Geochemical Integrity of Wellbore Cements during Geological Hydrogen Storage

Abstract

Increasing greenhouse gas emissions have put pressure on global economies to adopt strategies for climate-change mitigation. Large-scale geological hydrogen storage in salt caverns and porous rocks has the potential to achieve sustainable energy storage, contributing to the development of a low-carbon economy. During geological storage, hydrogen is injected and extracted through cemented and cased wells. In this context, well integrity and leakage risk must be assessed through in-depth investigations of the hydrogen-cement-rock physical and geochemical processes. There are significant scientific knowledge gaps pertaining to hydrogen-cement interactions, where chemical reactions among hydrogen, in situ reservoir fluids, and cement could degrade the well cement and put the integrity of the storage system at risk. Results from laboratory batch reaction experiments concerning the influence of hydrogen on cement samples under simulated reservoir conditions of North Sea fields, including temperature, pressure, and salinity, provided valuable insights into the integrity of cement for geological hydrogen storage. This work shows that, under the experimental conditions, hydrogen does not induce geochemical or structural alterations to the tested wellbore cements, a promising finding for secure hydrogen subsurface storage.