Hydrogen Exploration Blueprint for a Carbon-Free Energy Future

While current hydrogen production relies heavily on hydrocarbons or renewable energy, neither approach is yet commercially viable at the required scale. However, scientists estimate that enough hydrogen has been naturally generated within the Earth's continental crust over the past billion years to meet global energy needs for at least 170,000 years. Although some of this gas is no longer accessible or has been lost, substantial quantities remain untapped, presenting a significant opportunity for clean energy production.

Professor Jon Gluyas of Durham University, a co-author of the study, highlighted the potential for a systematic approach to hydrogen exploration, stating, "We have successfully developed an exploration strategy for helium and a similar 'first principles' approach can be taken for hydrogen."

The new research identifies critical factors for finding economically viable hydrogen accumulations, including the volume of hydrogen produced, the rock types involved, migration pathways, and the geological conditions that either preserve or destroy hydrogen deposits. Understanding these factors is essential for pinpointing promising hydrogen reservoirs and avoiding regions where hydrogen may be consumed by subsurface microbes, as noted by study co-author Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar of the University of Toronto: "We know for example that underground microbes readily feast on hydrogen. Avoiding environments that bring them into contact with the hydrogen is important in preserving hydrogen in economic accumulations."

Lead author Professor Chris Ballentine from the University of Oxford emphasized the importance of integrating these exploration elements effectively, likening it to a precise culinary process: "Combining the ingredients to find accumulated hydrogen in any of these settings can be likened to cooking a souffle - get any one of the ingredients, amounts, timing, or temperature wrong and you will be disappointed."

The study underscores the need for further research into factors like rock reaction efficiencies and the impact of geological history on hydrogen accumulation. It also challenges some popular theories, demonstrating that sources like mantle-derived hydrogen are less viable than previously believed.

Snowfox Discovery Ltd, the exploration company founded by the study's authors, aims to leverage these findings to uncover significant natural hydrogen reserves, potentially providing a transformative low-carbon energy source as part of the global energy transition.

Research Report:Natural hydrogen resource accumulation in the continental crust