Optical Fiber Sensors Capable of Monitoring Hydrogen in the Subsurface Hydrogen Storage Environment

Conference · Tue Apr 23 04:00:00 EDT 2024

OSTI ID:2339842

Kim, Daejin ^[1]; Shumski, Alexander ^[1]; Tinker, Kara A. ^[1]; Gulliver, Djuna ^[2]; Wright, Ruishu ^[2]

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1. NETL Site Support Contractor, National Energy Technology Laboratory
2. NETL

Subsurface hydrogen storage is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly storage option in a large quantity. Hydrogen would be stored in subsurface storage reservoirs at high temperature/pressure under very humid condition. Monitoring hydrogen concentration in those harsh storage environments is crucial to ensure the integrity and safety of the hydrogen storage infrastructure. Thus, this project focuses on the development of optical fiber hydrogen sensors capable of monitoring hydrogen in the harsh environments that are representative of underground storage conditions. The optical fiber hydrogen sensor developed at NETL consists of a palladium-based sensing film with a filter layer which minimizes the environmental impacts on hydrogen sensing. The developed sensor has demonstrated significant improvement on hydrogen sensing at 80℃ under high humidity condition (99% RH) without the baseline drift. The hydrogen sensor also showed negligible cross-sensitivity to CO2 and CH4 which would be present as a cushion gas inside the underground hydrogen storage reservoir. Moreover, the sensor has demonstrated the stable monitoring of hydrogen concentration at high pressure (1000 psi) and 80 ℃ in the presence of biological samples. The optical fiber hydrogen sensor developed would enable reliable monitoring of hydrogen concentration in subsurface hydrogen storage facilities.

• Research Organization: National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: FE - USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
• OSTI ID: 2339842
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English