In-situ Hydrogen Production from Heavy Oil and Bitumen Reservoirs via In-situ Combustion Gasification: Kinetics, Modeling, and Techno-Economic Analysis

Hydrogen is increasingly recognized worldwide as a critical, clean energy carrier for decarbonizing transportation, power generation, and other fuel-intensive industries. An emerging approach for hydrogen production is in-situ combustion gasification (ISCG) which generates hydrogen directly within heavy oil and bitumen reservoirs. In this process, the reservoir is heated via combustion to achieve high temperatures and initiate gasification reactions for hydrogen generation, and the produced hydrogen is subsequently separated from other gases at the surface or in situ. Although ISCG shows considerable promise, multiple challenges remain before it can be commercially implemented, including a thorough evaluation of both its potential and costs. ISCG is a complex process that involves a multitude of chemical reactions that occur simultaneously during fluid flow inside the reservoir, making it difficult to predict, control, or monitor effectively. A reliable reaction model is essential for modeling the process, as chemical kinetics drive reaction rates in subsurface reactive transport. Nevertheless, the key reactions controlling hydrogen generation require experimental validation, and the underlying mechanisms remain largely unexplored. This research addresses these critical gaps by combining kinetic cell experiments with numerical simulations to explore the key mechanisms of ISCG and develop the first experimentally validated reaction kinetics model for in-situ hydrogen production. The developed model is used to conduct reservoir simulations under varying operating conditions to optimize engineering parameters and guide economic decisions. Ultimately, a techno-economic analysis is carried out to estimate hydrogen production costs. This work lays a robust foundation for advancing in-situ hydrogen production via ISCG, paving the way for eventual field-scale deployment.