Yuree Byun

The transition to a sustainable, low-carbon energy future is gaining increasing attention due to the imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address problems caused by climate change. In this situation, Hydrogen, as the most energy-rich of gases, is currently considered a promising candidate to replace fossil fuels. But all of the current methods are as yet too expensive to compete with fossil fuels. This is because the production of hydrogen, a secondary energy source produced by combining different energy sources, has a fundamental flaw. To overcome these limitations, Natural Hydrogen that is buried on Earth, such as fossil fuels, provide a way around these restrictions.

 Natural hydrogen is hydrogen gas that occurs naturally underground in the Earth’s subsurface, within geologic formations and the mantle. In this work, we conduct research on process design to produce natural hydrogen underground and use it as an energy source.

We collect data on gas composition from the literature. According to the results, natural hydrogen reserves exhibit a diverse composition, including light and heavy hydrocarbons, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, etc.       

Based on this data, this study proposes a new natural hydrogen production process, which was developed by applying the existing natural gas production process. This natural hydrogen production process is validated by developing process simulation model with proven thermodynamics.

Additionally, Exergy and Techno-economic Analyses will be conducted to assess differences compared to current hydrogen production process (green and blue). Based on this, it is intended to show that the natural hydrogen production process is a commercially realistic and economical method.

Co-authors: Yuree Byun, Jihyun Hwang