Impact of hydrogen on underground reservoir properties: Laboratory characterisation at reservoir conditions

R&D Focus Areas:
Underground storage, Natural hydrogen, Compressed gas

Lead Organisation:
CSIRO

Partners:
Curtin University and Edith Cowan University

Status:
Completed

Start date:
January 2021

Completion date:
July 2022

Key contacts:
Joel Sarout – Rock Properties Team Leader – joel.sarout@csiro.au
Lionel Esteban – Principal Research Scientist – lionel.esteban@csiro.au
Ausama Giwelli – Senior Research Scientist – ausama.giwelli@csiro.au

Funding:
AUD$366,000 – CSIRO Future Science Platform – Hydrogen Energy System
AUD$475,000 – CSIRO Energy Business Unit

 Project total cost:
AUD$841,000 – Combined cash and in-kind contribution

 Project summary description:
Large-scale production and use of hydrogen requires significant amounts of storage (terawatt-hours) to cope with seasonal fluctuations in demand (and variable supply in the case of renewables).

Underground storage of hydrogen (UHS) is a leading option for reasons of cost and safety. However, hydrogen interactions with reservoir rocks, sealing rocks, residual gas and its mobility in various underground conditions remain poorly understood in Geosciences. Thus, over the period from the start of 2021 to mid-2022, CSIRO’s Rock Properties research team and the Geomechanics & Geophysics Laboratory (Energy BU) initiated a research project to explore the feasibility of UHS.

Part of this endeavour is to develop new hydrogen laboratory capabilities to investigate the following:

• Static hydrogen exposure of reservoir rocks under realistic in-situ conditions using in-house designed and fit-for-purpose pressure vessels. The aim of this laboratory test is to quantify the impact of hydrogen gas on the micro-structure and the chemico-physical properties of the rocks over time. An integrated suite of multi-disciplinary tools was deployed to characterise this impact in practical engineering terms, before and after hydrogen exposure. This includes petrophysical properties (wettability, porosity, permeability, pore connectivity), mechanical strength, elastic properties, rock microstructure through multi-scale imaging (SEM-TIMA, Micro-CT), mineralogical and geochemical properties (XRD, fluid chemistry, surface reactivity).
• Hydrogen dynamic monitoring under in-situ reservoir conditions. Hydrogen mobility inside the rock is tracked using advanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) core flooding to understand the wettability and fluid substitutions (saturation gradient, drainage, and imbibition mechanisms), with respect to hydrogen-rock interaction and pore size distribution along the sample. Porosity and permeability were also measured before and after testing.

The project has developed a unique laboratory capability to safely handle and test hydrogen interactions with rocks at the Australian Resources Research Centre (ARRC) in Perth. Starting in 2024, CSIRO will provide experimental support (through its laboratory capabilities in the ARRC) to a large-scale research project called H2RESTORE in Otway.

Related publications and key links:
Iglauer, S., H. Akhondzadeh, H. Abid, A. Paluszny, A. Keshavarz, M. Ali, A. Giwelli, L. Esteban, J. Sarout, and M. Lebedev. “Hydrogen flooding of a coal core: effect on coal swelling.” Geophysical Research Letters49, no. 6 (2022): e2021GL096873.

Yekeen, N., A. Al-Yaseri, B. Mamo Negash, M. Ali, A. Giwelli, L. Esteban, and J. Sarout. “Clay-hydrogen and clay-cushion gas interfacial tensions: Implications for hydrogen storage.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2022).

Al-Yaseri, A., N. Yekeen, M. Mahmoud, A. Kakati, Q. Xie, and A. Giwelli. “Thermodynamic characterization of H2-brine-shale wettability: Implications for hydrogen storage at subsurface.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2022).

Al-Yaseri, A., L. Esteban, A. Giwelli, J. Sarout, M. Lebedev, and M. Sarmadivaleh. “Initial and residual trapping of hydrogen and nitrogen in Fontainebleau sandstone using nuclear magnetic resonance core flooding.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2022).

CSIRO ‘Future Science Platforms: Hydrogen Energy Systems’: Impact of hydrogen on underground reservoir properties: Laboratory characterisation at reservoir conditions – Hydrogen Energy Systems (csiro.au)

Higher degree studies supported:
Top-Up Scholarship for a PhD student co-supervised with Edith Cowan University.

 

Reviewed: July 2024