GEG - Geothermal Energy and Geofluids

Research Interests

I study how high-voltage nanosecond pulses break down rock and other solid dielectrics to enable plasma-pulse geo-drilling for deep geothermal energy. I combine multiphysics modeling (electric fields, plasma formation in pores, plasma arcing and rock mechanics) with high-voltage experiments under realistic temperature and pressure. I also build agentic workflows that automate simulation setup, parameter studies, and HPC job submission. Before geothermal research, I worked on plasma transport in nuclear fusion devices.

Plasma-pulse geo-drilling
Dielectric breakdown
High-voltage experiments
Multiphysics modeling (COMSOL, MOOSE)
Rock mechanics
Deep geothermal energy
Agentic workflows

Publications

Found 17 itemsFilters: Smart Matching

Refereed Publications in Journals

6 publications

2024 (2 publications)

2 Refereed Publications in Journals

Impact of Temperature on the Performance of Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling (PPGD)

Ezzat, M., Börner, J., Kammermann, B., Rossi, E., Adams, B. M., Wittig, V., Biela, J., Schiegg, H.-O., Vogler, D., and Saar, M. O.

2024Refereed Publications in Journals Peer-ReviewedRock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, pp. 3531–3542(Published: May 1, 2024)

DOIDOI: 10.1007/s00603-023-03736-y

Impact of Lithostatic Pressure on the Performance of Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling (PPGD)

Ezzat, M., Börner, J., Kammermann, B., Wittig, V., Biela, J., Schiegg, H.-O., Vogler, D., and Saar, M. O.

2024Refereed Publications in Journals Peer-ReviewedRock Mechanics and Rock Engineering

2021 (2 publications)

2 Refereed Publications in Journals

Numerical Modeling of the Effects of Pore Characteristics on the Electric Breakdown of Rock for Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling

Ezzat, M., Adams, B. M., Saar, M. O., and Vogler, D.

2021Refereed Publications in Journals Peer-ReviewedEnergies 15, Art. 250(Published: December 30, 2021)

DOIDOI: 10.3390/en15010250

Simulating Plasma Formation in Pores under Short Electric Pulses for Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD)

Ezzat, M., Vogler, D., Saar, M. O., and Adams, B. M.

2021Refereed Publications in Journals Peer-ReviewedEnergies 14, Art. 4717(Published: August 4, 2021)

DOIDOI: 10.3390/en14164717

2020 (1 publication)

1 Refereed Publication in Journals

Scaling of L-mode heat flux for ITER and COMPASS-U divertors, based on five tokamaks

2020Refereed Publications in Journals Peer-ReviewedNuclear Fusion 60, Art. 066016(Published: June 1, 2020)

DOIDOI: 10.1088/1741-4326/ab7e47

2019 (1 publication)

1 Refereed Publication in Journals

Overview of recent TJ-II stellarator results

Ascasibar, E., Alba, D., Alegre Castro, D., Alonso, J. A., Alonso, J. A., De Aragón, F., Baciero, A., Barcala, J. M., Blanco, E., Botija, J., Bueno, L., Cabrera, S., De la Cal, E., Calvo, I., Cappa, A., Carralero, D., Carrasco, R., Carreras, B., Castejón, F., Castro, R., De Castro, A., Catalán, G., Chmyga, A. A., Chamorro, M., Cooper, A. W., Dinklage, A., Eliseev, L., Estrada, T., Ezzat, M., Fernández-Marina, F., Fontdecaba, J. M., García, L., García Cortés, M. I., García-Gómez, R., García-Regaña, J. M., González-Jerez, A., Grenfell, G., Guasp, J., Sánchez, E. H., Hernanz, J., Hidalgo, C., Hollmann, E., Jiménez-Denche, A., Khabanov, F., Kharchev, N., Kirpitchev, I., Kleiber, R., Kozachek, A. S., Krupnik, L., Lapayese, F., Liniers, M., Liu, B., López-Bruna, D., López-Fraguas, A., López-Miranda, B., López-Rázola, J., Losada, U., De la Luna, E., Martín de Aguilera, A., Martín-Díaz, F., Martínez-Fuentes, M., Martín-Gómez, G., Martín-Rojo, A. B., Martínez-Fernández, J., McCarthy, K. J., Medina, F., Medrano, M., Melón, L., Melnikov, A. V., Méndez, P., Merino, R., Miguel, F. J., Van Milligen, B. P., Molinero, A., Momo, B., Monreal, M. J., Mulas, S., Narushima, Y., Navarro, M., Ochando, M. A., Ohshima, S., Olivares, J., Oyarzábal, E., De Pablos, J. L., Pacios, L., Panadero, N., Parra, F. I., Pastor, I., De la Peña, A., Pereira, A., Pinzón, J. R., Portas, A. B., Poveda, E., Quintana, J. A., Ramos, F. J., Rattá, G. A., Redondo, M., Rincón, E., Ríos, L., Rodríguez-Fernández, C., Rodríguez-Rodrigo, L., Rojo, B., Ros, A., Rosa, E., Sánchez, E., Sánchez, M., Sánchez-Sarabia, E., Satake, S., Sebastián, J. A., Sharma, R., Silva, C., Solano, E. R., Soleto, A., Sun, B. J., Tabarés, F. L., Tafalla, D., Takahashi, H., Tamura, N., Tolkachev, A., Vega, J., Velasco, J. L., Velasco, J. L., Yamamoto, R., and Zurro, B.

2019Refereed Publications in Journals Peer-ReviewedNuclear Fusion 59, pp. 1–13(Published: November 1, 2019)

DOIDOI: 10.1088/1741-4326/ab205e

Presentations Talks Contributed

4 publications

2022 (3 publications)

3 Presentations Talks Contributed

Deep Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling (PPGD) Performance

Ezzat, M., Börner, J., Vogler, D., Wittig, V., and Saar, M. O.

2022Presentations Talks ContributedTalk (Contributed) at 48th EPS Plasma Conference 2022 - 48th European Physical Society Plasma Conference 2022 - Online(Published: June 28, 2022)

On the effects of the lithostatic, hydrostatic pressures, and the temperature on Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD)

Ezzat, M., Börner, J., Vogler, D., Wittig, V., and Saar, M. O.

2022Presentations Talks ContributedTalk (Contributed) at InterPore2022 - 14th Annual Meeting: InterPore 2022 - Abu Dhabi, UAE(Published: May 29, 2022)

Plasma Pulse Geo-Drilling as a Low-cost Drilling Technology for Deep-geothermal Energy Utilization: Status and Challenges

Ezzat, M., Börner, J., Vogler, D., Wittig, V., and Saar, M. O.

2022Presentations Talks ContributedTalk (Contributed) at EGU22 - EGU General Assembly 2022 - Vienna, Austria(Published: May 24, 2022)

2021 (1 publication)

1 Presentation Talk Contributed

Numerical Modeling to Study the Impact of Pore Characteristics on the Electric Breakdown of Rock for Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD)

Ezzat, M.

2021Presentations Talks ContributedTalk (Contributed) at EGW2021 - 9th European Geothermal Workshop - Karlsruhe (Online)(Published: September 22, 2021)

Possible False Positive: Marked as GEG Own ("yes"), but published on September 22, 2021 when no co-authors held active GEG appointments: Mohamed Ezzat [Senior Researchers (2026-10-01–present)] [Affiliation: Not specified in DOI metadata].

RecommendationIf this paper was published prior to joining GEG or under an external institution, please set GEG Own to "no" or document with an editorial comment in Intra.

Presentations Talks Invited

3 publications

2023 (1 publication)

1 Presentation Talk Invited

Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling under High Pressure and Temperature

Ezzat, M., Börner, J., Kammermann, B., Rossi, E., Wittig, V., Biela, J., Schiegg, H.-O., Vogler, D., and Saar, M. O.

2023Presentations Talks InvitedTalk (Invited) at EGYPlasma2023 - Port Said, Egypt(Published: March 4, 2023)

Possible False Negative: Marked as Non-GEG ("no"), but published on March 4, 2023 while Martin O. Saar [Chair (2015-01-01–present)] [Affiliation: Not specified in DOI metadata] held an active GEG appointment.

RecommendationIf this was an official GEG publication, please set GEG Own to "yes". If conducted externally, please suppress this warning with an explanatory comment in Intra.

2022 (2 publications)

2 Presentations Talks Invited

How Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling (PPGD) can make Geothermal Energy Cheaper

Ezzat, M.

2022Presentations Talks InvitedTalk (Invited) at ANPERC Seminar at KASUT - Ali I. Al - Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center Seminar at KAUST - Thuwal, Saudi Arabia(Published: June 6, 2022)

Possible False Positive: Marked as GEG Own ("yes"), but published on June 6, 2022 when no co-authors held active GEG appointments: Mohamed Ezzat [Senior Researchers (2026-10-01–present)] [Affiliation: Not specified in DOI metadata].

RecommendationIf this paper was published prior to joining GEG or under an external institution, please set GEG Own to "no" or document with an editorial comment in Intra.

Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling for Geothermal Energy

Ezzat, M.

2022Presentations Talks InvitedTalk (Invited) at EGYPlasma School 2022 - 7th Spring Plasma School at Port Said 2022 - Port Said, Egypt(Published: March 6, 2022)

Possible False Positive: Marked as GEG Own ("yes"), but published on March 6, 2022 when no co-authors held active GEG appointments: Mohamed Ezzat [Senior Researchers (2026-10-01–present)] [Affiliation: Not specified in DOI metadata].

RecommendationIf this paper was published prior to joining GEG or under an external institution, please set GEG Own to "no" or document with an editorial comment in Intra.

Presentations Poster

1 publication

2020 (1 publication)

1 Presentation Poster

Simulating plasma formation in pores to investigate key parameters governing Plasma Pulse Geo-Drilling (PPGD)

Ezzat, M.

2020Presentations PosterPoster at SGM 2020 - 18th Geoscience Meeting 2020 Zurich - Online(Published: November 6, 2020)

Possible False Positive: Marked as GEG Own ("yes"), but published on November 6, 2020 when no co-authors held active GEG appointments: Mohamed Ezzat [Senior Researchers (2026-10-01–present)] [Affiliation: Not specified in DOI metadata].

RecommendationIf this paper was published prior to joining GEG or under an external institution, please set GEG Own to "no" or document with an editorial comment in Intra.

Proceedings Non-refereed

1 publication

2022 (1 publication)

1 Proceeding Non-refereed

Lithostatic Pressure Effects on the Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling (PPGD)

Ezzat, M., Börner, J., Vogler, D., Wittig, V., Kammermann, B., Biela, J., and Saar, M. O.

2022Proceedings Non-refereedIn ETH Zurich(Published: January 1, 2022)

URLDOIDOI: 10.3929/ETHZ-B-000568862

Theses PhD

1 publication

2024 (1 publication)

1 Thesis PhD

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling Technology

Ezzat, M.

2024PhD ThesisPhD Thesis, ETH Zurich

DOIDOI: 10.3929/ethz-b-000697688

Theses MSc

1 publication

2018 (1 publication)

1 Thesis MSc

Advanced neoclassical impurity transport modelling with its experimental comparison for TJ-II

Ezzat, M.

2018Master's ThesisMSc Thesis, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid(Published: January 1, 2018)

Curriculum Vitae

Positions

10/2026 – present: Senior Scientist, Geothermal Energy & Geofluids, ETH Zurich
10/2024 – 09/2026: Postdoctoral Fellow, Geothermal Energy & Geofluids, ETH Zurich
10/2018 – 09/2024: Doctoral Researcher, Geothermal Energy & Geofluids, ETH Zurich
2021 – 2022: Guest Researcher, Fraunhofer IEG, Bochum, Germany
2017 – 2018: Research Intern, CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain

Education

Dr. sc. ETH Zurich, 2024. Thesis: Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Plasma-Pulse Geo-Drilling Technology (link to the ETH Research Collection)
MSc Fusion Plasma, Ghent University and Stuttgart University, 2018
BSc Physics, Mansoura University, 2015, ranked 1st

Dr. Mohamed Ezzat

Mailing Address

Contact & ID

Administration

Research Interests

Publications

Refereed Publications in Journals

2024 (2 publications)

2021 (2 publications)

2020 (1 publication)

2019 (1 publication)

Presentations Talks Contributed

2022 (3 publications)

2021 (1 publication)

Presentations Talks Invited

2023 (1 publication)

2022 (2 publications)

Presentations Poster

2020 (1 publication)

Proceedings Non-refereed

2022 (1 publication)

Theses PhD

2024 (1 publication)

Theses MSc

2018 (1 publication)

Curriculum Vitae

Refereed Publications in Journals

2024 (2 publications)

2021 (2 publications)

2020 (1 publication)

2019 (1 publication)

Presentations Talks Contributed

2022 (3 publications)

2021 (1 publication)

Presentations Talks Invited

2023 (1 publication)

2022 (2 publications)

Presentations Poster

2020 (1 publication)

Proceedings Non-refereed

2022 (1 publication)

Theses PhD

2024 (1 publication)

Theses MSc

2018 (1 publication)