Smart ResSim Technology - Reducing Uncertainties for Advanced CO2 and H2 Storage Processes

It is now widely acknowledged that effectively mitigating the impacts of climate change requires a multi-faceted approach, incorporating several large-scale solutions, including innovative low-carbon energy production and storage methods. One promising low-carbon energy vector is hydrogen, offering versatile applications such as clean heating for buildings, electricity generation, and transport decarbonisation.

The production of hydrogen can be achieved through two main processes: water electrolysis using renewable energy or hydrocarbon reformation coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS). These methods ensure the generation of hydrogen with significantly reduced carbon emissions, making it an environmentally responsible alternative.

Moreover, hydrogen's potential extends to energy storage solutions. By storing hydrogen in geological formations, it becomes a valuable means to balance energy supply and demand, fostering sustainable energy storage capabilities. This aspect further enhances its role in supporting a greener and more sustainable energy landscape.

The primary goals of this three-month project encompass two key objectives:

1. To gain UK's first HPHT experimental datasets on thermophysical properties of CO2 and Hydrogen rich streams at the storage conditions.
2. To do further assessment and optimisation of our groundbreaking technology -- Smart ResSim -- to overcome significant technical and field scale barriers of CO2 and hydrogen storage in geological formations.

This multidisciplinary innovative project will focus on enhancing our pioneering technology to seamlessly integrate and reuse existing infrastructure in the UK continental shelf (UKCS) for CCS and hydrogen applications. We will develop first of its kind machine learned technology for optimisation of integrated CO2 and H2 storage in subsurface reservoirs particularly in subsea environments with unique and innovative smart reactive fluid transport models for both CO2- and H2- containing systems at field scale. By achieving these objectives, the project will contribute significantly to the UK's net zero targets, facilitating the delivery of a greener and more sustainable future by 2050\.