Producing Geologic Hydrogen: a Niche or of Strategic Relevance in the Energy Transition?

Hydrogen is projected to play a significant role in the future energy mix, with the IEA forecasting an increase of almost an order of magnitude compared to hydrogen consumption today. This increase is driven by the possible dual use of hydrogen: to provide a clean or green high energy density vector as well as a clean “chemical building block” towards more circular sustainable chemical manufacturing industries. Current technology to produce large volumes of green hydrogen are challenged mainly because of the large infrastructure needed but also perhaps fundamentally in the higher cost to produce relative to other known (thermo-chemical) routes. However, also other known techniques towards clean hydrogen face significant (cost) challenges as well as emission challenges which may significantly limit their applicability in a net-zero world. The possibility of producing hydrogen generated in situ from iron-rich rocks in the subsurface while not new, may help provide diversity in decarbonization path ways creating more optionality in businesses and economic models to enable scale up of the Energy Transition. However, most geologically based generation mechanisms are relatively slow relative to the reactivity of hydrogen in the subsurface or to its high diffusive nature. In this talk I will outline that large hydrogen reservoirs analogous to hydrocarbon reservoirs are therefore less likely to exist or easily accessible. However, I will argue that hydrogen flow optimization and stimulation of natural geological processes are much less outlandish than is perhaps currently believed ??" indeed drawing on analogous insights with the early days of shale gas production. While hydrogen geology is distinctly different (and its engineering is much less developed) I will outline perhaps unexpected synergies with other subsurface resource production processes that in my view give every indication that a new and very rich field of geoscience and engineering can be developed relatively quickly towards responsible and sustainable production of geologic hydrogen. I will discuss some new recent insights and ideas to radically increase production rates in a sustainable way, which would bring the prospect of fundamentally changing the landscape for a carbon-constrained energy future. However, this will need new science and engineering to be developed in particular the thermodynamics of deep onshore hydrogen generation processes which would also help seemingly unrelated other, emerging earth-resource extraction businesses currently being experimented. Indeed, a new field of zero-carbon and interdisciplinary “hydrogen” geoscience and engineering may be opening up!

Speaker: Dirk Smit, Shell (retired)

Attend in person or online (see weblink)