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Underground Storage

Air Liquide Hydrogen Storage Cavern

Spindletop, Texas, United States

Client: Air Liquide Large Industries U.S., LP

Parsons Brinckerhoff Role: Design, Project Management

Air Liquide Hydrogen Storage Cavern
Parsons Brinckerhoff, the leading designer and constructor of underground hydrocarbon storage caverns and related facilities in the United States, provides design, construction management, and facility operations services to the hydrocarbon storage industry worldwide. Among other projects, the firm is currently working on a hydrogen storage cavern for Air Liquide at the Spindletop Dome near Beaumont in southeast Texas.

The Air Liquide storage cavern will be one of three commercial hydrogen storage caverns in the United States. The cavern is designed to have a working capacity of 3.0 billion cubic feet (85 million cubic meters) of hydrogen. Another 2.0 billion cubic feet (57 million cubic meters) of cushion gas will be required to ensure that the cavern is structurally stable during operations.

Parsons Brinckerhoff prepared feasibility studies and front-end engineering design for the project. The design included thermal modeling of cavern operations to determine final cavern volumes and capacities, using software developed by Parsons Brinckerhoff. The software, originally developed for thermodynamic modeling of natural gas storage caverns, was modified for this project to incorporate the use of hydrogen. The firm also permitted the storage cavern with the Texas Railroad Commission.

Parsons Brinckerhoff recently completed drilling of a 16-inch diameter cavern well, which was completed to a depth of 5,400 feet (1,646 meters) in less than 113 days. The firm is acting as operator and engineer for Air Liquide during solution mining of the cavern. At the end of the solution mining process, Parsons Brinckerhoff will provide project management and engineering services to change the wellhead and well casings to a material that is compatible with hydrogen service, and prepare the cavern for operation. The firm will also provide engineering support during the initial injection of hydrogen into the cavern and subsequent brine withdrawal.

Parsons Brinckerhoff is the nation's leading engineer and constructor of underground storage and related surface facilities.  The firm was founded with the objective of providing a full range of quality services in the highly specialized field of subsurface systems technology, with particular emphasis on underground hydrocarbon storage and related facilities.

Over the years, our capabilities have been enhanced by the acquisition of complementary engineering, construction and service firms.  Key to these capabilities is a professional staff with the technical expertise and innovative spirit necessary to offer effective solutions in today's dynamic regulatory and business environment.

Parsons Brinckerhoff develops underground storage facilities for a wide range of liquid, gaseous and solid products, with particular emphasis on hydrocarbons, compressed air and waste byproducts.  Our expertise extends to the design, construction and operation of:

  • Solution-mined storage facilities
  • Compressed air energy storage caverns
  • Aquifer and depleted reservoir storage facilities
  • Solution mining for mineral recovery systems
  • Underground disposal wells and handling systems
  • Conventionally mined storage facilities

Parsons Brinckerhoff is also experienced in the design and construction of surface systems for storage facilities, including compressor stations, tank farms, platforms, pipelines, terminals, leaching plants, etc.  Our well services expertise also encompasses:

  • Drilling engineering and management
  • Storage and disposal well workovers
  • Mechanical integrity testing of caverns and wells