Contact Angles of a Brine on a Bituminous Coal in Compressed Hydrogen
Rossen Sedev, Hamed Akhondzadeh, Mujahid Ali, Alireza Keshavarz, Stefan Iglauer
Abstract
Abstract Hydrogen storage is a main issue in the establishment of a hydrogen economy. Geo‐storage could be a viable solution if hydrogen could be injected into and withdrawn from suitable geological formations, reversibly and reliably. Rock wettability is a major factor as it affects injectivities, withdrawal rates, storage capacities, and containment security. We report here the contact angles of a brine on the surface of a bituminous coal in a pressurized hydrogen atmosphere. Under realistic geo‐storage conditions the coal surface was weakly water‐wet. Hydrogen pressure increased brine contact angles at 25°C but did not have an impact at 50 or 70°C. We present a thermodynamic model that describes the observed behavior. Our results would support the development of large‐scale geo‐storage technologies for hydrogen.