Hydrogen’s Goldrush?

With the aspiration to be the world’s leading developer of hydrogen powertrain solutions for automotive, aerospace, marine and distributed power applications, Viritech has taken the view that as the world’s electricity supply is increasingly produced with renewable energy, hydrogen production will become progressively greener, and eventually all hydrogen will be zero-carbon green hydrogen.

Today, this is not the case, and the two main alternatives are grey hydrogen, produced from fossil fuels, and blue hydrogen, which is grey hydrogen with the CO2 removed and stored underground. So, we were excited to learn of a recent development that could make everyone rethink the hydrogen rainbow.

White hydrogen – which is hydrogen that exists naturally on Earth, has long been considered more theoretical than real. This is because, while hydrogen comprises 75% of all matter in the Universe, within the Earth’s atmosphere it seeks to bind with other elements - mostly oxygen, which creates water. However, there is now growing evidence that white hydrogen may actually be as common as oil or gas.

To understand why scientific theory is now being challenged, we need a little background: in 2012, in a village in Mali called Bourakébougou, a man badly burned himself by lighting a cigarette over what turned out to be a plume of white hydrogen coming out of the ground. Since then, the village has been using the hydrogen to provide electricity, and there are increasing reports of other instances of hydrogen vents – one mine in Albania is thought to be releasing 200 tonnes a year, with a purity of 84%.

Hydrogen is colourless and odourless, and when released it rises in a very narrow vertical column, so it is almost undetectable without specialist equipment. So, could it be that the reason we have never found white hydrogen is simply because we have never looked for it? Well that is changing rapidly and, now it is accepted that hydrogen will be central to both our zero-emission future and a key element of energy security, the hunt is on.

Scientists now believe that iron-rich rocks release hydrogen when they come into contact with water, and that underground with nothing to bind to, hydrogen remains in its natural state. The most likely hydrogen-producing rocks are thought to be ophiolites – parts of the ocean floor that have been thrust above sea-level as a result of tectonic movements.

According to a recent report in the Financial Times, the US Geological Survey now believes as much as 5 trillion tonnes of white hydrogen may exist below the Earth’s surface and given that one tonne of hydrogen contains the same energy as three tonnes of petrol, that would be enough energy to meet the planet’s needs for potentially hundreds of years.

Of course, as with all natural resources, it is not the theoretical amount that matters, but the amount that can be economically extracted, and right now, it is impossible to predict how much white hydrogen can be readily accessed. But it would be reasonable to expect that, like oil, a fair amount is to be found in places which are relatively straightforward to access, and just 1% of the theoretical reserve (50 billion tonnes) would transform our use of energy.

In terms of potential production, the hunt is now on for white hydrogen and investors, including Bill Gates, are investing in the industry. As an example of how quickly this may progress, it is worth remembering the speed with which “fracking”, or hydraulic fracturing of hydrocarbons took off in the US, turning it into the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas, within 15 years.

If this search is successful, hydrogen extraction would be the cleanest mining process the world has seen and may deliver the perfect natural solution to ensuring our zero-emission future. For, unlike drilling for oil and gas, white hydrogen will not cause spillages, as any hydrogen that escapes will simply rise rapidly and vertically, leaving no ground pollution.

White hydrogen has the potential to deliver all the convenience of oil without the pollution – no wonder is now also being referred to as ‘gold hydrogen’…