石油貯留層からのマイクロ波支援カーボンゼロ水素製造（HOPEプロセス）による脱炭素化：従来法の補完か競合か？

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:HOPEプロセスの性能・課題を従来法と定量的に比較した基礎資料として有用。

🏢実務担当者:既存石油インフラを活用した水素製造オプションのコスト・排出特性を把握できる。

🏛政策担当者:水素製造技術の脱炭素性能とコストを比較し、支援策やCCS政策の判断材料となる。

Abstract Hydrogen is a key sustainable energy carrier crucial to global decarbonization. While green, blue, turquoise, and grey hydrogen are favored for their low carbon footprints, traditional methods, including steam methane reforming (SMR), autothermal reforming (ATR), partial oxidation (POX), coal, and biomass gasification, struggle to achieve carbon neutrality. This has prompted the exploration of HydrOgen production from PEtroleum reservoirs (HOPE), a novel technique utilizing microwave-assisted heating to produce low-carbon or carbon-zero hydrogen. However, a comprehensive juxtaposition of this emerging technology with conventional methods is absent from the literature. This study addresses the gap by evaluating the HOPE process alongside these methods. The evaluation criteria encompassed energy efficiency, environmental impact, and economic feasibility. Data were sourced from peer-reviewed studies and industry reports to benchmark the HOPE process against traditional methods. Key technical gaps were also identified to guide ongoing research and enhance operational efficiency. The analysis revealed that the HOPE process requires no water and emits 0–13 kg CO2e/kg H2. In contrast, SMR and ATR consume 4.62–6.39 gallons/kg H2 and release 8.0–11.0 kg of CO2e/kg H2. Gasification releases 0.90–3.23 kg CO2e/kg H2 but consumes 21–893 gallons/kg H2, raising concerns in water-scarce regions. Integrating carbon capture and storage reduces emissions, but it increases production costs by 35–135%, highlighting a trade-off between environmental and economic feasibility. In the HOPE process, natural catalysts in rocks may deactivate due to coking and sintering, limiting their long-term effectiveness. These issues are also observed in SMR and ATR. Catalyst activity can be restored through regeneration cycles (i.e., coke gasification), while strategies to address sintering have yet to be investigated for natural catalysts. Despite HOPE's higher energy demands compared to SMR, ATR, and POX, thermal runaway can enable heating to high temperatures with lower microwave power inputs. Notwithstanding, thermal runaway can cause non-uniform heating and rock damage as well as reduce H2 yield due to associated coke formation. The process is also proposed to be compatible with existing petroleum infrastructure, facilitating rapid adoption with minimal capital investment, but high-temperature operation may require upgrades to completions and downhole materials. Further improvements in microwave reactor design and energy delivery systems are also needed to lower costs and energy intensity. Though not yet a replacement for conventional production routes, HOPE could complement existing methods, support decarbonization goals, and contribute to hydrogen economy development. This work presents a foundation for integrating microwave-assisted systems into global hydrogen economies by clarifying their strengths and limitations, and potential contributions to decarbonizing the fossil fuel industry.

• crossref https://doi.org/10.2118/232760-msfirst seen 2026-09-29 05:56:19