To address long-term imbalances between the supply and demand of sustainable energy, excess energy can be converted into hydrogen and stored in subterranean porous formations. Alberta, Canada’s largest energy-producing province, aims to make a large-scale transition to clean hydrogen deployment e.g. by combining steam methane reforming with carbon capture, utilization, and storage. Supporting...
The purity of recovered hydrogen from geological storage is controlled by persistent interactions between the injected hydrogen and the cushion gas. Here, we present the first thermodynamic analysis of hydrogen-cushion gas interactions under reservoir conditions. By quantifying changes in Helmholtz free energy associated with mixing, we show that hydrogen recovery purity depends on the...
Large-scale energy storage achieved by underground hydrogen storage (UHS), e.g. in caverns or porous media, will likely play an important role in the low-carbon future. Especially for hydrogen storage in porous media, geological heterogeneities, such as in fluvial depositional environments, can influence UHS operations. In reservoirs with large-scale heterogeneities, hydrogen flow paths, plume...
Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) is a cornerstone technology for net-zero energy systems, offering terawatt-hour capacity to buffer renewable intermittency. Although many experiments have been reported on hydrogen flow in porous rocks, robust evidence for long-duration reactions and impact on transport under combined high temperature and high pressure remains limited, leaving a critical...
Hydrogen energy is expected to play a significant role in the energy transition, with geological storage poised to be one of the few economically viable options for enabling a large-scale hydrogen economy. However, there is a critical lack of research in H2 storage in carbonate rocks, particularly regarding the role of microporosity (<10 μm) and pore connectivity in residual trapping during...
Reactive transport and multiphase flow in porous media are encountered in several important environmental applications such as carbon storage, hydrogen storage and use, and contaminant transport in hydrocarbon spills. Understanding of flow, transport and reaction processes in the subsurface has been transformed by the advances in X-ray imaging, image analysis and pore-scale modelling. It is an...
We investigate the combined influence of scCO2-brine and mineral interfaces on local pH gradients and carbonate precipitation under diffusive conditions using microfluidic flow cells in a pressure reactor. The controlled studies will yield relationships for reactive transport modeling of scCO2-driven precipitation in vesicular basalts and other reactive media. We hypothesize dissolution and...
Biomethane is an environmentally friendly alternative to natural gas and is regarded as a key energy source for aiding the decarbonization of the energy system. The urgent need to transition to clean energy has driven the demand for large-scale storage of alternative energy carriers, such as biomethane, in subsurface porous reservoirs. Biomethane typically contains oxygen as an impurity (up to...
With the growing importance of subsurface storage for clean fuels, hydrogen and ammonia have been proposed as promising candidates—hydrogen as a clean fuel and ammonia as a carbon-free energy carrier. A key concern, however, lies in the geochemical reactions that may occur between these injected fluids and host rocks in the presence of an aqueous phase. In particular, reactions with calcite...
Understanding the mineralogical and structural responses of reservoir rocks to acidic fluids is essential for predicting the long-term stability of geological CO$_2$ storage sites. In this study, the dissolution mechanisms within Rio Bonito Formation sandstones were systematically investigated under acidic conditions using a multi-technique, time-resolved synchrotron approach. X-ray...
The rapid growth of experimental data and imaging information and simulation results has led to increased adoption of machine learning (ML) techniques for studying porous media. The research evaluates current ML applications which analyze flow and transport and chemical reactions in porous and fractured media systems for CCUS and subsurface carbon mineralization and geothermal systems and...
Reliable simulation of CO₂ injection into deep saline aquifers requires numerical frameworks capable of consistently coupling multiphase flow and heat transport in porous media. Such coupling is essential to correctly represent the interaction between pressure, phase distribution, advective transport, and temperature evolution, particularly in the presence of strong injection-driven gradients....
The growing need for large-scale, flexible energy storage has increased the interest in using porous geological formations for hydrogen storage, but the associated geomechanical risks are still not well understood, particularly in structurally complex saline aquifers. This study presents a fully coupled hydro-geomechanical analysis of cyclic hydrogen injection and production in a fault-bounded...
Geothermal energy represents a clean, renewable, and sustainable source of power that relies on heat stored at depth within the earth. The safe and efficient exploitation of geothermal resources requires a detailed understanding of subsurface fluid flow, pressure evolution, and the associated mechanical response of the reservoir and surrounding geological structures.
This study focuses on the...
Clay swelling is a critical concern for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects, as brine-based completion fluid (injected before CO2 injection) with different salinity than that of the formation water can trigger clay swelling, which can lead to permeability reduction and formation damage and in the worst case wellbore instabilities or even total abandonment of the well. Numerous studies...
Reliable CO2 storage design in deep geological formations demands a comprehensive understanding of coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) processes. Using a real depleted chalk reservoir in the Danish North Sea, we demonstrate how these interplays govern injectivity, containment, and long-term integrity. Our multiphysics simulations reveal that cold CO2 injection significantly...
Deep-marine basin floor systems are promising candidates for geological CO₂ storage due to their large capacity and complex stratigraphy. On the Norwegian Continental Shelf, several exploration licenses for CO₂ storage target such systems, including complex fan systems serving as a key stratigraphic trap. These systems consist of layers of sand deposited by underwater channels and lobes that...
CO2 storage in geological formations requires the understanding of multiphase multi-component flow over large reservoir-scale domains, where fully resolved three-dimensional simulations become computationally expensive and impractical for large-scale studies. Vertical-equilibrium (VE) modelling provides an efficient alternative for such systems. When vertical pressure equilibration is fast...
Understanding the migration behavior of injected CO₂ within subsurface reservoirs is critical for the safe and efficient deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. While most laboratory-scale studies assume predominantly one-dimensional flow, actual reservoirs exhibit complex plume dynamics driven by buoyancy, permeability anisotropy, and vertical–horizontal connectivity....
Pore-scale multiphase investigations for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and underground gas storage determine macroscale permeability and injection efficiency. The displacement dynamics at microporous media are characterised by fluid-fluid and fluid-rock interactions along with momentum balance equations. This study presents pore-scale numerical investigations under varying reservoir properties...
Hydrogen (H2) storage in underground porous media could support the energy transition by acting as an energy store to balance supply and demand in the renewable energy sector. Important unknowns to this technology include the H2 fluid flow through a porous medium which affects the H2 injectivity and recovery. We used time-resolved X-ray micro-computed tomography to image unsteady and...
Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) in porous geological formations is emerging as a critical technology for balancing renewable energy supply and demand. Although hydrogen storage shares operational similarities with natural gas storage, hydrogen’s distinct physical properties lead to fundamentally different multiphase flow behaviour, particularly with respect to capillary trapping and...
During underground hydrogen storage in aquifers and depleted gas fields, hydrogen commonly coexists with methane used as a cushion gas. In this context, it is important to understand how the distribution of the gas phase composition evolves over time in the reservoir, as this affects the recovery efficiency of the stored hydrogen. In these systems, the methane and hydrogen trapped in the...
We investigate how pressure decline interacts with displacement at the pore scale in a water-wet Bentheimer sandstone at 4 MPa and 23 °C, representing underground hydrogen storage in saline aquifers. Brine was injected at 0.01 and 0.05 ml/min while a programmed outlet pressure decline rate of 1 kPa/min was applied. Two initial states were tested: high hydrogen gas saturation (Sg = Sgi),...
Natural hydrogen, as a clean and carbon-free energy carrier, plays an important role in the global energy transition and the low-carbon development of modern industries. However, the location of natural hydrogen reservoirs is difficult to predict, due to the lack of a targeted theoretical framework for exploration. Peridotite serpentinization serves as the primary mechanism for natural...
Achieving large-scale underground hydrogen storage and carbon-dioxide sequestration is central to the energy transition and climate-neutrality goals. Reliable prediction of multiphase flow in geological formations is essential for the design and safety of such systems and largely relies on accurate estimation of fluid-rock properties. However, conventional coreflooding approaches for...
The increasing rate of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere as a result of energy production and consumption raises global concerns for climate stability and human well-being. For this reason, actions to mitigate gas emissions have attracted the attention of global organizations and are becoming increasingly relevant in view of their potential positive impacts on the planet's climate. Among the...
High-resolution three-dimensional X-ray microtomography was employed to investigate the steady-state relative permeability and pore-scale flow behavior of hydrogen (H₂) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a water-wet reservoir carbonate rock under subsurface conditions. This study extends previous pore-scale investigations of gas distribution, connectivity, and rearrangement by directly quantifying...
Underground gas storage involves periods of injection, production, and storage. During storage periods, the pressure equilibrates and the brine can become locally supersaturated with the gas. In addition, macro-scale rock heterogeneity leads to strong spatial variability in gas saturation, with localized zones of high gas saturation. To investigate pore-scale dynamics during storage under...
Gas hydrates are crystalline solids in which guest molecules are trapped within cages formed by water molecules under high-pressure and low-temperature conditions. They show great potential for submarine CO₂ storage in shallow seabed sediments. This approach involves injecting liquid CO₂ beneath the hydrate stability zone (HSZ). As the CO₂ migrates upward into the HSZ, a hydrate layer forms...
Geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) is a pivotal strategy for mitigating anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. During CO2 injection, hydrate formation driven by Joule-Thomson cooling presents critical challenges to reservoir injectivity and long-term storage integrity due to pore blockage and permeability reduction. However, the kinetics and morphology of hydrate at the pore scale,...
Foam is a valuable tool for maximizing CO2 sweep in subsurface applications. Maximizing sweep increases capillary and solution trapping of CO2 in carbon sequestration and maximizes oil recovery in combined sequestration/enhanced oil recovery applications (Rossen et al., 2024), which improves the economics of the sequestration process. Long-distance CO2-foam propagation is essential for...
Geological storage of carbon dioxide in deep saline aquifers is widely recognized as a critical component of global decarbonization strategies. Achieving the large-scale injection rates required to meet climate targets depends strongly on maintaining well injectivity over long operational times. One of the most persistent challenges to injectivity during CO2 injection is salt precipitation...
The large-scale deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a critical pillar in global strategies to achieve net-zero emissions and mitigate climate change. However, the long-term viability of geological storage depends on the containment of CO2 within reservoir structures, requiring advanced technologies to ensure seal integrity and prevent buoyant migration through fractures or...
Evaporation in porous media plays a key role in many natural and industrial processes, such as drying of products, CO2 sequestration, soil remediation and many more. Despite its significance, controlling evaporation at the pore scale remains challenging because it depends on several factors like wettability, pore geometry and fluid distribution. Surfactants are often used to alter liquid-gas...
Methane Cracking in Metal Porous Media via Electromagnetic Induction Monolithic Heating
Zhuoran Wei, Qinwen Deng, Yong Shuai, Ruming Pan
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China
Corresponding author: ruming.pan@hit.edu.cn
Methane cracking is a promising route for low-carbon hydrogen production, as it avoids direct CO2 emissions...
In response to the urgent need for efficient carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture techniques from industrial processes, membrane-based gas separation has emerged as a promising approach due to its cost-effectiveness, safety, environmental benefits, and energy efficiency. Among the various materials employed, polymeric membranes have attracted considerable attention because of their suitability for...
Understanding time-dependent petrophysical and geophysical responses during carbon capture and storage (CCS) is critical for reliable monitoring and long-term storage assessment. This study investigates the evolution of in-situ electrical resistivity and associated pore-scale alterations in carbonate core samples from the Permian Basin under CO₂ storage–relevant conditions. Four core samples,...
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies are essential for maximizing hydrocarbon production from mature and depleted reservoirs. Within porous media systems, inefficient displacement during conventional waterflooding leaves a substantial fraction of oil trapped in complex pore networks, requiring advanced flow-control technologies to enhance energy efficiency and minimize environmental...
In carbon capture and storage (CCS), CO₂ injection behavior in porous media is governed not only by injection rate and fluid composition but also by the interaction between injection strategy and pore-network structure, leading to inherently nonlinear displacement dynamics at the pore scale. In this study, we used a physical rock micromodel CO₂ displacement under continuous injection and...
