Natural Hydrogen Fuel

Prelims - General Science | Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World

Why in News?

According to research firm Rystad Energy, by the end of 2023, 40 companies, including start-ups, were searching for deposits of natural hydrogen around the world, up from just 10 in 2020.

• Hydrogen – It is a gas of diatomic molecules with the formula H₂, officially called "dihydrogen", but also called molecular hydrogen.
• It is a colorless, odorless, flammable gas.
• Natural Hydrogen – It refers to hydrogen gas that is found in its natural form beneath Earth’s surface.

Natural Hydrogen is sometimes known as white Hydrogen or gold Hydrogen or geologic Hydrogen.

• Generation – It occurs as a free gas in geology, produced by
  • Serpentinisation, the interaction of water and iron-containing rocks.
  • Radiolysis of water by radioactive rocks, and from organic matter at depth.
• Helium co-exists with hydrogen in a few reserves points that radiolysis plays a role in its generation.

• Discovery – It was 1^st discovered by accident in Mali, contains no carbon and produces only water when burned.
• Areas for geological hydrogen generation – Gas seeps, volcanic outgassing, mines and in also in active mountain ranges with tectonic activity
  • Examples: The Pyrenees, Alps, and Himalayas
• Current reserves – Hundreds of hydrogen seeps have been in various countries, including Spain, France, Albania, Colombia, South Korea, Canada and
  • Australia - Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island
  • United States - Kansas, Nebraska

• Current production – It is manufactured mostly from natural gas through an energy-intensive and polluting process.

Production of Green Hydrogen involves a process that involves splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity.

• Significance – If harvested in a sustainable manner, it may provide a clean and potentially low-cost fuel.

Quick Facts

• Serpentinization – It is a geological process where ultramafic rocks, rich in minerals like olivine and pyroxene, are altered by water and converted into serpentine minerals which releases hydrogen gas during the process.
• Radiolysis – It is the process in which subatomic particles naturally emitted by radioactive rocks such as granite cause certain molecules to break apart, releasing hydrogen.

Reference

The Hindu| Potential of Natural Hydrogen Fuel