High-Pressure Incubation - The Key to Mimic Microbial Activity in Hydrogen Storage

#Hydrogen as a clean energy source requires understanding microbial activity in subsurface infrastructures like porous rock storages and salt caverns. However, every storage possesses unique properties and microbial communities. This makes it difficult to predict which microbes might or might not be active when hydrogen will be injected into the storage system. High-pressure incubation of the storage liquids together with #borehole material under a hydrogen atmosphere offers a way to study the system under almost natural conditions. This technique provides insights into hydrogen conversions crucial for safe long-term hydrogen storage.

What is High-Pressure Incubation?

High-pressure incubation cultivates microorganisms in environments that mimic high-pressure subsurface conditions. This technique is vital for studying anaerobic microorganisms found in gas storages and salt caverns, using reservoir water, brine, and borehole material. At Microbify GmbH we apply our patented vessels that operate at pressures up to 170 bar. 

1. Mimicking natural conditions: Ensures lab observations match field conditions.

2. Understanding hydrogen conversions: Studying hydrogen-consuming microbes helps understand hydrogen conversion processes.

3. Assessing microbial activity: Enables a detailed study of microbial pathways, identifying risks like microbial-induced corrosion (#MIC) and gas contamination.
   

Customized reactor setup for a long-term high-pressure incubation of brine and salt rock

Experimental Setup

1. Liquid media: Brine or reservoir water contains living #microorganisms and defined physicochemical conditions including pH and salts.

2. Solid media: Borehole material provides additional salts or minerals essential for the microbial metabolism including electron donors like sulfate (e.g. from #anhydrite).

3. Gas Phase: The vessel is pressurized with pure hydrogen or a gas mixture.

4. Time and Monitoring: The reactor is now incubated at a defined temperature and microbial #metabolites are regularly analyzed in the gas and liquid phase.

Borehole material from a porous rock storage with anhydrite enclosures.

The Future of High-Pressure Incubation Research

As we are at the turning point towards a hydrogen economy, high-pressure incubation in microbial surveys becomes critical. Techniques like Microbify's patented high-pressure incubation vessel allow the exploration of microbial ecology and biogeochemistry in underground gas storage.

#Subsurface #microbiology is still poorly understood, however, with the right tools and innovative approaches we quickly unveil some of its secrets to ensure long-term hydrogen storage.

Stay tuned for our upcoming project where we team up with partners that bring along different expertise that helps to grasp the big picture!

#SaltCavern #PorousRockStorage #UndergroundGasStorage #HighPressureIncubation #Methanogenesis #SulfateReducer