Who: Professor Panos Papanastasiou from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Cyprus
When: Thrusday April 24 at 13:15 CET (Norway time).
Where: Auditorium P1, PTS1, Trondheim, Norway
Title: The potential of repurposing depleting natural gas reservoirs for green hydrogen storage
Summary
This research work explores the potential of repurposing depleting natural gas reservoirs for green hydrogen storage, utilizing the material balance equation (MBE) framework. The presence of an aquifer, a common feature in many depleted reservoirs, is considered, and the Carter and Tracy aquifer model is applied alongside the Peng-Robinson equation of state for hydrogen. A case study is conducted using a reference reservoir geometry with varying hydraulic properties (porosity and permeability) and a range of natural gas production rates. Results indicate that natural gas production rate, formation permeability, and porosity are critical factors not only for gas extraction but also for determining the feasibility of hydrogen storage. The study finds that typical sandstone reservoirs are most suitable for hydrogen storage, while formations with very high or low permeability present challenges.
Short bio
Panos Papanastasiou is Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Cyprus. He served as the Founding Chairman of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department (2002-08) and Dean of the Engineering School (2008-14). After he received his Ph.D from the University of Minnesota (1990), he worked as Principal Research Scientist in Schlumberger Cambridge Research, UK, from 1991-2002. He worked also as industrial consultant and government advisor on energy projects. His research areas are in applied and computational geomechanics for applications in geo-energy (hydraulic fracturing, wellbore stability, sand production and control, reservoir geomechanics), underground hydrogen storage, CO2 geological storage, offshore pipelines and cracking and degradation of photovoltaics and management and economics of energy projects. He has published more than 90 articles in scientific journals, 140 conference proceedings, 10 book chapters, edited 7 books, invented 3 patents. He is Editor-in-Chief of Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment (Elsevier).