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Aug-2024


POTENTIAL OF NATURAL HYDROGEN IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION

For energy-intensive industries looking to clean hydrogen as a means of
decarbonisation, natural hydrogen can reduce uncertainty and cost.

Himmat Singh
Ex Scientist ‘G’ CSIR, Indian Institute of Petroleum and Advisor R&D, BPCL

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Article Summary



The emergence of the hydrogen economy as part of the global drive to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions has invigorated interest in naturally occurring
molecular hydrogen. Natural or geologic hydrogen is ubiquitous at low
concentrations in the subsurface environment, while it can accumulate in higher
concentrations when trapped in pockets deeper underground, similar to oil and
natural gas.

Geologists hypothesise that untapped reservoirs of natural hydrogen may be found
globally, including in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and
Russia. These are often, but not only, associated with depleted oil and gas
reservoirs (Zgonnik, 2020). This has led to an upturn in geological modelling to
determine the volume of known reservoirs, as well as exploration activities to
discover and assess the potential of new reservoirs.

This research suggests that the Earth contains a greater amount of natural
hydrogen than previously assumed. The US Geological Survey (USGS) estimates
there may be as much as 5.5 trillion tonnes of hydrogen in underground
reservoirs worldwide (Blain, 2024), (Ellis & Gelman, 2023). The process for
hydrogen generation via water reduction is rapid, implying that natural hydrogen
could constitute a renewable, clean energy source (USGS, 2023).

It also raises the prospect that abundant, renewable, natural hydrogen could be
exploited at costs similar to that of natural gas when the cost of carbon
emissions is considered.

Formation of natural hydrogen
Natural hydrogen is molecular hydrogen that has been generated by a range of
geological and biological processes at shallow level and deep subterranean
levels. Of the many processes that generate hydrogen, two of the main ones are
considered to be serpentisation and radiolysis (Zgonnik, 2020):

- Serpentinisation: Mafic rocks and minerals are magnesium and iron silicates,
such as olivine and pyroxene. These minerals are widespread components of the
Earth’s lithosphere – the crust and mantle. When groundwater comes into contact
with mafic minerals, the water is reduced to oxygen, which binds with the iron
to form serpentites and hydrogen.

- Radiolysis: Trace radioactive elements in rocks emit radiation that can split
water into hydrogen and oxygen. This is believed to be the main mechanism for
the production of the Earth’s oxygen over the geological timescale.

In addition, streams of hydrogen from the Earth’s core or mantle may rise along
tectonic plate boundaries and faults. Hydrogen is highly diffusive, so it
travels quickly through faults and fractures. In shallower layers of rocks,
microbes metabolise hydrogen to produce methane. At deeper levels, abiotic
reactions can occur to form methane, water, and mineral compounds (USGS, 2023).

A global search
The prevalence of serpentinisation and radiolysis reactions in Mafic rocks from
the Precambrian continental lithosphere, which covers 70% of the global
continental crust surface area, suggests a global rather than regional potential
for hydrogen evolution (Day, 2023). This has been confirmed by widespread
discoveries of natural hydrogen at concentrations greater than 10% (Zgonnik,
2020). The discovery has led to worldwide exploration and production activities,
a few of which are summarised below. Most of these projects are at an early
stage, which entails a high degree of uncertainty:

• Africa – Mali: Gas analysis data from a pioneer well and geochemical data from
additional exploratory wells has confirmed the presence of an extensive hydrogen
reservoir in the Bourakébougou field in Mali. The first well started production
in 2014 and is producing 5 Mt/a (Prinzhofer & Cacas-Stentz, 2023).

• Australia – South Australia: In the 1920s and 1930s, oil exploration activity
in South Australia found gas reservoirs rich in hydrogen. More recently, 35
permits have been granted for exploratory drilling for natural hydrogen
(Alcimed, 2024). In 2023, test drilling in exploratory wells found gas with
concentrations of up to 86% natural hydrogen and 6.8% helium, also a valuable
substance (Gold Hydrogen, 2023). Then, in 2024, hydrogen at a purity of up to
95.8% was confirmed in the Ramsay 2 well (GoldHydrogen, 2024).

• Europe: Several European countries have geological formations associated with
natural hydrogen. In France, the second phase of an exploration project,
Regallor II, was initiated in 2024, with the goal of evaluating the size and
potential for exploitation of a natural hydrogen reservoir in the coal basin in
the Lorraine region of France. Reported estimates for the size of the Lorraine
reservoir vary from 46 Mt of natural hydrogen (Meillaud & King, 2023) to as much
as 250 Mt (Waltham, 2024; Bakx, 2024).

• North America – Canada: Much of Canada is covered with the type of rocks
associated with the formation of natural hydrogen. The Geological Survey of
Canada began building a database of potential deposits in 2022. While mapping
will take several years, the process has prioritised several sites for detailed
exploration in Northern Ontario and Quebec (Sejourne, et al., 2024), and test
drilling in Northern Ontario is planned to start in 2024 (Bakx, 2024).

• North America – USA: The USGS is developing a global resource model for
natural hydrogen, using analogues such as natural gas to help develop the
scientific understanding of the subsurface behaviour of hydrogen. This model was
used to predict the mean volume of hydrogen globally of 5.5 trillion tonnes.
However, the USGS scientists note that most of this hydrogen is probably
inaccessible, as it is either too deep or too far offshore or in accumulations
too small for exploitation (Ellis & Gelman, 2023). Even then, there may be
sufficient hydrogen that is economically accessible to constitute a primary
energy source.

As elsewhere, the USGS is mapping the regions in the US most likely to contain
natural hydrogen. One area of interest stretches along most of the Atlantic
Coast, while a second area is in central US, including parts of the Great Plains
and Upper Midwest (Ellis & Gelman, 2023).

An example workflow for the exploration process is shown in Figure 1.

Natural hydrogen as a renewable resource
The USGS considers that some of the gas in natural hydrogen fields may be
renewable, given the rapid rate of hydrogen generation via water reduction. Some
researchers have proposed that reservoirs, traps, and seals may not even be
necessary to produce hydrogen. It may be possible to tap into rocks that are
generating hydrogen or have hydrogen migrating through them to produce the
hydrogen gas as it is being generated.

Other scientists propose that hot water could be injected into iron-rich rocks
that are not currently generating hydrogen to stimulate generation (Ellis &
Gelman, 2023). In the context of the move away from carbon emissions as part of
the energy transition, such opportunities are exciting and merit significant
research and development. At the same time, it should be noted that
serpentisation is not a catalytic process (Zgonnik, 2020).



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