Underground hydrogen storage

A huge amount of storage capacity will be required to get the hydrogen economy off the ground.

Associate professor Hadi Hajibeygi of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences (CEG) is studying whether underground cavities such as old gas reservoirs or salt domes can be used as ‘batteries’ for storing and recovering hydrogen. The success of underground gas storage depends on how the gas flows through the rock and the reservoir.

Hajibeygi is combining laboratory analyses with simulations and seismic measurements to find suitable locations for underground gas storage. He received a VIDI research grant from NWO for this research last year. The aim is to be able to designate a test site for the safe storage of hydrogen by the end of the five-year project. “Hydrogen is the lightest molecule on our planet,” explains Hajibeygi. “It is much more mobile than any other gas and it leaks easily. We need to find out whether it is safe to store hydrogen underground and recover it again in a cyclical process.” TvD

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