Geological Hydrogen Storage: Geochemical Reactivity of Hydrogen with Sandstone Reservoirs

Abstract

The geological storage of hydrogen is necessary to enable the successful transition to a hydrogen economy and achieve net-zero emissions targets. Comprehensive investigations must be undertaken for each storage site to ensure their long-term suitability and functionality. As such, the systematic infrastructure and potential risks of large-scale hydrogen storage must be established. Herein, we conducted over 250 batch reaction experiments with different types of reservoir sandstones under conditions representative of the subsurface, reflecting expected time scales for geological hydrogen storage, to investigate potential reactions involving hydrogen. Each hydrogen experiment was paired with a hydrogen-free control under otherwise identical conditions to ensure that any observed reactions were due to the presence of hydrogen. The results conclusively reveal that there is no risk of hydrogen loss or reservoir integrity degradation due to abiotic geochemical reactions in sandstone reservoirs.