Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Earth Sci.

Sec. Economic Geology

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1589956

Hydrogen storage potential of coal: Influence of coal on pore structure and adsorption mechanisms

Provisionally accepted
Liru Tao Liru Tao *Yiwen Ju Yiwen Ju
  • University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The development of clean energy is crucial for the transition to a low-carbon economy, and hydrogen, with its high energy density and environmental friendliness, has become increasingly important. Coal, as a porous medium, provides a possible site for underground storage of hydrogen. The structural evolution of coal during coalification significantly influences hydrogen adsorption capabilities within nanopores, yet comprehensive studies evaluating the hydrogen adsorption and storage potential in coals of different ranks (low, medium, and high) remain limited. Our study innovatively addresses this research gap by investigating the hydrogen storage potential in low-, medium-, and high-rank coal seams, focusing particularly on how molecular structure affects pore structure and hydrogen adsorption mechanisms. Coal samples representing various coal ranks were collected from different basins in China. Multiple experimental techniques, including CO₂ and low-temperature N₂ adsorption, hydrogen adsorption isotherms, XRD, and HRTEM analyses, were employed to characterize coal structures and hydrogen adsorption properties comprehensively. Results indicate that coal is rich in nanopores. The evolution of coal molecular structure during coalification has a correlation with the microporous evolution characteristics, which determines the hydrogen adsorption capacity. With the increase of coal rank, the hydrogen adsorption capacity showed an obvious four-stage evolution pattern. High-rank coal with strong hydrogen adsorption capacity, faster adsorption rate and lower hydrogen retention after desorption, and is more suitable for underground hydrogen storage. These findings enhance the fundamental understanding of coal-hydrogen interactions and provide crucial guidelines for selecting optimal geological reservoirs for underground hydrogen storage.

    Keywords: Underground hydrogen storage, Coal rank, Nanopores, hydrogen adsorption, Pore structure

    Received: 08 Mar 2025; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Tao and Ju. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Liru Tao, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

    Research integrity at Frontiers

    Man ultramarathon runner in the mountains he trains at sunset

    95% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good

    Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.


    Find out more