safety boreholes can be reached when Toq = Ti. The ex- and (2) low ethanol requirements. However, perimental relationship approximated by when thermal drilling has been performed at gla- C~q=-0.01334T~q, (-60°C<T~q<0°C) is ciers with temperatures below -25 °C, the fol- shown in Fig. I. The addition of a small amount lowing drawbacks were exhibited: high viscosity, of glycerin will decrease the Teq. Within the tem- slush formation and penetration of ethanol into perature range of 0 to - 52 ° C, the density of EWS the ice core. Slush formation seems to be the most is greater than the density of ice (Figs. 2 and 4). challenging obstacle for application of EWS at If the specific weight of the aqueous ethanol temperatures below - 25 ° C. Based on the exper- solution should be increased, a high molecular imental data (Morev et al., 1988; Zagorodnov, weight alcohol such as glycerin or ethylene glycol 1988b; Raikovskiy et al., 1990; Zotikov, 1979) can be added. All components are soluble in any we assumed that, at temperatures above -25 ° C, proportions and form stable solutions. The ad- slush formation does not significantly affect pen- dition of 1% glycerin to an ethanol-water solu- etration rate. The present paper pools the expe- tion increases the latter's specific weight by 0.3% riences of drilling nine deep boreholes in central at -20°C and by 0.6% at -40°C. and peripheral areas of the Antarctic Ice Sheet As compared to other filling liquids, EWS is (Morev et al., 1988) and nine boreholes in the characterized by a higher viscosity (Fig. 3 ). The Arctic (Zagorodnov, 1988a). The estimated viscosities of JAT A-1 (Gundestrup et al., 1984) quantity of heat generated during drilling proce- dures in a hypothetical 3700-m deep borehole in Concentration (Ceq), % (wt) the central Antarctic ice sheet is presented. Gen- 0 20 40 6O 80 eral properties of EWS, mechanisms of slush for- o mation and methods of its removal are consid- ~-4 -lO ered. The causes of ethanol penetration into the ice core are discussed. 20 © 3O 2. Physical properties of ethanol-water solutions 4O The freezing point of the water solutions of al- I i i~- CO -50 ------I q-- --T2~ cohols, acids, sodium chloride, dextrose, sucrose I I I \, and others is below 0°C (Eggers et al., 1964; -60 ___1 _ ~ _ ± .Xq Pauling, 1970). The freezing point of pure ethyl alcohol is -114°C. It is the so called "hydro- Fig. 1. Equilibrium temperature of EWS. KS. Zagorodnov et al. I CoM Regions Science and Technology 22 (1994) 243-251 245 1000 II hole and therefore the EWS equilibrium is dis- turbed. Antifreeze solutions at temperatures ? 980 L _ higher than Teq melt the surrounding ice (Gos- I ink et al., 1991a). As the solution cools, water _~ 960 • L___ refreezes out of solution and Teq approaches Ti. Lamella- and needle-shaped ice crystals freeze out b from the solution, producing slush. The follow- ~ 940 ___ L _ E ing estimations are based on the borehole and (1) C2 k drill parameters presented in Table 1 and the 920 :I L_ _ temperature distribution shown in Fig. 4. The I I heat generated by the instrument is presented 900 ................... I ................... I ................... I -60 -40 -20 0 here as quantity of ice which can be melted from the borehole wall. Temperature (Teq), °C Fig. 2. Density of the EWS at the equilibrium temperature. Table 1 Drill and borehole parameters used in estimations of ice slush I00 quantities formed during drilling of polar glaciers. I I EWS i i -~ 80 -- _ L _ _ L _ _ _ Hole depth Hbh = 3,700 m Hole diameter 2Ro = 120 mm O i~. I Core diameter= 80 mm 60 Power of the heating bit Ph = 2.6 kW Heater efficiency = 85% >~ *X I Energy losses in cable AP= 0.5Ph = 1.3 kW Rate of drilling-melting Sm= 5 m/h Drill mass Ma = 100 kg .~ 2o ___L _L:~- Mass of 1 m of cable Mc = 0.28 kg > Butyl ~JET A 11.-- Length of ice core, taken during one run L = 6 m -60 50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 Temperature (Teq), °C Temperature, °C 60 -40 -20 Fig. 3. Viscosity of EWS at equilibrium temperature com- o ,, ,~ ............... ~ pared with JET A-1 and butyl acetate. po /1% and butyl acetate (Gosink et al., 1991a) are _ kLk .... ,_L _ 1000 \ \ i i / I shown for comparison in Fig. 2. Nevertheless, in F~ \ F I , I the range of temperature from 0 to -25°C the E lowering speed of the thermal drill (length 3.2 2000 - - ! X R L\_ 7/L • _ --~ X[ \ t I m, weight 60 kg) has been 0.4 m/s (Zotikov, 1979 ), At a temperature of - 53 °C (Antarctica, @ / ~."x \I\ I Komsomolskaya Station) the lowering speed of 3000 ~ -F- - ~ ~ ~ - I / I I\~\ ~ I the drill (length 5.5 m, weight 100 kg) was about ~t ~ F I 0.2 m/s.