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'Hydrogen Fever' Erupts after Discoveries of Large Deposits of the Clean Gas
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/once-hidden-hydrogen-gas-deposits-could-be-a-boon-for-clean-energy/MAY 8, 2024 7 MIN READ
'Hydrogen Fever’ Erupts after Discoveries of Large Deposits of the Clean Gas
Large stores of natural hydrogen have turned up in Albania, France and Mali
BY MARTA ZARASKA
Laurent Truche, a geochemist at Grenoble Alpes University in France, has been searching for naturally occurring hydrogen for nearly a decade. This year, in a chromite mine in Albania, he and his colleagues struck gold, or rather another element on the periodic table. Nearly a kilometer below the surface, they discovered a hydrogen seep so strong it turned a murky drainage pond into something resembling a Jacuzzi. Truche had never seen hydrogen bubbles that big. “It was really intense,” he says.
Natural hydrogen is hydrogen gas in its molecular form (H₂ ) that is generated through natural processes. Formed deep within Earth, it may get trapped on its way to the surface, creating accumulations of gas. Confusingly also called “gold,” “white” or “geological” hydrogen, natural hydrogen could offer us an energy source cleaner than other types of hydrogen because there is no carbon involved in the process that generates it (although drilling and distribution would still involve some carbon dioxide emissions, of course). A recent study estimated the greenhouse gas intensity of natural hydrogen to be 0.4 kilogram of CO₂ equivalent per kilogram (kg CO₂eq/kg), far less than the 22-26 kg kg CO₂e/kg of black hydrogen (produced from coal) or the 10-14 kg CO₂e/kg of blue hydrogen (produced from natural gas).
The Albania discovery was the latest in a string of similar findings that have recently spiked interest in naturally occurring hydrogen. When last year geologists discovered natural hydrogen in old coal deposits below Folschviller, a dilapidated mining town in northern France, local media went abuzz with hope. Some called it “the new petrol.” Others called it “a game changer.” And the words “El Dorado” have been uttered, too. But Truche casts a cautionary note, calling the fervor over the discoveries a “hydrogen fever.” “In one sense, it is wonderful because it attracts attention, funding and lots of motivation to move forward, he adds. “But in another sense, it’s also kind of a Wild West—with lots of overstatements.”
Three decades ago scientists thought that naturally occurring hydrogen deposits simply didn’t exist. What was known, however, was that hydrogen could be produced deep within our planet through a process called serpentinization, which occurs when water reaches iron-rich rocks from Earth’s mantle. The reaction transforms the rocks and liberates hydrogen from water molecules. Other processes, too, were known to produce hydrogen, such as radiolysis—the splitting of water molecules by radiation from uranium and other radioactive elements within Earth’s crust. Yet it was taken for granted that hydrogen, the lightest molecule, would seep through rock layers and escape into the atmosphere instead of pooling in reservoirs like petroleum does. Scientists recognized as well that hydrogen was easily consumed by microbes, which, the theory went, would make reservoirs even less likely. “I’ve spent 30 years doing oil and gas research and very much had this mentality that, yeah, hydrogen is out there, but you could never get accumulations,” says Geoffrey Ellis, a geochemist at the U.S. Geological Survey.
…
'Hydrogen Fever’ Erupts after Discoveries of Large Deposits of the Clean Gas
Large stores of natural hydrogen have turned up in Albania, France and Mali
BY MARTA ZARASKA
Laurent Truche, a geochemist at Grenoble Alpes University in France, has been searching for naturally occurring hydrogen for nearly a decade. This year, in a chromite mine in Albania, he and his colleagues struck gold, or rather another element on the periodic table. Nearly a kilometer below the surface, they discovered a hydrogen seep so strong it turned a murky drainage pond into something resembling a Jacuzzi. Truche had never seen hydrogen bubbles that big. “It was really intense,” he says.
Natural hydrogen is hydrogen gas in its molecular form (H₂ ) that is generated through natural processes. Formed deep within Earth, it may get trapped on its way to the surface, creating accumulations of gas. Confusingly also called “gold,” “white” or “geological” hydrogen, natural hydrogen could offer us an energy source cleaner than other types of hydrogen because there is no carbon involved in the process that generates it (although drilling and distribution would still involve some carbon dioxide emissions, of course). A recent study estimated the greenhouse gas intensity of natural hydrogen to be 0.4 kilogram of CO₂ equivalent per kilogram (kg CO₂eq/kg), far less than the 22-26 kg kg CO₂e/kg of black hydrogen (produced from coal) or the 10-14 kg CO₂e/kg of blue hydrogen (produced from natural gas).
The Albania discovery was the latest in a string of similar findings that have recently spiked interest in naturally occurring hydrogen. When last year geologists discovered natural hydrogen in old coal deposits below Folschviller, a dilapidated mining town in northern France, local media went abuzz with hope. Some called it “the new petrol.” Others called it “a game changer.” And the words “El Dorado” have been uttered, too. But Truche casts a cautionary note, calling the fervor over the discoveries a “hydrogen fever.” “In one sense, it is wonderful because it attracts attention, funding and lots of motivation to move forward, he adds. “But in another sense, it’s also kind of a Wild West—with lots of overstatements.”
Three decades ago scientists thought that naturally occurring hydrogen deposits simply didn’t exist. What was known, however, was that hydrogen could be produced deep within our planet through a process called serpentinization, which occurs when water reaches iron-rich rocks from Earth’s mantle. The reaction transforms the rocks and liberates hydrogen from water molecules. Other processes, too, were known to produce hydrogen, such as radiolysis—the splitting of water molecules by radiation from uranium and other radioactive elements within Earth’s crust. Yet it was taken for granted that hydrogen, the lightest molecule, would seep through rock layers and escape into the atmosphere instead of pooling in reservoirs like petroleum does. Scientists recognized as well that hydrogen was easily consumed by microbes, which, the theory went, would make reservoirs even less likely. “I’ve spent 30 years doing oil and gas research and very much had this mentality that, yeah, hydrogen is out there, but you could never get accumulations,” says Geoffrey Ellis, a geochemist at the U.S. Geological Survey.
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