Coupled Effects of Biofilm Dynamics and Flow on Hydrogen Transport in a Hydrogen-Generating Fracture
Abstract
Biofilm growth in hydrogen-generating fractures modifies fluid flow and hydrogen transport, while microbial activity consumes hydrogen. These coupled processes influence hydrogen recovery in stimulated geologic hydrogen systems. We use high-fidelity simulations to investigate flow, biofilm dynamics, and hydrogen transport in a rough fracture with reactive walls. Flow rate and biofilm permeability were varied to quantify changes in fracture permeability, biomass accumulation, and outlet hydrogen concentration. Biofilm growth reduced apparent fracture permeability by up to 65\% as biomass occupied the aperture. Two hydrogen concentration regimes are identified. For highly permeable biofilms (Type I), outlet concentration evolved non-monotonically as roughness-induced vortices initially restricted hydrogen transport before biofilm growth suppressed them. Low-permeability biofilms (Type II) result in an approximately monotonic outlet concentration decrease dominated by transport resistance and microbial consumption. The regimes were distinguished by a Darcy-scale Reynolds number (ReD=u√(K0)/ν). Temporal hydrogen concentration variations in field studies may help determine intrinsic biofilm permeability.
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BibTeX
@misc{yu2026coupled,
title = {{Coupled Effects of Biofilm Dynamics and Flow on Hydrogen Transport in a Hydrogen-Generating Fracture}},
author = {Siqin Yu and Yinuo Noah Yao},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.05610},
eprint = {2611.05610},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.05610},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Coupled Effects of Biofilm Dynamics and Flow on Hydrogen Transport in a Hydrogen-Generating Fracture
AU - Siqin Yu
AU - Yinuo Noah Yao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.05610
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.05610
AB - Biofilm growth in hydrogen-generating fractures modifies fluid flow and hydrogen transport, while microbial activity consumes hydrogen. These coupled processes influence hydrogen recovery in stimulated geologic hydrogen systems. We use high-fidelity simulations to investigate flow, biofilm dynamics, and hydrogen transport in a rough fracture with reactive walls. Flow rate and biofilm permeability were varied to quantify changes in fracture permeability, biomass accumulation, and outlet hydrogen concentration. Biofilm growth reduced apparent fracture permeability by up to 65\% as biomass occupied the aperture. Two hydrogen concentration regimes are identified. For highly permeable biofilms (Type I), outlet concentration evolved non-monotonically as roughness-induced vortices initially restricted hydrogen transport before biofilm growth suppressed them. Low-permeability biofilms (Type II) result in an approximately monotonic outlet concentration decrease dominated by transport resistance and microbial consumption. The regimes were distinguished by a Darcy-scale Reynolds number (Re_D=u√(K_0)/ν). Temporal hydrogen concentration variations in field studies may help determine intrinsic biofilm permeability.
ER -