Global Journal on Advances in Pure & Applied Sciences Vol 2 (2014) 24-41 Selected Paper of Global Conference on Energy, Soil, Water, Air and Environment (ESWAE-2013) A Two-Phase Model of a Composition Variation of the Hydrocarbon Mixture in Underground Hydrogen Storage A. Toleukhanov *, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. M. Panfilov, Lorraine University, Nancy, France. A. Kaltayev, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Suggested Citation: Toleukhanov, A., Panfilov, M. & Kaltayev, A. A Two-Phase Model of a Composition Variation of the Hydrocarbon Mixture in Underground Hydrogen Storage, Global Journal on Advances in Pure & Applied Sciences [Online]. 2014, 02, pp 24-41. Available from: http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/paas Received March 03, 2013; revised July 03, 2013; accepted October 02, 2013. Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Haluk Soran, Near East University, Cyprus. ©2014 SPROC LTD. Academic World Education & Research Center. All rights reserved. Abstract The injection of large amounts of hydrogen in geological formations is considered as the efficient method of energy storage, and the mode of regulation between the energy production and consumption. A hydrogen storage in aquifers or depleted gas reservoirs behaves as the natural chemical reactor due to high activity of the methanogenic bacteria which consume hydrogen as the source of energy. In the present paper we develop the new mathematical model of gas-water multicomponent flow with biotic reactions coupled with the system of equations of population dynamics. The model takes into account the existence of several forms of bacteria: the biofilms stuck to pore walls, the plankton floating in water, and the monolayer of bacteria living at the interface between water and gas (the neuston). Both the neuston and the biofilm have favorable conditions of existence, and they can transit from one form to another. The kinetic of bacterium proliferation is described by standard models. The bifurcation analysis of the obtained system of equations has revealed several nontrivial regimes of behaviour which are characterized by the formation of nonlinear auto waves. In the areas with high gas saturation and immobile water, the regimes of flow are determined by the kinetics of population growth which leads to the appearance of the Turing instability. Its evolution transforms into stationary oscillations in space. In the areas when water is mombile, the nonlinearity of the two-phase flow coupled with the population kinetics generates non-stationary Volterra’s oscillations. The characteristic period of the oscillations can reach several meters and depends on the rate of gas injection, the rate of bacteria reproduction and death, and the parameters of diffusion. The two-scale auto-waves are observed in several cases. The formation of such regimes represents the natural mechanism of separation of chemical components with formation of the zones oversaturated either by hydrogen or by methane, which was observed in practice (the hydrogen storage * ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: A. Toleukhanov, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, E-mail address: amankaznu@gmail.com