The energy industry in the UK faces a challenge to decarbonize to support reaching net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. In nearly all scenarios emission reductions are characterized not only by energy demand reductions, but also the decarbonization of electricity and heating. The use of hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas is one proposed solution, where renewable hydrogen is either blended into the gas grid or used directly. To ensure continuity of supply large scale hydrogen storage will be needed to meet this demand.

Feasibility of hydrogen storage in salt caverns on the UKCS

Hydrogen has been stored in small volumes (<25GWh) in salt caverns at various locations onshore in the United Kingdom since 1959, primarily for industrial usage. In order to meet the demand for energy related hydrogen storage an increasing number of new and potentially larger storage options will be needed. Engineering of larger salt caverns for a hydrogen energy system will require caverns optimally located with respect to both the hydrogen production facility and the distribution networks. The Permian and Triassic salt of the Southern North Sea and the East Irish Sea offer vast areas for potential cavern development. To date there have been few detailed geophysical and geological studies on the hydrogen storage potential offshore. This project will characterise potentially suitable storage sites locations using extensive existing 2D and 3D seismic data and well data. Funding: This PhD project is funded through the GeoNetZero CDT

Geomicrobiology of hydrogen storage in geological materials

There are potentially undesirable effects during the storage of hydrogen from the consumption/transformation of hydrogen through in situ microbial communities. Existing studies indicate that microbes including methanogens, acetogens, and sulphate reducing bacteria all use hydrogen as an electron donor as part of their metabolism and consequently consume hydrogen and in turn they may produce a methane and or CO2, acetate, and H2S. Therefore these microbes may lead to the presence of toxic by-products and compositional changes in stored hydrogen gas, with the compositional changes also having potential consequences for the corrosion of infrastructure. This project will investigate the activities of microbial organisms and how they might be affected by the environmental conditions found at geological storage site using microcosm experiments The findings from these experiments will provide important information the likely biogeochemical processes that may occur at geological storage sites. Funding: This PhD project is funded by an EPSRC Industrial CASE Studentship with bp