Potential Challenges of HyBlend Storage in a Methane Reservoir Located in Southwestern United States

Conference · Mon Jun 23 04:00:00 EDT 2025

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2569993· OSTI ID:2569993

Tinker, Kara ^[1]; Gulliver, Djuna ^[2]

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

Hydrogen has been identified as a flexible energy carrier with zero or negative emissions across multiple energy systems. It is possible to utilize hydrogen by storing Hyblend, or hydrogen gas blended with methane, in existing natural gas infrastructure. However, the compatibility of adapting the current CH4 storage strategies to include H2 injection has not been fully demonstrated. It is essential that we understand the impact of H2 gas on the naturally occurring microbial community of subsurface storage reservoirs before deploying large-scale H2-CH4 storage. We designed a series of experiments that allowed us to identify potential geochemical and microbial challenges of HyBlend Storage in existing methane reservoirs. First, we collected and characterized field fluid samples from a methane reservoir located in southwestern United States. Next, we used these field fluid samples to complete a series of short-term reactor experiments at reservoir conditions (80 °C and ~1,000 psi) for a natural gas (100% CH4) and HyBlend(80% CH4/20% H2) storage environment to measure the transformation of gas content. We conducted both biotic and abiotic (sterilized) measurements to accurately understand and decouple abiotic and microbially driven processes. Overall, we found that our field sample was characterized by a diverse microbial community with the metabolic capacity for sulfur reduction, iron reduction, and acetogenesis. Across our reactors, there was minimal change in geochemistry.

• Research Organization: National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM); USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), Office of Resource Sustainability (FE-30)
• OSTI ID: 2569993
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

hydrogen storage
microbiology