Speaker
Description
The contribution of renewable energy, specially wind and solar, is expected to increase significantly in the future global energy mix [1]. However, due to the intermittent nature of these energy resources, development of large-scale (TWh) energy storage systems is essential [2]. Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) in porous media, such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs and aquifers offer feasible solutions [3, 4, 5, 2].
A good understanding of H$_2$/water transport properties such as relative permeability and capillary pressure is needed to ensure the safety of UHS, as well as to optimize injection and withdrawal cycles [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 2]. Relative permeability and capillary pressure functions are highly dependent on the wetting properties of the system [11,12,10]. The wettability in H$_2$/brine/rock systems can be characterized by the contact angle between the rock-brine and the brine-H$_2$ interfaces.
Recently, several different techniques, including the captive-bubble cell and the tilted plate technique, have been applied to measure or derive contact angles relevant for UHS [13, 14, 6]. Although, water-wet conditions were reported in all these studies, inconsistencies exist between the reported data. This could possibly be explained by differences in the measurement techniques and types of rocks and fluids used in the experiments.
To help shedding new lights on characterisation of this crucial interface property, we have measured contact angles in microfluidic systems. Microfluidic chips resemble actual subsurface systems much closer compared to tilted plate techniques or captive bubble cells, because of the dynamic and micro-channel-based nature of the flow conditions. The experiments were carried out at P = 10 bar and T = 20 °C using a microfluidic chip with channel widths ranging between 50 - 130 μm. Advancing and receding contact angles of H$_2$/water, N$_2$/water and CO$_2$/water systems were measured. The results indicate strong water-wet conditions with H$_2$/water advancing and receding contact angles of respectively 13 - 39°, and 6 - 23°. It was found that the contact angles decrease with increasing channel widths. Little hysteresis was measured, and consequently, the results are not in line with Morrow's curve. The receding contact angle measured in the smallest channel width (50 μm) agrees well with the literature coreflood tests on the Vosges Sandstone [13], suggesting that this channel width is representative of actual subsurface systems. The N$_2$/water and CO$_2$/water systems showed similar behaviour to the H$_2$/water system and no significant differences in contact angle were observed for the three different gases.
References
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Science (2021). https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EE03536J.
[3] L. Hashemi, M. Blunt, H. Hajibeygi, Pore-scale modelling and sensitivity analyses of hydrogen-brine multiphase flow in geological porous media, Scientific reports 11 (2021) 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87490-7.
[4] M. Ali, N. K. Jha, A. Al-Yaseri, Y. Zhang, S. Iglauer, M. Sarmadivaleh, Hydrogen wettability of quartz substrates exposed to organic acids; implications for hydrogen trapping/storage in sandstone reservoirs, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering (2021) 109081. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090814.
[5] D. Zivar, S. Kumar, J. Foroozesh, Underground hydrogen storage: A comprehensive review, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.08.138.
[6] L. Hashemi, W. Glerum, R. Farajzadeh, H. Hajibeygi, Contact angle measurement for hydrogen/brine/sandstone system using captive bubble method relevant for underground hydrogen storage, Advances in Water Resources (2021) 103964. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.advwatres.2014.02.014.
[7] M. Rcker, W.-B. Bartels, K. Singh, N. Brussee, A. Coorn, H. A. van der Linde, A. Bonnin, H. Ott, S. M. Hassanizadeh, M. J. Blunt, et al., The effect of mixed wettability on pore-scale flow regimes based on a flooding experiment in ketton limestone, Geophysical Research Letters 46 (2019)
3225–3234. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL081784.
[8] P. Kunz, S. Hassanizadeh, U. Nieken, A two-phase sph model for dynamic contact angles including fluid–solid interactions at the contact line, Transport in Porous Media 122 (2018) 253–277. https: //doi.org/10.1007/s11242-018-1002-9.
[9] B. Pan, X. Yin, Y. Ju, S. Iglauer, Underground hydrogen storage: Influencing parameters and future outlook, Advances in Colloid and Interface Science (2021) 102473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cis.2021.102473.
[10] P. Carden, L. Paterson, Physical, chemical and energy aspects of underground hydrogen storage, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 4 (1979) 559–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/0360-3199(79)90083-1.
[11] M. J. Blunt, Multiphase flow in permeable media: A pore-scale perspective, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
[12] J. Bear, Dynamics of fluids in porous media, Courier Corporation, 2013.
[13] A. Yekta, J.-C. Manceau, S. Gaboreau, M. Pichavant, P. Audigane, Determination of hydrogen–water relative permeability and capillary pressure in sandstone: application to underground hydrogen injection in sedimentary formations, Transport in Porous Media 122 (2018) 333–356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-018-1004-7.
[14] S. Iglauer, M. Ali, A. Keshavarz, Hydrogen wettability of sandstone reservoirs: Implications for hydrogen geo-storage, Geophysical Research Letters 48 (2021) e2020GL090814. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090814.
| Participation | In person |
|---|---|
| Country | The Netherlands |
| MDPI Energies Student Poster Award | No, do not submit my presenation for the student posters award. |
| Time Block Preference | Time Block A (09:00-12:00 CET) |
| Acceptance of the Terms & Conditions | Click here to agree |
