HyLife

Developing Europe’s energy system towards net-zero in 2050 requires a variety of innovative energy system solutions in which hydrogen will play a vital role by allowing the decarbonization of certain industries and the storage of energy. To secure sufficient and stable green hydrogen supply over time, storage of excess hydrogen is crucial to help avoid further consumption of non-renewables in high-demand seasons and the associated production costs. A technological challenge is to find and operate flexible, large-scale, competitive and secure storage solutions for hydrogen. Underground storage has been proposed as a promising solution, consisting in hydrogen injection into the subsurface, mainly in geological structures such as saline cavities, saline aquifers, and old gas or hydrocarbon reservoirs. Nevertheless, many questions on what will happen with hydrogen when injected into the living subsurface remain unanswered. In close cooperation with industry (energy companies and storage operators) we want to advance the understanding of subsurface energy storage sites by assessing the most critical identified risk: microbial conversion. Microbial activity can heavily influence storage viability, safety and economics by consuming hydrogen and producing a toxic gas, hydrogen sulfide. One main issue, which Hylife aims to address, is to be able to describe the natural microbial diversity of deep systems and to understand the possible microbial processes. To that aim, we will sample, collect and study in the laboratory, according to a common methodology, natural microbial communities on more than thirty potential sites throughout Europe. Data will be gathered and mapped in an international database accessible to the scientific community and industrials. In addition, the data acquired will feed multi-scale models to allow a better understanding of the biogeochemical processes involved and to evaluate the economic and environmental viability of the sites studied. Remediation strategies will then be proposed to make a storage reservoir viable. In summary, the main objective of HyLife is to validate the suitability of European subsurface structures (caverns/reservoirs) as safe and economic viable hydrogen storage sites by systematically investigating the potential microbial reactions and identifying key influencing parameters.