IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v283y2023ics0360544223019333.html

Efficiency assessment of underground biomethanation with hydrogen and carbon dioxide in depleted gas reservoirs: A biogeochemical simulation

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Lin
  • Hou, Zhengmeng
  • Luo, Zhifeng
  • Huang, Liangchao
  • Xiong, Ying
  • Mehmood, Faisal
  • Liu, Jianhua
  • Sun, Wei
  • Xie, Yachen

Abstract

Underground biomethanation, which converts hydrogen and carbon dioxide to methane with the catalysis of methanogens in geological formations, has great potential for carbon dioxide utilization and sequestration, renewable natural gas production, and large-scale energy storage. However, the efficient conversion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide in a complex reservoir environment has not been explored. To address this issue, a novel biogeochemical model is developed for underground biomethanation that considers reservoir environment factors (e.g. pH, temperature, and salinity) and integrated into PHREEQC software. The biogeochemical model is validated with a laboratory experiment and utilized to investigate the effects of reservoir parameters and injection parameters on biomethanation efficiency in depleted gas reservoirs. Results show that the biomethanation efficiency is 94.2% after 360 days in both sandstone and carbonate reservoirs. Underground biomethanation can be completed in 30 days if initial biomass and optimum specific growth rate increase and decay rate decreases. Additionally, the optimal ratio of injected hydrogen and carbon dioxide for biomethanation is greater than 4:1 and increases with total pressure if it is above 70 atm. To improve the biomethanation efficiency, this study suggests utilizing geothermal energy and pre-injecting highly active methanogens cultured on the ground before mixed gas injection.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Lin & Hou, Zhengmeng & Luo, Zhifeng & Huang, Liangchao & Xiong, Ying & Mehmood, Faisal & Liu, Jianhua & Sun, Wei & Xie, Yachen, 2023. "Efficiency assessment of underground biomethanation with hydrogen and carbon dioxide in depleted gas reservoirs: A biogeochemical simulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:283:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223019333
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.128539
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223019333
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2023.128539?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janke, Leandro & McDonagh, Shane & Weinrich, Sören & Murphy, Jerry & Nilsson, Daniel & Hansson, Per-Anders & Nordberg, Åke, 2020. "Optimizing power-to-H2 participation in the Nord Pool electricity market: Effects of different bidding strategies on plant operation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 820-836.
    2. Thaysen, Eike M. & McMahon, Sean & Strobel, Gion J. & Butler, Ian B. & Ngwenya, Bryne T. & Heinemann, Niklas & Wilkinson, Mark & Hassanpouryouzband, Aliakbar & McDermott, Christopher I. & Edlmann, Kat, 2021. "Estimating microbial growth and hydrogen consumption in hydrogen storage in porous media," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    3. Mohammadi, Amin & Mehrpooya, Mehdi, 2018. "A comprehensive review on coupling different types of electrolyzer to renewable energy sources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 632-655.
    4. Czekała, Wojciech & Łukomska, Aleksandra & Pulka, Jakub & Bojarski, Wiktor & Pochwatka, Patrycja & Kowalczyk-Juśko, Alina & Oniszczuk, Anna & Dach, Jacek, 2023. "Waste-to-energy: Biogas potential of waste from coffee production and consumption," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    5. Jahanbani Veshareh, Moein & Thaysen, Eike Marie & Nick, Hamidreza M., 2022. "Feasibility of hydrogen storage in depleted hydrocarbon chalk reservoirs: Assessment of biochemical and chemical effects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    6. Wei, Xinxing & Ban, Shengnan & Shi, Xilin & Li, Peng & Li, Yinping & Zhu, Shijie & Yang, Kun & Bai, Weizheng & Yang, Chunhe, 2023. "Carbon and energy storage in salt caverns under the background of carbon neutralization in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    7. Lund, Henrik, 2007. "Renewable energy strategies for sustainable development," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 912-919.
    8. Zhengmeng Hou & Liangchao Huang & Yachen Xie & Lin Wu & Yanli Fang & Qichen Wang & Yilin Guo, 2023. "Economic Analysis of Methanating CO 2 and Hydrogen-Rich Industrial Waste Gas in Depleted Natural Gas Reservoirs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-12, April.
    9. Jiang, Yuan & Bhattacharyya, Debangsu, 2017. "Techno-economic analysis of direct coal-biomass to liquids (CBTL) plants with shale gas utilization and CO2 capture and storage (CCS)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 433-448.
    10. Mikulčić, Hrvoje & Ridjan Skov, Iva & Dominković, Dominik Franjo & Wan Alwi, Sharifah Rafidah & Manan, Zainuddin Abdul & Tan, Raymond & Duić, Neven & Hidayah Mohamad, Siti Nur & Wang, Xuebin, 2019. "Flexible Carbon Capture and Utilization technologies in future energy systems and the utilization pathways of captured CO2," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Joeri Rogelj & Michel den Elzen & Niklas Höhne & Taryn Fransen & Hanna Fekete & Harald Winkler & Roberto Schaeffer & Fu Sha & Keywan Riahi & Malte Meinshausen, 2016. "Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 °C," Nature, Nature, vol. 534(7609), pages 631-639, June.
    12. Quarton, Christopher J. & Samsatli, Sheila, 2018. "Power-to-gas for injection into the gas grid: What can we learn from real-life projects, economic assessments and systems modelling?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 302-316.
    13. Vulin, Domagoj & Muhasilović, Lejla & Arnaut, Maja, 2020. "Possibilities for CCUS in medium temperature geothermal reservoir," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    14. Strobel, Gion & Hagemann, Birger & Huppertz, Thiago Martins & Ganzer, Leonhard, 2020. "Underground bio-methanation: Concept and potential," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nicolò Santi Vasile, 2024. "A Comprehensive Review of Biogeochemical Modeling of Underground Hydrogen Storage: A Step Forward in Achieving a Multi-Scale Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-31, December.
    2. Jian Jun, Eugene Chai & Foo, Henry Chee Yew & Ben Mahmud, Hisham Khaled & Wei, Lau Shiew & Bennour, Ziad, 2026. "Cement integrity challenges associated with underground hydrogen storage: A review of geochemistry and microbial activity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    3. Ke Sheng & Nanxiang Hu & Chun Zhu & Zhouchao Xu & Kun Du, 2025. "Innovative Developments and Future Prospects of Geo-Energy Technology in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-6, May.
    4. Dodangoda, Chatura & Haque, A. & Zeng, Lingping & Yang, S.Q. & Ranjith, P.G., 2025. "Underground Hydrogen Storage: Insights into hydrogen reactivity and porosity dynamics for optimizing clean energy storage in depleted reservoirs," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    5. Wu, Lin & Hou, Zhengmeng & Luo, Zhifeng, 2025. "Impacts of microbial competition on underground bio-methanation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide: Insights from biogeochemical simulations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    6. Wu, Lin & Hou, Zhengmeng & Luo, Zhifeng & Fang, Yanli & Mao, Jinhua & Qin, Nan & Guo, Yilin & Zhang, Tian & Cai, Nan, 2024. "Site selection for underground bio-methanation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide using an integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wu, Lin & Hou, Zhengmeng & Luo, Zhifeng & Fang, Yanli & Mao, Jinhua & Qin, Nan & Guo, Yilin & Zhang, Tian & Cai, Nan, 2024. "Site selection for underground bio-methanation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide using an integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    2. Wu, Lin & Hou, Zhengmeng & Luo, Zhifeng, 2025. "Impacts of microbial competition on underground bio-methanation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide: Insights from biogeochemical simulations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    3. Róbert Csalódi & Tímea Czvetkó & Viktor Sebestyén & János Abonyi, 2022. "Sectoral Analysis of Energy Transition Paths and Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-26, October.
    4. Chen, Xiaoyuan & Jiang, Shan & Chen, Yu & Lei, Yi & Zhang, Donghui & Zhang, Mingshun & Gou, Huayu & Shen, Boyang, 2022. "A 10 MW class data center with ultra-dense high-efficiency energy distribution: Design and economic evaluation of superconducting DC busbar networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    5. Yuan, Chen & Yu, Xinran & Li, Peijin & Shan, Xijie & Hong, Weimin & Li, Yuxing & Chen, Zhangxing & Liu, Cuiwei & Wu, Keliu, 2025. "From micro to macro: A comprehensive review for underground hydrogen storage technologies and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    6. Ji, Zhenxing & Liu, Jianfeng & Cai, Yougang & Yang, Jianxiong & Yi, Haiyang & Jiang, Liangliang & Wei, Jinbing & Hassanpouryouzband, Aliakbar, 2025. "Technical characteristics and developmental prospect of hydrogen storage in salt cavern: A perspective of layered salt rocks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    7. Du, Zhengyang & Dai, Zhenxue & Yang, Zhijie & Zhan, Chuanjun & Chen, Wei & Cao, Mingxu & Thanh, Hung Vo & Soltanian, Mohamad Reza, 2024. "Exploring hydrogen geologic storage in China for future energy: Opportunities and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    8. Jahanbani Veshareh, Moein & Thaysen, Eike Marie & Nick, Hamidreza M., 2022. "Feasibility of hydrogen storage in depleted hydrocarbon chalk reservoirs: Assessment of biochemical and chemical effects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    9. Yen Hsun Chuang & Yu-Chung Tsao & Wei Yea Chen, 2025. "Fossil fuel and renewable energy allocation policy toward carbon neutrality under climate change," Energy & Environment, , vol. 36(2), pages 709-728, March.
    10. Davoodi, Shadfar & Al-Shargabi, Mohammed & Wood, David A. & Longe, Promise O. & Mehrad, Mohammad & Rukavishnikov, Valeriy S., 2025. "Underground hydrogen storage: A review of technological developments, challenges, and opportunities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 381(C).
    11. Xiong, Zanfu & Hou, Jian & Du, Qingjun & Chen, Zheng & Lu, Xiangquan & Liu, Yongge & Wei, Bei & Lu, Teng, 2025. "A comprehensive review of H2 physical behavior and H2-rock-microbial interactions in underground hydrogen storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    12. Cathrine Hellerschmied & Johanna Schritter & Niels Waldmann & Artur B. Zaduryan & Lydia Rachbauer & Kerstin E. Scherr & Anitha Andiappan & Stephan Bauer & Markus Pichler & Andreas P. Loibner, 2024. "Hydrogen storage and geo-methanation in a depleted underground hydrocarbon reservoir," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 9(3), pages 333-344, March.
    13. Zhu, Shijie & Shi, Xilin & Yang, Chunhe & Li, Yinping & Li, Hang & Yang, Kun & Wei, Xinxing & Bai, Weizheng & Liu, Xin, 2023. "Hydrogen loss of salt cavern hydrogen storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    14. Jahanbakhsh, Amir & Louis Potapov-Crighton, Alexander & Mosallanezhad, Abdolali & Tohidi Kaloorazi, Nina & Maroto-Valer, M. Mercedes, 2024. "Underground hydrogen storage: A UK perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    15. Hibbard, Leon & White, Joshua A. & Clarke, David G. & Harrison, Simon & Schultz, Richard A. & Hasiuk, Franek & Goodman, Angela & Huerta, Nicolas, 2025. "Underground hydrogen storage resource assessment for the Cook Inlet, Alaska," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 377(PB).
    16. Chinamo, Dennis Sabato & Bian, Xiao-Qiang & Nie, Renshi & Moudio, Natacha Diane Ngasse & Reuben, Daniel Chege, 2026. "Hysteresis and integrity in multiphase hydrogen storage: a review of flow, rock, and monitoring challenges," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 406(C).
    17. Wang, Bingzheng & Lu, Xiaofei & Zhang, Cancan & Wang, Hongsheng, 2022. "Cascade and hybrid processes for co-generating solar-based fuels and electricity via combining spectral splitting technology and membrane reactor," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 782-799.
    18. Alexander C. Abajian & Tamma Carleton & Kyle C. Meng & Olivier Deschênes, 2025. "Quantifying the global climate feedback from energy-based adaptation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Kyriakopoulos, Grigorios L. & Arabatzis, Garyfallos & Tsialis, Panagiotis & Ioannou, Konstantinos, 2018. "Electricity consumption and RES plants in Greece: Typologies of regional units," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 134-144.
    20. Piotr Siemiątkowski & Patryk Tomaszewski & Joanna Marszałek-Kawa & Janusz Gierszewski, 2020. "The Financing of Renewable Energy Sources and the Level of Sustainable Development of Poland’s Provinces in the Area of Environmental Order," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:283:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223019333. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.