Techno-economic and viability assessments of natural hydrogen
Project lead
Dr Tara Hosseini, Tara.Hosseini@csiro.au
Lead researchers
Dr Mutah Musa: Mutah.Musa@csiro.au
Dr Emanuelle Frery: emanuelle.frery@csiro.au
Dr Regina Sander: Regina.Sander@csiro.au
Dr Mohammad Sayyafzadeh: Mohammad.Sayyafzadeh@csiro.au
Dr Mohammad Sayyafzadeh: Mohammad.Sayyafzadeh@csiro.au
Challenge
The discovery of a large accumulation of naturally occurring hydrogen in Mali has triggered the search for hydrogen accumulations in other countries. Various researchers reported seepage of hydrogen-rich gas in different locations including Russia, the United States, Brazil, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Oman, China and many other countries. Most of the above hydrogen discoveries share two distinct similar conditions which include:
- Association with circular to sub-circular depressions
- Located in areas with iron-rich, metamorphic, and igneous Precambrian basement rocks where Fe2+ oxidation and reduction of H2O may occur.
In Australia, specifically in Western Australia, those two conditions exist. Numerous circular surface features, commonly called salt lakes or swaps, are visible from the sky but there are limited studies that quantify any hydrogen content in those features.
Natural hydrogen is typically accompanied by other gas components, including methane (natural gas), nitrogen, helium and others. This implies post-processing may be required to treat hydrogen to specification while extracting other gases of value. Another important aspect to consider is the size of the resources and also if the hydrogen production from those sources is continuous or depleting upon the extraction.
There is a paucity of global information and knowledge on the technological requirements and economic implications for the commercial development of natural hydrogen production. Therefore, a novel investigation is required to develop virtual production systems through simulation, design appropriate exploration technology by retrofitting existing technologies found in the oil and gas industry, apply specific production requirements to design appropriate processes where no suitable existing technologies are available, and evaluate the financial implications of these processes.
Furthermore, the natural hydrogen system is still poorly understood. The development of a better understanding of native hydrogen systems involves a proper techno-economic assessment to address some of the challenges related to cost competitiveness, project viability, future cost projections and cost-reduction potential. This enables the evaluation of this technology against other hydrogen production technologies.
This project aims to develop a detailed subsurface simulation model, then make cost estimates to determine the economics of natural hydrogen production. The output may provide an absolute cost of producing natural hydrogen, or relative costs depending on the production process. The model could be used to test production assumptions.
What we are doing
The objectives of the project are:
- To simulate a subsurface hydrogen production system, and evaluate the effect of process parameters on production feasibility.
- To develop a surface processing and purification system required to upgrade the produced hydrogen to fuel cell application specifications.
- To couple the subsurface and surface operations and evaluate the process mass and energy requirements.
- To provide an understanding of the components and their costs for natural hydrogen extraction.
- To compare the levelised costs of natural hydrogen to other hydrogen generation processes, considering both scale and product purity.
- To assess the economic viability of the process and design technology based on the specified conditions.
- To evaluate the effect of variation in production conditions on the economic viability of the system.
We will deliver a Class 5 techno-economic analysis model for different scenarios (for various hydrogen end-users, scales, location and availability of other valuable by-products etc), and comment on the feasibility of the base case process base case and under what conditions the process could be feasible.
Outcomes to date
- Production model simulated
- Processing model developed in Aspen Plus with mass and energy inputs and outputs estimated
- Integrated financial model with estimated costing of a base case subsurface and surface natural hydrogen processing facility
Lessons learned
The effects of hydrogen production rates and hydrogen concentration in the produced gas mix will be critical to the economic viability of natural hydrogen systems.
Project finish date
March 2024
Relevant project publications
M. Musa, T. Hosseini, R. Sander, E. Frery, N. Haque, N. Kinaev. Natural hydrogen exploration: A techno-economic assessment. [Poster]. CSIRO R+ Cutting Edge Science Symposium: “Natural hydrogen: A new sustainable geo-source of energy for Australia?” Nov 29 – Dec 1 2023, Fremantle WA
HyResearch record
Techno-economic and viability Assessments of Natural Hydrogen – HyResearch (csiro.au)