Depleted oil fields could be used to contain liquid hydrogen as much of the infrastructure already in place can be repurposed, researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have said.
Hydrogen is a clean-burning gas that could help to tackle climate change by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels as it can be produced from water using renewable energy. But storing and transporting the gas is typically very expensive and involves a number of technical challenges such as high-pressure gas tanks or cryogenic systems that operate at very cold temperatures.
The oil industry is currently in a peak period of decommissioning, with assets installed between the late 1970s and early 1990s reaching the end of their 30-40-year design lives. The decommissioning market is also expected to grow by as much as 8% a year over the next decade. There are some metrics that suggest the world has surpassed ‘peak oil’, as other sources of energy and technology such as electric vehicles...