2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Innovative study on new energy development with carbon storage using reaction field in super-critical geothermal reservoir

Research Project

PDF

Project/Area Number	19K22150
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 31:Nuclear engineering, earth resources engineering, energy engineering, and related fields
Research Institution	Tohoku University
Principal Investigator	Komai Takeshi 東北大学, 環境科学研究科, 教授 (30357024)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	中村謙吾東北大学, 環境科学研究科, 助教 (30757589) 渡邉則昭東北大学, 環境科学研究科, 教授 (60466539)
Project Period (FY)	2019-06-28 – 2022-03-31
Keywords	地球化学反応 / 鉱物資源 / 水素製造 / 二酸化炭素削減 / 超臨界地熱
Outline of Final Research Achievements	A novel reaction process that enables the generation of hydrogen and hydrocarbons as well as a CO2 reduction mechanism by utilizing a georeactor (underground reactor) that utilizes the high temperature and high pressure reaction field of supercritical geothermal water was theoretically and experimentally investigated. Theoretical support was provided to derive new breakthroughs in the energy and environmental fields by fabricating a reactor that assumes a sophisticated and high-performance georeactor. Experimental results using a wide variety of minerals and catalysts showed that natural minerals such as olivine, pyroxene, and spinel can produce high concentrations of hydrogen when reacted under CO2-rich environmental conditions. Furthermore, since carbonate minerals were produced as reaction products, CO2 sequestration could be achieved at the same time.
Free Research Field	環境科学、地球化学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	超臨界地熱水の高温高圧の反応場を利用したジオリアクター（地下反応器）を活用すれば，水素／炭化水素生成およびCO2削減メカニズムを可能にする高機能・高性能ジオリアクターの具現化というエネルギー・環境分野での新たなブレークスルーをもたらすものと期待される。水素はクリーンでカーボンフリーなエネルギーであるため，地球温暖化の抑制に寄与する新エネルギーと期待されているが、製造プロセスでの副産物やコストの点に問題があった。そこで、本研究では天然の地圏環境を利用して水素製造とCO2削減とを同時達成可能な水素製造法を新たに考案して、高効率の水素製造とCO2の固定化も同時に達成をはかる。