Hydrogen in Pipelines: Impact of Hydrogen Transport in Natural Gas Pipelines

The increased use of renewable energy has made the need to store electricity a central requirement. One of the concepts to address this need is to produce hydrogen from surplus electricity, and to use the existing natural gas pipeline system to transport the hydrogen. Generally, the hydrogen content in the pipeline flow would be below 20%, thus avoiding the problems of transporting and burning pure hydrogen. The natural gas – hydrogen mixtures have to be considered both from a gas transport and a gas storage perspective. In this study, the impact of various levels of hydrogen in a pipeline system are simulated. The pipeline hydraulic simulation will provide the necessary operating conditions for the gas compressors, and the gas turbines that drive these compressors. The result of the study addresses the impact on transportation efficiency in terms of energy consumption and the emission of green house gases. Further, necessary concepts in the capability to store gas to better balance supply and demand are discussed.