Mechanistic evaluation of the reservoir engineering performance for the underground hydrogen storage in a deep North Sea aquifer

摘要：

地下储氢（UHS）相较于地表储氢能够存储更大容量的氢，主要用于含水层、盐穴和废弃油气藏。本研究通过三维数值模拟分析了含有海洋石油的北海含水层中储层相关机理和参数对储氢效果的影响。模拟结果表明，含水层的渗透率非均质性对H2的回采率有重要影响，较均质的岩石能够提高H2的产能。引入相对渗透率滞后性会导致H2的注入和回采能力降低，因为它导致含水层内部H2的不连续性，在取水期间产生了残余的H2。相比之下，氢溶解度和氢扩散对于单独研究时可以忽略不计。因此，在评估含水层中的UHS时，正确考虑渗透率滞后性和非均质性是至关重要的。

Highlights
  • Numerical compositional simulation utilising CMG-GEM of underground hydrogen storage in a North Sea aquifer.
  • Hydrogen recovery efficiency improves as the storage cycles increase.
  • Heterogeneity and hysteresis are the most impactful mechanisms on underground hydrogen storage.
  • Hydrogen solubility and diffusion in water have a minimal impact on the storage process when studied separately.
  • Solubility and diffusion effects become more pronounced when studied in combination with each other and hysteresis.
Abstract

Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) in aquifers, salt caverns and depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs allows for the storage of larger volumes of H2 compared to surface storage in vessels. In this work, we investigate the impact of aquifer-related mechanisms and parameters on the performance of UHS in an associated North Sea aquifer using 3D numerical compositional simulations.

Simulation results revealed that the aquifer’s permeability heterogeneity has a significant impact on the H2 recovery efficiency where a more homogenous rock would lead to improved H2 productivity. The inclusion of relative permeability hysteresis resulted in a drop in the H2 injectivity and recovery due to H2 discontinuity inside the aquifer which leads to residual H2 during the withdrawal periods. In contrast, the effects of hydrogen solubility and hydrogen diffusion were negligible when studied each in isolation from other factors. Hence, it is essential to properly account for hysteresis and heterogeneity when evaluating UHS in aquifers.

Keywords

Energy storage

Energy transition

Relative permeability hysteresis

Renewable energy

Underground hydrogen storage

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