Geological Hydrogen Storage: Geochemical Reactivity of Hydrogen with Sandstone Reservoirs

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.