i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he

Advancing in the decarbonized future of natural

gas transmission networks through a CFD study

Teresa Villuendas a,1, Carlos Montan ~ es b, Antonio Go

mez b,
Alberto Cerezo Alarco n c, M. Dolores Storch de Gracia c,d,e,
 nchez-Laı́nez a,*,1
Javier Sa
a
Fundacion para el Desarrollo de las Nuevas Tecnologı́as del Hidrogeno en Aragon, Parque Tecnologico Walqa, Ctra.
N-330a, Km. 566, 22197 Huesca, Spain
b
Nabladot, S.L., C/Marı́a Zambrano 31, WTCZ, Torre Oeste, Planta 11, Zaragoza, 50018 Spain
c
Redexis, C/ Mahonia 2, 28043 Madrid, Spain
d
Department of Organizational Engineering, Business Administration and Statistics, Escuela Tecnica Superior de
Ingenieros Industriales, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, Spain
e
Grupo de Investigacion Organizaciones Sostenibles (GIOS), Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, Spain

highlights graphical abstract

Modelling the injection of

hydrogen in the natural gas
transmission grid.

CFD studies to anticipate the
behavior of the new fluid.

Mixing quality and possible segre-
gation in blending stations
considered.

Flow pattern when DN 80 pipes
expands to a DN 150 or a DN 250
pipes.

Simulation of pumping of H2 and
CH4 by a piston type compressor.

article info abstract

Article history: The injection of green hydrogen into the natural gas grid is a way to decarbonize the gas
Received 13 December 2021 sector and build an economic transport route for the large-scale delivery of hydrogen. The
Received in revised form suitability of the natural gas infrastructure for this purpose depends on the impact that
3 February 2022 hydrogen may have on the correct operation of its components and understanding the new
Accepted 7 March 2022 flow conditions in the system is essential for this aim. Computational studies can antici-
Available online 6 April 2022 pate the expected environment in the pipe system, assessing the readiness of the system.
However, the experience on this topic is not extensive enough and deeper understanding is
Keywords: necessary. Here we show a CFD study to simulate the transport of H2/NG blends in a gas
Low-carbon hydrogen setup with the main characteristics of injection sites and gas pipelines representatives of

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jsanchez@hidrogenoaragon.org (J. Sa  nchez-Laı́nez).
1
Both Teresa Villuendas and Javier Sa  nchez-Laı́nez are first authors of this article.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.03.055
0360-3199/© 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4 15833

Natural gas grid retrofitting the transmission gas network. This setup considers a blending station, the pumping and
Grid decarbonization injection procedure, and different pipelines geometries to predict the behavior of various
Hydrogen injection mixtures of H2/NG. It can be seen how (1) a good mixing is achieved in the blending station
CFD study after a pipe length equivalent to 20e30 diameters is reached; (2) pumping gas by a piston
Transmission gas grid modelling type compressor shows pulsations in the flow regardless the composition of the blend that
can be damped implementing mitigation measurements; and (3) asymmetries in the flow
are found when the direction of the fluid changes after section reduction, but 20 diameters
downstream of the reduction the flow is fully developed.
© 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

fuels, being responsible for the emission of around 830 Mt of

Introduction
Oil, coal and natural gas -all fossil fuels-accounted for around
79% of the global energy consumption in 2020 [1], making the
global energy-related CO2 emissions reach 30.6 Gt that year [2].
NOx and SO2 emissions from direct combustion are also
important pollution to be considered [3]. Just the consumption
of natural gas (NG) in the world was near 4,000 bcm, being one
of the most demanded energy fuels [1]. According to the Paris
Agreement, limiting the global warming to 1.5  C implies net
zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Therefore, to reach this goal it
would be necessary to reduce the global energy demand and
decarbonize the electricity and other fuel sectors [2]. Besides,
the shift away from fossil-derived fuels and their replacement
with renewable alternatives, some of them of intermittent
production rate, will also require the increase of the electrical
grid and additional measures for storage to ensure stability [4].
Governments worldwide are currently focusing on the injec-
tion of renewable gases, among which low-carbon hydrogen
can be highlighted, into the natural gas grid as a way to
decarbonize the gas sector, decreasing the fossil fuel con-
sumption and reducing greenhouse emissions [5]. A ‘hydrogen
economy’ is currently emerging through a variety of decar-
bonization strategies since hydrogen has the potential to play
a role in meeting energy storage and balancing needs [6]. Ac-
cording to this picture, the natural gas grid infrastructure will
experience strong changes in the next future. Classic natural
distribution scenarios will not be valid anymore and the grid
could start receiving different gases such as biomethane and
hydrogen, whose properties (heating value, density, etc.),
different to those of natural gas, will significantly influence
the management of the grid. Besides, the regulation author-
ities will be required more accuracy in the control of the gas
quality delivered to the customers [7].
In 2020, the world hydrogen demand was around 90 Mt,
with more than 70 Mt used as pure hydrogen and less than
20 Mt mixed with carbon-containing gases in methanol pro-
duction and steel manufacturing [8]. 49% of this hydrogen was
produced from natural gas, about 30% from oil, 18% from coal
and 4% via water electrolysis. 80% of the produced amount
was mainly consumed by the chemical industry and by
petrochemical refineries. The remaining amount was utilized
in various processes including scenarios where hydrogen was
used as energy carrier [9]. These data show how the produc-
tion of hydrogen is mainly based on the reforming of fossil
CO2/year [1]. Hydrogen can however be also produced from
environmentally friendly and renewable resources. Green
hydrogen, i.e. hydrogen generated by means of renewable
sources, is produced through water electrolysis. It is necessary
that this electricity comes from renewable sources (wind,
solar, etc.) so that the hydrogen can get this “green” label.
Besides, the production of hydrogen via reforming of bio-
ethanol or biogas is also considered low carbon hydrogen [10].
The production of hydrogen from renewable energy sources
could become competitive in the coming years. Until 2050,
minimum production costs for hydrogen from renewable
energy sources could fall to $1.5/kg under central assumptions
and to below $1/kg under optimistic assumptions in some
regions [11].
Although nowadays most of the produced hydrogen is
consumed locally, a supply infrastructure connecting pro-
duction and consumption is needed to facilitate the large-
scale utilization of this gas. This infrastructure can be newly
built, or alternatively, based on the conversion of existing
assets [12]. Retrofitting existing natural gas pipelines is
potentially the most economical way to establish an infra-
structure to transport hydrogen across continental distances
without developing a dedicated infrastructure and can mean
an alternative to other more energy demanding routes, such
as the transport in liquid phase by trucks, railways and ships
[13]. This way, the transport of hydrogen through the existing
natural gas grid, either as a blend with natural gas or as pure
phase gas, can be a useful tool a) for decarbonizing the natural
gas sector, as well as b) to come up as a solution for the
transport of hydrogen from production centers to the big
consumption points.
Nevertheless, the conversion of the natural gas network for
the transport of hydrogen involves many technical chal-
lenges, as it requires adjustments in the facilities necessary to
guarantee the safe and efficient transport of a new gas such as
hydrogen, which does not meet the same requirements as
natural gas. Since the physical and chemical properties of
hydrogen and natural gas are different, the injection of
hydrogen into natural gas pipeline grid will also engender
different hazards that are neither all known nor understood
[14]. For instance, adding 10%vol concentration of hydrogen in
natural gas can reduce the density of the blend by 11.8%,
elevate the pressure losses over the pipeline length by 5.4%
and reduce the temperature drop by 6.1%. Besides, hydrogen
15834 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4
concentrations over 2 %vol make the viscosity of the blend
decrease, while concentrations below this amount increase it
[15].
The impact of adding hydrogen to natural gas or
exchanging natural gas by hydrogen has been studied in
several experimental works. Most studies, however, corre-
spond to end-uses and are related to the combustion field,
checking the effect that the blend has on the performance of
burners and the combustion process itself. For example, some
experimental studies have evaluated the power, efficiency
and emissions of natural gas engines, highlighting the need to
change the design parameters for a better performance with
the new fuel [16e18]. Understanding the impact that hydrogen
may have on the correct operation of components and
equipment of natural gas grids is vital to decide if the infra-
structure is ready for the delivery of this new gas, applying the
necessary adaptations in consequence. The use of the existing
compression and pressure-reduction stations, hydrogen
embrittlement issues and gas leakages are key aspects to be
considered when analyzing the suitability of the natural gas
grid for hydrogen transport [19]. While piston compressors are
basically not affected by the addition of hydrogen to natural
gas, centrifugal compressors require the compression of a
volume three times as large as when natural gas is used,
which can affect to the capacity of compressor stations.
Regarding regulation stations, reducing the pressure of natu-
ral gas causes its temperature to decrease 0.5  C/bar, whereas
the temperature rises 0.035  C/bar when the pressure of
hydrogen is considered. This issue is related to the
JouleeThompson effect, with different impact for each gas.
The change to hydrogen would result in a temperature rise,
avoiding or at least minimizing freezing problems in compo-
nents. The risk of hydrogen embrittlement depends on the
material of the pipeline, but also on the pipeline's history. The
impact of hydrogen embrittlement on carbon steels with
qualities up to API 5L X80 has been studied in the literature to
identify the relationship between hydrogen concentration
and failure loading with conclusion highly dependent on the
testing conditions [20,21].
In order to assess that the hydrogen transport through
natural gas pipelines can be achieved with successful opera-
tion of the natural gas infrastructure, it is necessary to identify
in advance the behavior of the new flow conditions that will
be present in the system. In this scenario, Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are really useful tools. The high costs
and time consumption associated with experimentation,
coupled with recent achievements in the development of
numerical solutions for the Navier-Stokes equations and the
enhancement of computing power and efficiency, have
boosted the application of CFD as a viable alternative in in-
dustry [22]. This way, a CFD analysis can provide an accurate
prediction of the gas behavior in the system, anticipating the
necessary changes before gas operators have to invest too
many resources in empirical tests [23].
CFD techniques have been widely applied to support the
design of equipment to manage hydrogen flows, such as tanks
[24,25], ejectors [26] or injectors [27]. The CFD techniques have
been proved as an efficient way to assess the equipment
performance, avoiding the traditional trial-and-error task [24].
Regarding H2/NG blends, there are many studies available in
the literature. Most of them, however, are again focused on
the impact of H2/NG blends on combustion issues [28,29] or
explosion risks [14,30,31]. Predicting the flow pattern of H2/NG
blends in pipes and its comparison with the transport of bare
natural gas or hydrogen is also necessary so that the natural
gas grid retrofitting or repurposing can become a reality. With
this regard, Liu et al. [32] investigated the decompression
speed wave of H2/NG gas mixtures in high-pressure pipelines
and Behbahani-Nejad et al. [33] investigated the behavior of
high velocity natural gas flows in pipes during purging pro-
cess, highlighting changes in friction factor. Finally, Elaoud
et al. [34] studied high-pressure transient flows of H2/NG
blends in rigid pipelines concluding that transient pressure
oscillations for hydrogen and blends were higher compared to
natural gas. Modelling tanks filling with hydrogen is also an
important issue related to the topic since injection scenarios
need for pressurized storage buffers where hydrogen must be
stored at high pressure to feed the injection point. Some works
are focused on the temperature increase during this filling
process, highlighting how the heat transfer to the solid
structure of the tank plays an important role in the thermo-
dynamics of the process [35]. Modelling the injection of CO2 in
oil and gas wells can also serve as reference studies to apply in
hydrogen injection scenarios owing to their extensive back-
ground, especially for geological hydrogen storage. Some
mathematical models have been developed to analyze the
effect of injection parameters of CO2 on the performance of
geothermal energy extraction [36e38]. The injection of
seawater or steam is also considered in some other works
[39e41] and shale gas or oil transport through nanopores can
also be found in the literature [42,43]. The available informa-
tion regarding hydrogen injection is, however, limited and a
deeper understanding of the relevant transport phenomena of
new gases in natural gas grids is still missing and therefore,
necessary to fill the existing gaps of knowledge.
The work developed in this manuscript proposes several
CFD model studies to simulate the flow of H2/CH4/H2S/N2/CO2
blends through a piping system, consisting in an injection site
and a gas pipeline, aiming to anticipate the flow behavior that
is expected when new gas conditions occur in high-pressure
pipelines. The geometries studied recreate real components
to analyze the behavior of materials and equipment repre-
sentative of transmission gas network. Thus, the results ob-
tained are directly applicable to the existing infrastructure
and its elements (scraper traps, changes of direction and
section, etc.).
Experimental section
Definition of whole system and case of study
The gas setup modeled in this work is depicted in the scheme
of Fig. 1.
It is a hypothetical setup which considers a simplified
version of a hydrogen injection system and part of a natural
gas pipeline. The former starts with a blending station, con-
sisting in individual lines of pure gases (H2, CH4, CO2 and H2S)
that merge for blending, and the resulting mixture is stored in
a buffer. Afterwards, the blend generated is pumped and
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4
injected into a natural gas pipeline. The latter consists in
several natural gas pipelines of different sections, from DN 80
to DN 250, in series. The system considers not only the
expansion/contraction of the flow owing to the change in the
pipe section, but also changes in the direction of the flow.
Natural gas is simplified in this study as a mixture of CH4 with
traces of CO2, N2 and H2S as impurities. In some cases, only
the H2/CH4 blend is considered when the other gases do not
add to much value to the flow simulated.
Specifically, five cases of study are addressed in this work:
i) The quality of the blend after merging lines in the
blending station of the injection system.
ii) The pumping procedure to storage blends in the buffer.
iii) The change of fluid direction in the gas pipeline after
expansion from DN 80 to DN 250
iv) The flow pattern after expansion of the gas pipeline
from DN 80 to DN 150
v) The pumping of H2 and CH4 by a compressor and its
injection in the gas pipeline.
The geometries for all these cases are detailed bellow in the
following subsections.
Case 1: quality of the blend in the blending station
The geometry and operational conditions for this specific case
of study is shown in Fig. S1. The geometry shows the
convergence of four individual gas lines formed by A316
stainless steel pipes of 10.2 mm internal diameter. Each gas is
fed at a constant pressure of 15 bar and 25  C and all merge to
generate the mixture. The purpose of the study is to see at
what point a homogeneous mixture is achieved, or the need to
incorporate a static mixer otherwise. The quality of the
blending has been studied with different cases, in which the
proportions of gas fluxes vary. The specific volume flows
considered for each gas stream are described in Table S1.
These quantities correspond to mixing percentages between
15 and 70% H2 in CH4, thus covering a wide spectrum of pro-
portions with low and high concentrations.
To represent the phenomena taking place in the simulated
pipes, the following equations (Navier-Stokes) are solved,
considering steady state and laminar flow: i) continuity
Fig. 1 e Scheme with an overall view of the gas setup aim of study in this work.
15835
equation, ii) momentum equation and conservation of species
equation (chemical reaction is not considered). These equa-
tions are shown in detail in the section 5 of the Supporting
Information. The density of gaseous species is obtained ac-
cording to the ideal gas equation.
One of the main uncertainties in these simulations has
been the choice of the appropriate turbulence model, since in
the cases analyzed the Reynolds number indicates that the
flow is in a transition zone between laminar and turbulent
flow. Therefore, a sensitivity analysis has been performed
comparing the results obtained with several turbulence
models (LES, k-ε, k-ε low-Re, k-u low-Re) and, in addition,
considering the flow as laminar.
The geometric model (computational mesh) developed to
represent the experimental circuit can be seen in Fig. 2a. The
computational mesh consists of approximately 5 million cells,
combining polyhedral and hexahedral cells. This mesh is
refined in the areas adjacent to the pipe walls to capture as
accurately as possible the effects of the boundary layer on the
gas flow circulation in the pipe.
Case 2: pumping blends in a buffer
This geometry is intended to study the filling of a buffer with
H2/NG mixtures, being stored under pressure for subsequent
injection into the gas pipeline. The storage buffer is formed by
four bottles and its characteristics are described in Fig. S2.
The goal of this task is analyzing the operation of the
storage tank from the point of view of the homogeneity of the
hydrogen-methane mixture. Two different aspects have been
studied: a) the possible segregation of a homogeneous
methane-hydrogen mixture in the tank and b) the homoge-
nization of methane and hydrogen when pure hydrogen is
injected in the tank.
The segregation of a homogeneous methane-hydrogen
mixture (first case of study) has been performed in two
steps. 1) the simulation of the filling of one of the bottles to
observe if any phenomenon occurs in this process that leads
to the segregation of the mixture, and 2) the estimation of the
separation of the mixture, once the filling process is ended,
due to the different density of hydrogen and methane. Three
simulations have been carried out on the filling of the tank. It
is considered that both the tank and the injected mixture have
15836 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4
Fig. 2 e Geometrical models developed for the simulation
of each case of study: The quality of the blend after
merging lines in the blending station of the injection
system (a), the pumping procedure to storage blends in the
buffer (b), the change of fluid direction in the gas pipeline
after expansion from DN 80 to DN 250 (c), the flow pattern
after expansion of the gas pipeline from DN 80 to DN 150
(d) and the pumping of H2 and CH4 by a compressor and its
injection in the gas pipeline (e).
the same composition, 85% methane and 15% hydrogen (vol-
ume). The filling flow rate is considered constant and equal to
25.1 LN/min, the temperature being equal to 25  C. Consid-
ering these conditions, the filling operation has been
calculated for 3 different initial tank pressures: 15 bar, 100 bar
and 150 bar. The maximum pressure allowed in the tank was
200 bar. These simulations are performed on a 2D (axi-sym-
metric) model of the tank (see Fig. 2b) constructed with 17,000
quadrilateral cells. Three minutes of filling were calculated,
with a time step of 1 ms. To represent the phenomena
occurring during the filling process, the following equations
(Navier-Stokes) are solved, considering transient laminar
flow: i) continuity equation, ii) momentum equation and iii)
conservation of species equation (chemical reaction is not
considered).
For studying the homogenization of methane and
hydrogen when pure hydrogen is injected in the tank (second
case of study), two possible situations are considered: 1) the
tank contains initially a 15 %vol H2 mixture in CH4 at 150 bar
and pure hydrogen in injected until the hydrogen content in
the blend rises to 30 %vol and 2) the initial concentration of
the blend at 135 bar is 30% vol and it is increased up to 50% vol.
The final total pressure in both cases is 200 bar.
The filling flow rate and temperature were the same as
before. The filling operation has been calculated for 10 h,
including filling and stabilization (reaching the steady stated
after the filling). These two simulations are performed on a 2D
(axi-symmetric) model of the tank built with 600 quadrilateral
cells (the computational resources required to simulate 10 h of
filling operation with the computational mesh used in the
previous task, 17,000 cells, are very high and, additionally, we
obtain a similar accuracy to that obtained with the 600-cell
computational mesh and considering an axy-symmetric per-
formance). The time step used was 20 ms. To represent the
phenomena that take place in the filling, the following Navier-
Stokes equations were solved, considering laminar and tran-
sient flow: i) Continuity equation and ii) Momentum equation.
Case 3: change of fluid direction in the gas pipeline after
expansion from DN 80 to DN 250
Changes in the flow pattern want to be studied in this geom-
etry, where a H2/NG blend, coming from a DN 80 pipe, enters
perpendicularly into another pipe DN 250 and the change of
direction occurs (seeFig. S3). The flow rate, pressure and
temperature are constant, being 56 m3N/h, 80 bar and 25  C,
respectively. Inside the DN 250 pipe, some objects are allo-
cated to check the impact that the flow may have on them,
simulating the presence of instrumentation or similar items
inside the pipe. The flow properties are summarized in Table
S2.
The geometric model (computational mesh) developed to
represent this change of direction can be seen in Fig. 2c. In
addition to the pipe walls, the geometry of the instrumenta-
tion elements has also been modeled to analyze the behavior
of the materials in this type of systems operating at high
pressure. The computational mesh applied to this domain
consists of approximately 1.3 million cells where polyhedral
and hexahedral cells are combined. The mesh is refined in the
areas adjacent to the pipe walls to capture as accurately as
possible the effects of the boundary layer on the gas flow
circulation in the pipe. To represent the phenomena that take
place in the simulated pipes, the following transport equa-
tions (Navier-Stokes) are solved, considering steady state: i)
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4
continuity equation, ii) momentum equation and iii) conser-
vation of species equation (chemical reaction is not
considered).
The density of gaseous species was obtained according to
the ideal gas equation. One of the main uncertainties in these
simulations has been the choice of the appropriate turbulence
model, since depending on the composition of the gas mixture
in the cases analyzed, the Reynolds number ranges from 2500
(case A1) to 16000 (case A5), so different turbulence regimes
(laminar, transition and turbulent) must be considered. After
the analysis of the different turbulence models previously
performed, and given the complex geometry of the speci-
mens, 2-equation turbulence models (RANS) have been cho-
sen: k-u SST Low-Re model for the A1 case (practically laminar
regime) and k-ε in the rest of the cases. The option of using an
LES turbulence model has been discarded given the complex
geometry of the instrumentation elements, which would
require a much more refined computational mesh than the
one built. The section 5 of the Supporting Information shows
in detail the equations applied in these simulations.
Case 4: flow pattern after expansion of the gas pipeline from
DN 80 to DN 150
The goal of this case of study is determining the fluid flow
behavior for different compositions (H2, CH4) at changes of
section in the pipeline, especially the flow recovery after
passing through the pipe widening and the study of the forces
on the walls and welding rings.
The geometry of this case of study is depicted in Fig. S4.
The pipe widens from DN 80 to DN 150. The length of the DN
150 pipe is 2.4 m and it is divided by welding rings into 8 equal
sections of 0.3 m length. Finally, after this section with a larger
diameter, the pipe recovers its original diameter (DN 80).
The geometric model (computational mesh) developed to
represent the experimental pipeline can be seen in Fig. 2d. In
order to reduce the computational cost without reducing the
accuracy of the calculation, symmetry of revolution was
considered in this geometry. This way, only ¼ of the pipeline is
solved. The computational mesh applied to this domain con-
sists of approximately 2.3 million cells (9.2 million cells in the
whole domain), where polyhedral and hexahedral cells are
combined. The mesh is refined in the areas adjacent to the
pipe walls to capture as accurately as possible the effects of
the boundary layer on the gas flow circulation in the pipe. The
conditions simulated are those defined in Table S2 at 25  C and
80 bar absolute pressure.
To represent the phenomena occurring in the pipes, the
following equations (Navier-Stokes) are solved, considering
the LES turbulence model i) continuity equation, ii) mo-
mentum equation and iii) conservation of species equation
(no chemical reaction is considered). The density of gaseous
species is obtained according to the ideal gas equation. One of
the main uncertainties in these simulations has been the
choice of the appropriate turbulence model, since, depending
on the composition of the gas mixture in the cases analyzed,
the Reynolds number ranges from 2500 to 16000 (see table S2),
so it is in different turbulence regimes (laminar, transition and
turbulent). Therefore, after the analysis of the different tur-
bulence models previously carried out, and in order to use the
15837
same model for all cases (for the purpose of comparing re-
sults), the LES turbulence model has been employed, the only
one applicable in all regimes found. The Supporting Infor-
mation shows in detail the equations solved in these simu-
lations, corresponding to the implementation of the LES
turbulence model.
Case 5: pumping H2 and CH4 by a piston type compressor
and its injection gas pipelines
The aim of this study is to analyze the flow downstream of a
piston type compressor and, in particular, the pulsating na-
ture of this flow. By applying simulation techniques, the goal
is to observe the behavior of this flow and to determine
corrective measures if necessary. The compressor under
study consists of two coupled pistons, 180 desynchronized
(see Fig. S5). This compressor increases the pressure of the
gas from 60 bar to 80 bar. The flow exits the two pistons
through two DN 10 pipes, where the blue and orange lines
indicate the flow circulation after exiting the pistons. Both
pipes join in another DN 10 pipe, shown in green in Fig. S5.
This pipe connects then to another DN 80 pipe (purple arrow).
This conduit describes a circuit that ends at a pressure
regulation valve. The pressure drop in this final part of the
circuit and the regulation valve raises up to approximately
20 bar. Thus, the gas flow returns to the piston pump with a
pressure of 60 bar.
The ducts from the piston outlet to the DN 80 pipe were
modeled considering the real geometry. Regarding the rest of
the circuit, its most relevant effect on the possible pulsating
character of the flow is due to its volume, since it dampens
such pulsating behavior. Therefore, the rest of the circuit is
represented as an only duct equivalent to its volume, which
has been called “Virtual Buffer” in Fig. S5. Eventually, the final
part of the circuit is modeled as a DN 80 duct (artificially
considered as a porous medium) in which a pressure loss of
approximately 20 bar is introduced, representing the effect of
a pressure regulation valve. The computational mesh used
consists of 180,000 hybrid cells (see Fig. 2e).
To set up boundary conditions, the following characteris-
tics and assumptions of the piston operation were considered:
i) the mass flow rate of the gas introduced in one cycle is 56
Nm3/h, ii) operation of 15 cycles per minute (i.e. 4 s per cycle),
of which 2s correspond to the compression phase, iii) until
80 bar is reached, no flow comes out of the piston, iv) in the
compression phase, 0.5 s are considered until 80 bar is
reached; 0.2 s of linear increase of the flow rate with time, 1.1 s
of constant flow rate (86 Nm3/h), and, finally, 0.2 s of linear
decrease of the flow rate with time until 0 Nm3/h is reached
and v) the pistons operate 180 out of phase.
The flow is assumed to be isothermal, with a constant
temperature of 25  C. This assumption is based on the Joule-
Thomson coefficients and the pressure increase. Thus, a) for
methane, the value of this coefficient is 0.45 K/bar; therefore,
an increase of 20 bar means a temperature increase of 9 K and
b) in the case of hydrogen, the value of this coefficient is
0.029 K/bar; therefore, an increase of 20 bar means a
decrease in temperature of 0.6 K. Given such low tempera-
ture variations, the isothermal flow hypothesis is considered
reasonable.
15838 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4

To represent the phenomena occurring in the simulated

circuit, the following equations (Navier-Stokes) were solved,
considering transient state and turbulent flow (standard k-ε
model): i) continuity equation and ii) momentum equation.
The density of the gaseous species is obtained according to the
ideal gas equation (assuming a constant temperature of 25  C).
Details of the equations solved in this simulation are given in
section 5 of the Supporting Information. The time step used
was 2.5 ms.

Results and discussion

Case 1: quality of the blend in the blending station

This case of study considers evaluating at what point a ho-

mogeneous mixture is achieved in the blending station.
Choosing the appropriate turbulence model has been one of
the main uncertainties in the simulations of case 1. Therefore,
a sensitivity analysis has been performed comparing the re-
sults obtained with several turbulence models (LES, k-ε, k-ε
low-Re, k-u low-Re) and, also considering the flow as laminar
for the case in which 15 %vol H2 is blended with CH4. The
turbulence models used gave similar results (see Fig. S6), with
the laminar model being the one that, logically, obtained more
conservative results (greater pipe length to achieve good
mixing). For this reason, the flow simulation was determined
considering it as laminar flow for the cases indicated in Table
S1.
The results depicted in Fig. 3 show how the mixing of all
the streams, methane, hydrogen and impurities (H2S, N2
and CO2) occurs relatively quickly, reaching a homogeneous
mixture relatively close (downstream) to the junction of
these streams. In all the simulated cases it was observed
that a good mixing between the streams is produced once a
length of pipe equivalent to 20e30 diameters from the
junction point of these streams has been achieved. The
sensitivity analysis performed with different turbulence
models (a crucial aspect in the calculation of mixing qual- Fig. 3 e Evolution of methane and hydrogen mole fraction
ity) reinforces this conclusion. Considering this good and in the experimental circuit of case 1 of study when 15 %vol
fast mixing quality, the simulation of the effect of a static of H2 is blended with CH4 (a), 15 %vol of H2, 0.001 %vol H2S
mixer in the circuit was discarded as it was considered and 0.02 %vol N2 are blended with CH4 (b), 15 %vol of H2
unnecessary. and 2.5% vol of CO2 are blended with CH4 (c), 30 %vol of H2
is blended with CH4 (d) and 70 %vol of H2 is blended with
Case 2: pumping blends in a buffer
CH4 (e).

Two different issues have been studied in this part of the

work. Firstly, the possible segregation of a homogeneous
concentration contours are not incorporated since they pre-
methane-hydrogen mixture in the tank. Secondly, the ho-
sent a constant value throughout the domain.
mogenization of methane and hydrogen when pure hydrogen
Once the tank is full and the gas inside the tank is static,
is injected in the tank.
the aim was to study the possibility of segregation of the
Regarding the first part of the study, Fig. S7 shows the ve-
mixture due to the different densities of the components in
locity contours obtained from the simulations performed,
the mixture (methane and hydrogen). For this purpose, Eq. (1)
when the tank that it is initially at 15, 100 or 150 bar is filled
is applied, in which the partial pressure of a gas is calculated
with a 15/85%/% vol/vol H2/CH4 blend. Logically, higher ve-
as a function of elevation:
locities are observed as the initial pressure in the tank is
lower, especially in the case with an initial pressure of 15 bar,  
gM
where the density of the mixture in the tank is lower. No Pz ¼ Pz¼0 $exp  z (1)
RT
phenomena involving the segregation of hydrogen and
where:
methane species have been observed. Therefore, the
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4 15839

Pz¼0 are the gas partial pressure at a certain height z and at

the reference height (z ¼ 0 m);

M is the gas molecular weight;

g is the gravity;

R is the universal ideal gas constant, and

T is the temperature.

This equation indicates how the gases would segregate in a

gas column with a homogeneous mixture at the initial time
(and with atmospheric pressure at the reference height) if
these gases are let to evolve by the effect of gravity for infinite
time. Applying this equation to an initial composition of 50%
vol CH4/50%vol H2 at a reference altitude, it is observed in
Table S3 that the segregation of these gases is negligible at a
height of 2 m. Even at a height of 1,000 m, the effect of
segregation due to gravity and the different density of the
gases would be minimal. Noteworthy, this calculation has not
considered the possible molecular diffusion of these gases,
whose effect would be decreasing the possible difference in
concentrations between different elevations.
The second part of the study considers analyzing the filling
of a storage tank containing a methane-hydrogen mixture
with pure hydrogen. Specifically, the tank contains in the
beginning a 15 %vol H2 mixture in CH4 at 150 bar or a 30 %vol
H2 mixture in CH4 at 135 bar, and hydrogen is injected until 30
%vol and 50 %vol concentration is reached, respectively. A
summary of this conditions is shown in Table S4.
The results obtained in Case A are shown in Fig. 4a and
Fig. S8a. At the end of filling process, the concentration in the Fig. 4 e Contours of H2 concentration in the tank for
storage bottle is far from homogeneous. In the area of the different times of the filling process in case A (a) and case B
bottle next to the gas inlet (i.e. around the 1/5 upper length of (b) of case of study 2.
the bottle), hydrogen concentrations close to 100% can be
found. In the rest of the bottle, the initial concentration of
hydrogen in the reservoir (15% vol.) is still observed. Similar
results were obtained in Case B (see Fig. 4b and Fig. S8b), results obtained for the two cases defined showed that the
obviously with slight changes due to the difference in the homogenization of the mixture in the tank requires more than
initial conditions of the storage bottle and the filling time. 400 h. One of the reasons for such a long time is the very low
After the filling process and once the gas inside the tank is value of the diffusion coefficient of hydrogen in methane. At a
static, we estimate the time required for the full homogeni- temperature of 25  C and a pressure of 1 atm, the diffusion
zation of the mixture. Under the existing conditions (i.e. zero coefficient is equal to 7.26 105 m2/s [45]. However, this coef-
flow velocity), the only transport mechanism that contributes ficient is inversely proportional to the pressure (see Support-
to homogenization is molecular diffusion. It can be seen in ing Information). Therefore, at a pressure of 200 bar, this
Fig. S9 that the hydrogen concentration in the radial coordi- coefficient is 3.63 107 m2/s. Punetha et al. [46] reported in a
nate of the bottle is practically constant. Therefore, it was previous work homogenization time of around 1.8 h in a tank
assumed that molecular diffusion can be modeled as a one- with air in which helium is injected from the top. The tank
dimensional process, where the only dimension considered described in that article had almost half the height of that
is the height of the storage bottle. This assumption is considered in this work. Besides, the process was carried out
reasonable and allows to reduce the computational time at atmospheric pressure, making the diffusion easier. This
considerably. result can explain the high homogenization times obtained in
To carry out such a modeling, a 1D model was imple- this work.
mented using the FiPy program [44] (a calculation engine for
solving partial derivative equations using finite volume Case 3: change of fluid direction in the gas pipeline after
methods developed in the Python programming language by expansion from DN 80 to DN 250
the Center for Theoretical and Computational Materials Sci-
ence). This software was programmed to solve the molecular The aim of this task was determining the fluid flow behavior
diffusion transport equation (see section 5 in the Supporting for different compositions of hydrogen in changes of direction
Information), considering as initial conditions the H2 con- of pipelines as well as checking the impact of instrumentation
centration as a function of the bottle height. This value was allocated in the pipes. The flow comes from a DN 80 pipe and
obtained from the numerical simulation of the bottle filling enters perpendicularly into another pipe DN 250, where the
(see graph on the left in Fig. S8) and a pressure of 200 bar. The change of direction occurs.
15840 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4
When pure hydrogen was transported (see Fig. 5a), it could
be observed that the flow, once the expansion and change of
direction has occurred, recovered uniformity before passing
through the DN 250 pipe. As depicted in Fig. S10a, this recov-
ery caused the forces to which each of the objects is subjected
to be practically symmetrical in the direction of flow for each
of them, producing greater forces in those areas closer to the
entrance of the flow near the widening area.
When a 15 %vol CH4 blend in H2 was transported, Fig. 5b
depicts how the flow, after expansion and change of direction,
has not regained uniformity before passing through the DN
250 pipe. The flow impacted the wall opposite the inlet orifice
and, although it expanded as it went downstream, the highest
velocities were located adjacent to this wall. Therefore, the
flow was not uniform when it reached the objects. This
resulted in an asymmetric distribution of the pressures and
forces caused by the flow in the instrumentation objects (see
Fig. S10b).
If a 30 %vol CH4 blend in H2 was considered, the flow
adhered to a greater extent to the wall opposite the inlet
orifice (see Fig. 5c), causing an even more asymmetric pres-
sure distribution in the instrumentation elements than in the
previous cases (see Fig. S6c). This tendency gets more relevant
for the next two conditions (40 %vol H2 in CH4 and pure
methane), as depicted in Fig. 5d and 5e and Fig. S10d and S10e.
These asymmetries extend to about 0.5 m downstream of the
section reduction. However, about 20 diameters downstream
of the reduction, the flow is fully developed.
The effects observed in the different cases studied inten-
sify as the percentage of methane in the mixture gets higher,
since the Reynolds number increases. For all the cases
considered, the pressures/forces caused by this flow in the
instrumentation elements are negligible compared to the
pressure at which the system operates (80 bar) given the very
low velocities of the gas flow in the system.
Fig. 5 e Velocity contours (m/s) and streamlines for the change in fluid direction in the gas pipeline after expansion from DN
80 to DN 250 when 100 %vol H2 (a), 85 %vol H2þ15 %vol CH4 (b), 70 %vol H2þ30 %vol CH4 (c), 40 %vol H2þ60 %vol CH4 (d) and
100 %vol CH4 (e) is transported in case of study 3.
Case 4: flow pattern after expansion of the gas pipeline from
DN 80 to DN 150
The goal of this case of study is determining the fluid flow
behavior for different compositions of H2 and CH4, when a gas
pipeline widens from DN 80 to DN 150.
The expansion of the gas flow is strongly dependent on the
Reynolds number (see Fig. 6). When 100% hydrogen is trans-
ported (Re ¼ 2576, as detailed in Table S2), the flow does not
expand over the entire length of the widening. In all other
cases, the expansion of the flow occurs closer to the entrance
to the change of the pipe section as the Reynolds number in-
creases. It can be therefore stated that there is a strong
dependence of the flow behavior at the change of the pipe
section on the Reynolds number, and thus on the flow
composition.
The forces caused by the fluid on the duct walls and weld
rings are negligible, given the low velocities that occur (lower
than 0.1 m/s, see Fig. 6a). This can be seen in Fig. 6b and 6c,
showing the contours of pressure and shear stresses caused
by the flow on the duct walls. It can be seen that the values of
these variables are rather low. Therefore, the duct walls
should not support additional forces to those caused by the
pressure at which the system operates (80 bar), as already
happened in the study of case 4.
Case 5: pumping H2 and CH4 by a piston type compressor
and its injection gas pipelines
The aim of this case of study is to analyze the pulsating nature
of the flow downstream of a piston type compressor.
The model described in the experimental section has been
applied to a 100% CH4 stream and a 100% H2 stream. Since the
results obtained are identical, the simulation of other
methane-hydrogen compositions was discarded. Fig. 7a
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4 15841

Fig. 6 e Velocity contours (m/s) (a), pressure contours (Pa) (b) and shear stress (Pa) (c) of the gases in the duct widening for
each of the simulated cases in case of study 4: 100 %vol H2 (A1), 85 %vol H2þ15 %vol CH4 (A2), 70 %vol H2þ30 %vol CH4 (A3),
40 %vol H2þ60 %vol CH4 (A4) and 100 %vol CH4 (A5).

shows the variation of the mass flow rate at the outlet of the
two pistons (seeFig. S5) according to the considerations indi-
cated in the experimental section. These flow rate variations
are maintained at the junction of the two pipes exiting the
pistons, and at the junction of the latter duct with the DN 80
pipe, as observed in Fig. 7b. In this figure, small flow
oscillations are also observed at these points, corresponding
to the moments when sudden changes in the flow rate are
introduced in the system. However, the flow rate at the outlet,
plotted in Fig. 7b, remains constant throughout the cycle. This
indicates that the flow is homogenized before reaching the
outlet. Finally, the pressure change with time in the so-called
15842 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4
Fig. 7 e Changes in the mass flow rate out of each piston
over time for a complete cycle of the two pistons (a).
Changes the mass flow rate at the junction of the two pipes
leaving the pistons (G junction), at the arrival at the DN 80
pipe (G DN80) and at the exit of the compressor (G out). And
changes in the static pressure (related to the pressure at
the outlet) before the final part of the circuit (pressure
regulation valve) (c).
“virtual buffer” is shown in Fig. 7c. The pressure depicted in
this graph is the static pressure relative to the outlet pressure
of the circuit fluid (60 bar). Logically, therefore, it is 20 bar,
since the pressure provided by the pistons is 80 bar. The figure
shows that the pressure fluctuations are minimal in the so-
called “virtual buffer".
Conclusions
Transmission system operators (TSOs) are very keen for their
infrastructures to actively participate in the decarbonization
process of energy. Firstly, by transporting admixtures of nat-
ural gas and hydrogen, with a view to ultimately transporting
pure hydrogen. This way, their infrastructures can become
key elements for transporting and storing low-carbon
hydrogen in an economical and global way. For TSOs, it is
essential that the integrity of their networks can be guaran-
teed in this conversion process and the necessary actions are
established to allow a long-term use in full safety conditions.
Studies such as that carried out in this work make it possible
to foresee in advance the behavior of H2/NG blends and bare
hydrogen on elements of the transport grid, contributing to
the analysis of the technical feasibility of its conversion, and
generating confidence both in the operators and in the public
administration that regulates these activities.
CFD tools have been used in this work to develop models
that simulate the behavior of H2/CH4 mixtures in a hypo-
thetical setup, considering a simplified version of a hydrogen
injection system and part of a natural gas pipeline. From the
study of the quality of the resulting mixture in the blending
station (case 1), it was observed in all the situations that a
good mixing between the streams was produced once a length
of pipe equivalent to 20e30 diameters from the junction point
of these streams was reached. The sensitivity analysis per-
formed with different turbulence models (a crucial aspect in
the calculation of mixing quality) reinforced this conclusion.
Given this good and fast mixing quality, the simulation of the
effect of a static mixer in the circuit was discarded as it was
considered unnecessary.
In case of study 2, the pumping of blends in a buffer was
analyzed. The results obtained in this task showed that
segregation of a homogeneous methane-hydrogen mixture
stored in a tank did not occur under the conditions analyzed in
the study (steady state, constant temperature). Likewise,
when filling the tank with a mixture with the same compo-
sition as that existing in the tank, no segregation of the
mixture was observed, regardless of the pressure at which the
tank was initially loaded. However, regarding the filling of a
tank with a different hydrogen concentration than that pre-
sent in the tank, it was observed that homogenization re-
quires a relevant time (close to 400 h) because of the very low
value of the diffusion coefficient of hydrogen in methane,
especially at high pressures.
When studying changes in the fluid direction in the gas
pipeline after expansion from DN 80 to DN 250 (case 3), the
forces exerted by the flow on the instrumentation elements
were negligible, mainly due to the low flow velocities. In the
section reduction, some asymmetries were observed in the
flow due to the change of direction experienced by the flow.
These asymmetries extended to about 0.5 m downstream of
the reducer. Nevertheless, around 20 diameters downstream
of the reduction, the flow was fully developed.
In case 4 the flow pattern after expansion of the gas pipe-
line from DN 80 to DN 150 was studied. In this case, the forces
caused by the fluid on the duct walls and the weld rings in the
change of the pipe section were practically negligible. There-
fore, the design of the duct walls must consider mainly the
pressure at which the system operates (80 bar), but not the
additional forces caused by the fluid. Furthermore, a strong
dependence of the flow behavior at the expansion on the
Reynolds number (and thus on the flow composition) was also
observed. As the Reynolds number was lower (i.e. higher
hydrogen concentration), the effect of the duct expansion on
the flow was smaller. Thus, in the case with the lowest
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4
Reynolds number (pure hydrogen condition), the flow did not
fully expand over the entire length of the higher pipe section.
Finally, the pumping of H2 and CH4 by a piston type
compressor was studied in case 5. The compressor will pre-
dictably produce a pulsating flow. These pulsations could be
damped by a “buffer” of volume equivalent to the total circuit,
by introducing head losses in the circuit, or by a combination of
these two measures. The observed pulsating behavior has been
found to be independent of the composition of the gas mixture.
All the geometries studied recreate real components
representative of the transmission gas network and the re-
sults obtained are directly applicable to its elements. In any
event, issues regarding to the diffusion in the pipes referring
to a wider range of operating conditions of the pipe net must
also be considered.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
Financial support from the Spanish Research Projects AEI-
010500-2020-237 (MINCOTUR/AEI), and T13-20D (the Aragon
Government and the European Social Fund) is gratefully
acknowledged.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.03.055.
references
[1] World Energy Outlook 2021. International Energy Agency
(IEA); 2021.
[2] Global Energy Review 2020. The impacts of the Covid-19
crisis on global energy demand and CO2 emissions.
International Energy Agency (IEA); 2020.
[3] Turconi R, Boldrin A, Astrup T. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of
electricity generation technologies: overview, comparability
and limitations. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2013;28:555e65.
[4] Peker M, Kocaman AS, Kara BY. Benefits of transmission
switching and energy storage in power systems with high
renewable energy penetration. Appl Energy 2018;228:1182e97.
[5] Thomas JM, et al. Decarbonising energy: the developing
international activity in hydrogen technologies and fuel
cells. J Energy Chem 2020;51:405e15.
[6] Moliner R, La  zaro M, Suelves I. Analysis of the strategies for
bridging the gap towards the Hydrogen Economy. Int J
Hydrogen Energy 2016;41(43):19500e8.
[7] Guandalini G, Colbertaldo P, Campanari S. Dynamic
modeling of natural gas quality within transport pipelines in
presence of hydrogen injections. Appl Energy
2017;185:1712e23.
15843
[8] Hydrogen. International Energy Agency (IEA); 2021.
[9] Khzouz M, et al. Life cycle costing analysis: tools and
applications for determining hydrogen production cost for
fuel cell vehicle technology. Energies 2020;13(15):3783.
[10] Liguori S, et al. Opportunities and challenges of low-carbon
hydrogen via metallic membranes. Prog Energy Combust Sci
2020;80:100851.
[11] Bra€ ndle G, Scho€ nfisch M, Schulte S. Estimating long-term
global supply costs for low-carbon hydrogen. Appl Energy
2021;302:117481.
[12] Wang Anthony vdLK, Peters Daan, Buseman
Maudang Anthony, van der Leun Kees, Peters Daan,
Maud Buseman. European hydrogen backbone. Enaga  s,
Energinet, Fluxys Belgium, Gasunie, GRTgaz, NET4GAS, OGE,
ONTRAS, Snam, Swedegas, Tere ga; 2020.
[13] Lehner M, et al. Power-to-gas: technology and business
models. Springer; 2014.
[14] Labidine Messaoudani Z, et al. Hazards, safety and
knowledge gaps on hydrogen transmission via natural gas
grid: a critical review. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2016;41(39):17511e25.
[15] Abd AA, et al. Evaluation of hydrogen concentration effect on
the natural gas properties and flow performance. Int J
Hydrogen Energy 2021;46(1):974e83.
[16] Park C, Kim C, Choi Y. Power output characteristics of
hydrogen-natural gas blend fuel engine at different
compression ratios. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2012;37(10):8681e7.
[17] Wang J, et al. Study of cycle-by-cycle variations of a spark
ignition engine fueled with natural gasehydrogen blends. Int
J Hydrogen Energy 2008;33(18):4876e83.
[18] Xu J, et al. Experimental study of a single-cylinder engine
fueled with natural gasehydrogen mixtures. Int J Hydrogen
Energy 2010;35(7):2909e14.
[19] Haeseldonckx D, D’haeseleer W. The use of the natural-gas
pipeline infrastructure for hydrogen transport in a changing
market structure. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2007;32(10e11):1381e6.
[20] Capelle J, et al. Sensitivity of pipelines with steel API X52 to
hydrogen embrittlement. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2008;33(24):7630e41.
[21] Briottet L, Moro I, Lemoine P. Quantifying the hydrogen
embrittlement of pipeline steels for safety considerations.
Int J Hydrogen Energy 2012;37(22):17616e23.
[22] Norton T, Sun D-W. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)ean
effective and efficient design and analysis tool for the food
industry: a review. Trends Food Sci Technol
2006;17(11):600e20.
[23] Abohamzeh E, et al. Review of hydrogen safety during
storage, transmission, and applications processes. J Loss
Prev Process Ind 2021;72:104569.
[24] Chung C, et al. CFD investigation on performance
enhancement of metal hydride hydrogen storage vessels
using heat pipes. Appl Therm Eng 2015;91:434e46.
[25] Melideo D, et al. CFD simulations of filling and emptying of
hydrogen tanks. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2017;42(11):7304e13.
[26] Nikiforow K, et al. Designing a hydrogen gas ejector for 5 kW
stationary PEMFC systemeCFD-modeling and experimental
validation. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2016;41(33):14952e70.
[27] Zhuo Y, Hu Z, Shen Y. CFD study of hydrogen injection
through tuyeres into ironmaking blast furnaces. Fuel
2021;302:120804.
[28] De Robbio R. Innovative combustion analysis of a micro-gas
turbine burner supplied with hydrogen-natural gas mixtures.
Energy Proc 2017;126:858e66.
[29] Capurso T, et al. CFD analysis of the combustion in the BERL
burner fueled with a hydrogen-natural gas mixture. In: E3S
Web of Conferences. EDP Sciences; 2020.
15844 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 7 ( 2 0 2 2 ) 1 5 8 3 2 e1 5 8 4 4
[30] Middha P, Engel D, Hansen OR. Can the addition of hydrogen
to natural gas reduce the explosion risk? Int J Hydrogen
Energy 2011;36(3):2628e36.
[31] Shirvill L, et al. Experimental study of hydrogen explosion in
repeated pipe congestionePart 2: effects of increase in
hydrogen concentration in hydrogen-methane-air mixture.
Int J Hydrogen Energy 2019;44(5):3264e76.
[32] Liu B, et al. Decompression of hydrogendnatural gas
mixtures in high-pressure pipelines: CFD modelling using
different equations of state. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2019;44(14):7428e37.
[33] Behbahani-Nejad, M., A.G. Kharaji, and H. Saeidian, CFD
Analysis of Friction Factor for High Velocity Compressible
Flows through Natural Gas Pipes.
[34] Elaoud S, Hadj-Taı̈eb E. Transient flow in pipelines of high-
pressure hydrogenenatural gas mixtures. Int J Hydrogen
Energy 2008;33(18):4824e32.
[35] Galassi MC, et al. CFD analysis of fast filling scenarios for 70
MPa hydrogen type IV tanks. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2012;37(8):6886e92.
[36] Sun F, et al. Geothermal energy development by circulating
CO2 in a U-shaped closed loop geothermal system. Energy
Convers Manag 2018;174:971e82.
[37] Sun F, et al. Performance of geothermal energy extraction in
a horizontal well by using CO2 as the working fluid. Energy
Convers Manag 2018;171:1529e39.
[38] Sun F, et al. Geothermal energy extraction in CO2 rich basin
using abandoned horizontal wells. Energy 2018;158:760e73.
[39] Sun F, et al. Numerical simulation of supercritical-water flow
in concentric-dual-tubing wells. SPE J 2018;23(6):2188e201.
[40] Sun F, et al. Performance analysis of superheated steam
injection for heavy oil recovery and modeling of wellbore
heat efficiency. Energy 2017;125:795e804.
[41] Sun F, Yao Y, Li X. The heat and mass transfer characteristics
of superheated steam coupled with non-condensing gases in
horizontal wells with multi-point injection technique.
Energy 2018;143:995e1005.
[42] Sun F, et al. Transport behaviors of real gas mixture through
nanopores of shale reservoir. J Petrol Sci Eng
2019;177:1134e41.
[43] Sun F, et al. A slip-flow model for oil transport in organic
nanopores. J Petrol Sci Eng 2019;172:139e48.
[44] Center and f.T.a.C.M. Science, FiPy: A Finite Volume PDE
Solver Using Python.
[45] Bird RB, Lightfoot EN, Stewart WE. Notes on transport
phenomena. Transport phenomena. In: Bird By RB,
Stewart Warren E, Lightfoot Edwin N, editors. A rewritten
and enlarged edition of" notes on transport phenomena.
John Wiley & Sons; 1960.
[46] Punetha M, Choudhary A, Khandekar S. Stratification and
mixing dynamics of helium in an air filled confined
enclosure. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2018;43(42):19792e809.