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Skoltech researchers have developed a method to produce hydrogen directly at natural gas fields with up to 45% efficiency by injecting steam, a catalyst, and oxygen to trigger a combustion reaction underground. This innovative process traps carbon emissions in the reservoir, offering a cleaner, scalable pathway to hydrogen fuel at the source.
Skoltech scientists have devised an efficient method to extract hydrogen from natural gas fields while trapping carbon emissions underground, potentially revolutionizing clean energy production.
Skoltech researchers have developed a method to produce hydrogen directly at natural gas fields with an efficiency of 45%. The process involves injecting steam and a catalyst into a gas well, followed by the addition of oxygen to initiate combustion.
This catalyst-assisted reaction generates a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, from which hydrogen can be efficiently separated. The breakthrough, published in the journal Fuel and supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), offers a promising step toward large-scale hydrogen production at the source.
Today, around 80% of global energy comes from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas, which emit carbon dioxide when burned, contributing to climate change and environmental degradation. Although natural gas is often viewed as a cleaner fossil fuel due to lower emissions of toxic pollutants compared to oil, it still produces significant carbon dioxide.
The process of hydrogen production from gas fields. Credit: Mukhina et al. / Fuel, 2024
In contrast, hydrogen fuel emits only water vapor during use, making it a cleaner alternative. However, challenges in hydrogen production have limited its widespread adoption. Skoltech’s new method could help overcome these barriers and accelerate the shift toward cleaner energy sources.
A Novel In-Situ Hydrogen Production Approach
For the first time, a team from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow has proposed extracting hydrogen from the reservoirs of natural gas fields, which are rich in hydrocarbons that contain a large amount of hydrogen at the molecular level. This means that hydrocarbons, once converted, can yield an abundance of “green” fuel.
The team is watching the experiment in the lab reactor. Credit: Elena Mukhina
The team has proposed an efficient, multi-step process for producing hydrogen from gas fields. First, steam is injected into the well along with a catalyst that will later help separate hydrogen from the natural gas components. Then, air or pure oxygen is pumped in to ignite the gas directly in the reservoir. Assisted by the steam and catalyst, the natural gas burns and is converted into a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
The carbon dioxide formed from the carbon monoxide remains in the reservoir and does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. At the final stage, hydrogen is extracted from the well through a membrane that blocks other combustion products, leaving the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide permanently trapped underground.
Lab Testing and Reactor Simulation
The researchers tested their process in lab reactors that simulated a real gas reservoir environment. They placed crushed rock in the reactor and then pumped in methane, the main component of natural gas, along with steam and a catalyst, and then oxygen. The pressure inside the reactor was maintained at a level typical of gas reservoirs (eighty times higher than atmospheric pressure).
As the experiment progressed, the team analyzed the composition of the gases in the reactor to assess the efficiency of the methane conversion into hydrogen. It turned out that most of the hydrogen − 45% of the total gas volume – was formed at 800° C with large amounts of steam injected into the reactor. To make the reaction as efficient as possible, there should be four times more steam than natural gas. The researchers chose the 800° C temperature because it is easily achieved in natural gas combustion and does not need to be artificially maintained.
The hydrogen yield also depended on the composition of the rock. For example, in experiments with porous alumina, the hydrogen yield reached 55%. The higher efficiency in this case is explained by the fact that alumina is inert, i.e. it does not react with the surrounding elements. Natural rock contains other, more active minerals that can react with the components of the gas mixture and affect the hydrogen yield.
“All the stages of the process are based on well-established technologies that have not previously been adapted for hydrogen production from real gas reservoirs. We have demonstrated that our approach can help convert hydrocarbons into “green” fuels in the field environment with an efficiency of up to 45%. In the future, we plan to test our method in real gas fields,” says Elena Mukhina, PhD, a senior research scientist at Skoltech Petroleum and the leader of the RSF-supported project.
Reference: “A novel method for hydrogen synthesis in natural gas reservoirs” by Elena Mukhina, Pavel Afanasev, Aliya Mukhametdinova, Tatiana Alekhina, Aysylu Askarova, Evgeny Popov and Alexey Cheremisin, 4 May 2024, Fuel.
DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2024.131758
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