“We aim to optimize the reaction parameters to make the reaction faster and produce hydrogen in an economically feasible manner,” MIT Assistant Professor Iwnetim Abate explained, highlighting the lofty pursuit of tapping the Earth’s native hydrogen reservoirs. The promise of geologic hydrogen as a clean energy source is attracting scientists as well as business leaders. This naturally captured hydrogen, held under the Earth’s crust, could fuel humanity for 170,000 years, says a new Nature Reviews Earth & Environment study, written by researchers from the University of Oxford, Durham University, and the University of Toronto.
The appeal of natural hydrogen is that it can potentially provide a carbon-free future. In contrast to traditional hydrogen production, which depends on hydrocarbons and contributes 2.4% of worldwide CO2 emissions, geologic hydrogen provides a clean alternative. The authors of the study have developed an “exploration recipe” for finding and exploiting these buried reservoirs, describing geological settings in which hydrogen accumulates. This recipe, similar to the soupçon recipe for a soufflé, demands specific conditions kinds of rock, temperatures, histories required to trap hydrogen in economically recoverable amounts successfully.
One of the greatest findings in this area is the huge reservoir of hydrogen under a chromium mine in Albania. Researchers, directed by Laurent Truche at Grenoble Alpes University, diagrammed hydrogen gas bubbling out of pools of water at the Bulqizë mine after discovering one of the globe’s largest natural flow rates of hydrogen ever measured. It arrives to reinforce the promise of accessing similar reserves globally and offer a vision of an era where fossil fuels might be replaced with hydrogen as a source of energy.
The economic impact of natural hydrogen is considerable. Commercial hydrogen now has a cost of about $2 per kilogram, mainly for the purpose of producing fertilizer and chemicals. “green hydrogen,” created using renewable energy, runs about five times higher at about $7 per kilogram. But if natural hydrogen is mined at under $1,000 per ton, as U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy expert Emily Yedinak projected, then it will be competitive with natural gas.
There are hurdles despite the buzz. Producing hydrogen from the earth’s crust has some of its own hurdles. Hydrogen is extremely flammable in nature, and safety is a problem in extracting it, as witnessed by explosions at the Bulqizë mine. Furthermore, the environmental impact of releasing hydrogen into the atmosphere is of concern. Although hydrogen is not a greenhouse gas itself, indirectly it may induce warming since it reacts with atmospheric chemicals and influences the decomposition of other greenhouse gases.
Geoscientists such as the U.S. Geological Survey’s Geoffrey Ellis are creating new technologies for finding these elusive reserves. They construct computer simulations of geologic formations that can produce and store hydrogen, and then apply them to drill down into potential candidates to explore. It’s a methodical step-by-step procedure for transforming today’s wildcat gambles into smart, strategic plays.
The search for natural hydrogen is in full swing, with companies such as Snowfox Discovery Ltd. and Natural Hydrogen Energy taking the bull by the horns. These efforts are searching for likely areas of interest throughout the world, from the United States’ Midcontinent Rift to Turkey’s colossal ophiolite belts to Slovenia. The competition is on to reveal the secrets of Earth’s buried hydrogen and usher in an age of cleaner, greener energy.
As the world teeters towards fulfilling the imperative of switching to carbon-free energy, the search for natural hydrogen is an incentive that cannot be bypassed. The solution will lie in unified effort by geoscientists, engineers, and policymakers to overcome the technical and environmental hurdles. But if that occurs, the payback is gargantuan, leading to a new model for energy production that is compatible with the visions of the 2050 net-zero economy.
