H2 Transport in Sedimentary Basin

Natural hydrogen is generated by fairly deep processes and/or in low-permeability rocks. In such contexts, fluids circulate mainly through the network of faults and fractures. However, hydrogen flows from these hydrogen-generating layers can reach sedimentary rocks with more typical permeability and porosity, allowing H2 flows to spread out rather than be concentrated in fractures. In that case, three different H2 transport modes exist: advection (displacement of water carrying dissolved gas), diffusion, and free gas Darcy flow. Numerical models have been run to compare the efficiency of these different modes and the pathway they imply for the H2 in a sedimentary basin with active aquifers. The results show the key roles of these aquifers but also the competition between free gas flow and the dissolved gas displacement which can go in opposite directions. Even with a conservative hypothesis on the H2 charge, a gaseous phase exists at few kilometers deep as well as free gas accumulation. Gaseous phase displacement could be the faster and diffusion is neglectable. The modeling also allows us to predict where H2 is expected in the soil: in fault zones, eventually above accumulations, and, more likely, due to exsolution, above shallow aquifers.