Abstract
Underground well storage of Hydrogen gas (H2) under higher pressure than what ambient storage allows is becoming an increasing area of interest. This enables large scale storage of Hydrogen that can be a potential input to various industries and applications on demand similar to natural gas. Currently, there is vast experience in the industry with underground well storage of natural gas. While quite a few aspects of well construction can be common between storage of natural gas and hydrogen; there are significant other challenges with regards to storage of hydrogen gas compared to natural gas. One important aspect is compatibility of metallic materials used for well operations and construction, especially with regards to assessing risk for hydrogen embrittlement. In this work, 41XX type Cr-Mo steels and 13Cr (AISI 420mod) type stainless steels, commonly used for well equipment, both in conventional upstream oil and gas production and in natural gas storage, were assessed for compatibility with high pressure Hydrogen gas at ambient and elevated temperature of 80°C (176°F). Evaluation was mainly performed via Slow Strain Rate Testing (SSRT) per ASTM G142.1 Details of this assessment and post testing evaluation of the specimens will be provided in this paper.
