The worldwide vitality sector’s pivot towards pure hydrogen has intensified scrutiny of geological processes like deserpentinization, which may yield huge subsurface hydrogen reserves. A 2023 U.S. Geological Survey estimate suggests subsurface hydrogen deposits might exceed 1 trillion tons globally—a possible game-changer for clear vitality transitions.
Dr. Albert Harutyunyan, a geoscientist at Armenia’s Nationwide Polytechnic College, just lately underscored this potential in a webinar, detailing how serpentinized rock dehydration at depths exceeding 40 km generates hydrogen underneath excessive thermobaric situations. But, as curiosity grows, questions persist about scalability, extraction prices, and competing renewable applied sciences.
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Serpentinization, the hydration of iron-rich mantle rocks like olivine, types serpentine minerals and releases hydrogen as a byproduct. Reversal via deserpentinization—triggered at temperatures above 500°C and pressures of two–3 GPa—dehydrates these rocks, releasing further hydrogen. Harutyunyan’s analysis highlights how this course of, occurring at depths of 100–150 km, can produce hydrogen concentrations as much as 8.4 wt%, comparable to traditional pure fuel reservoirs. Nonetheless, these deposits are sometimes inaccessible with present drilling know-how, which hardly ever exceeds 12 km depth.
The identical ultra-high-pressure environments (7–9 GPa) that liberate hydrogen additionally synthesize methane and heavier hydrocarbons, difficult the biogenic origin concept of fossil fuels. As an example, lab experiments replicating mantle situations have produced abiotic methane, aligning with Harutyunyan’s observations of hydrocarbon-rich kimberlite pipes. Equally, diamond formation at these depths—requiring carbon saturation and pressures over 5 GPa—suggests interconnected vitality and mineral useful resource methods. But, industrial extraction stays constrained by technical boundaries; lower than 5% of worldwide hydrogen manufacturing at the moment derives from pure sources, per the Worldwide Vitality Company (IEA).
Harutyunyan advocates for integrating geological surveys with seismic monitoring to establish migration pathways—a way efficiently deployed in Mali’s Bourakébougou discipline, the place a 98% pure hydrogen seep now powers native generators.
The EU’s 2023 Hydrogen Technique explicitly excludes pure hydrogen from its 20 million-ton renewable hydrogen goal, citing “inadequate maturity.” Conversely, the U.S. Inflation Discount Act gives tax credit for “clear” hydrogen no matter supply, probably incentivizing exploration. For policymakers, the dilemma lies in balancing early-stage funding with unproven returns. In the meantime, academia faces its personal challenges: solely 12% of printed research on serpentinization embody quantifiable hydrogen flux knowledge, limiting predictive modeling accuracy.
As debates over pure hydrogen’s position in decarbonization intensify, Harutyunyan’s insights underscore a essential actuality: geological processes might provide considerable vitality reserves, however their viability hinges on bridging gaps between deep Earth science and surface-level engineering.
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