Dispersion During Underground Hydrogen Storage in Depleted Gas Reservoirs

Abstract

Dispersion in porous media is a multiscale process that governs the distribution and mixing of fluids in the subsurface. In underground hydrogen storage, dispersion is particularly critical due to hydrogen’s low molecular weight and large density contrast relative to natural gas. In addition to this, cyclic operations amplify mixing and transport effects beyond what is typically observed during conventional gas injection and storage. The apparent mixing observed during storage arises from the combined influences of localized dispersion, heterogeneity-driven channeling, and gravity segregation. Distinguishing between local, echo, and transmission dispersion provides a start for understanding reversible and irreversible components of mixing, and for connecting localized processes with field-scale performance. This study develops a systematic method to quantify dispersion in hydrogen storage within depleted gas reservoirs by combining analytical solutions of the convective-diffusive equation with multidimensional numerical simulations. The approach translates concentration fields into effective dispersion coefficients using different methods for mixing-zone length analysis. This enables evaluation across different permeability distributions, anisotropies, and spatial correlation lengths. The method is applied under both linear and radial flow conditions, including cyclic injection and production, to capture the distinct roles of gravity segregation, heterogeneity, and boundary conditions. Across the studied cases, the effective dispersion coefficient increases from approximately 1.03 to 3.5 m²/day as the Dykstra-Parsons coefficient increases from 0.3 to 0.9. Gravity segregation significantly alters plume evolution, reducing effective mixing zone lengths and introducing asymmetric displacement behavior. Under cyclic radial injection-production, incomplete plume reversal leads to persistent concentration halos, indicating irreversible mixing. The ratio of echo to transmission dispersion further quantifies the degree of irreversibility in the system. This work establishes a quantitative framework for characterizing dispersive transport in hydrogen storage systems and provides a basis for evaluating storage performance and reversibility under realistic subsurface conditions.

Keywords

Dispersion / Hydrogen storage / Heterogeneity / Depleted gas reservoirs

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Computer Modeling Group and SLB for providing access to their software.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, K.M., M.D., B.R.B.F., L.W.L.; Methodology, K.M., M.D., B.R.B.F., L.W.L.; Software, M.D.; Validation, K.M., M.D., L.W.L., B.R.B.F., K.S.; Formal Analysis, B.R.B.F., K.S.; Investigation, K.M.; Resources, M.D., L.W.L. and K.S.; Data Curation, K.M.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, K.M.; Writing—Review & Editing, B.R.B.F., M.D., L.W.L. and K.S.; Visualization, K.M.; Supervision, M.D., L.W.L. and K.S.; Project Administration, M.D.; Funding Acquisition, M.D., K.S.

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The data and input used in this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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