Exploration of Subsurface Natural Geologic Hydrogen and Stimulation for its Enhanced Production

Course Description

The course will discuss and compare carbon footprint versus price of the full palette of different sources of hydrogen. Material includes comparison of energy output per mass and per volume among all major fuels with H2. All industrial (e.g., electrolysis) and natural sources and generating mechanisms (e.g., serpentinization, water radiolysis, etc.) and corresponding association with other gases (He, CO2, N2, CH4) as well as consumption fluxes (e.g., microbial utilization) will be described. Global occurrences and seepages of natural H2 will be presented along with worldwide ongoing and planned exploration activity. Geologic setting of the only H2 production field in Mali will be discussed. Series of challenges associated with natural H2 exploration and production will be discussed in detail, including: natural H2 systems differences and analogues to petroleum systems, drilling and logging associated challenges (i.e., degassing and analyzer techniques, drilling-induced artificial H2 generation), downhole sampling and transportation (e.g., steel embritlement), safety issues (flammability and explosivity), and finally storage capacity challenges (comparison to methane diffusivity and column height versus capillary force, salt caverns). The natural and stimulated H2 systems require novel reactive transport and geologic systems modeling efforts. Current status of such modeling adjustments for H2 will be also discussed.

Further, strategies of stimulating natural hydrogen (orange H2) subsurface will be discussed. The enhancement of natural H2 generation and production rates include physical (various fracturing and production scheme methods) and chemical (e.g., catalysts, etc.). The main challenges associated with subsurface stimulation will be also presented, e.g., decay of reaction kinetics, fluid movement and removal of gaseous products. The landscape activity and research initiatives in the orange H2 space will be also updated. As related topic, helium exploration will be also touched upon, as in certain scenarios this gas can be associated with natural H2.

Course Outline

  1. Introduction to H2 types and sources
  2. Occurrences, origins of natural H2 and typical geologic systems
  3. Global exploration activity on example of their geologic setting
  4. Challenges of H2 exploration, drilling, transport and storage
  5. Orange H2 - concepts, challenges and efforts
  6. H2 systems modeling in white and orange scenarios
  7. Natural Helium
  8. Summary points and take home message

Participants’ Profile

Anyone interested in new decarbonized energy resource study and development, students, post docs, geologists, geochemists, industry researchers, start ups, investors, government officials.

Prerequisites

Basic understanding of geology or subsurface geochemistry. None really, as the course will start from a high level introduction.

About the Instructors

Dariusz obtained his MSc at Wroclaw University in Poland in 2002. After his PhD (2007) in geology, gas isotope geochemistry and microbiology at the Indiana University, Bloomington, he has worked in Subsurface Technology at ConocoPhillips for three years followed by one year of consulting (Dariusz BioGeoChem) working on petroleum systems and subsurface biomethane stimulation. In 2012 he joined SLB and since then has been developing interpretation workflow and answer products for surface formation evaluation (mud gas and cuttings logging). For a couple of years his work involves H2 and helium logging and exploration, for which the global activity is rapidly growing. This topic also brings ideas of stimulated natural H2 in the subsurface, which brings together geological and fluid geochemistry knowledge to a new level of collaboration among academic and industrial communities. Dariusz is very active within the geochemistry community with multiple peer-reviewed papers and chapters, numerous conference-related activities, journal editorships, and intellectual property publications.