by According to a new study, large reserves of white hydrogen can exist in mountain ranges that increase hope for the hope that this clean combustion gas can be extracted and the efforts to combat the climate crisis.
White hydrogen has recently gained attention to its potential to replace the fossil fuels of the planets. Just a few decades ago, some scientists said that this strong fuel – also referred to as “natural” or “geological” hydrogen, existed in large quantities within the earth’s crust.
Since then, geologists have had the shapes and where it is. The main problem was that the volumes that are large enough to be useful for the insatiable energy appetite of humanity.
To find answers, a team of scientists used computer models to simulate the movement of the tectonic plates of the planet, in which the right conditions for the generation of white hydrogen are present. According to the study published on Wednesday, which was published on Wednesday, which was published on Wednesday, they found that mountain areas such as the Pyrenees and the European Alps are potential hotspots.
Hydrogen, which only produces water when burning, has long been a green fuel, especially for energy -hungry industries such as aviation and steel production. However, most commercial hydrogen are produced using fossil fuels, which defeats the climate -saving forces.
That is why white hydrogen is such a tempting view.
Interest can be attributed to the accidental discovery of white hydrogen in Mali in 1987 when a water exploded well, which as a worker leaned over the edge with a cigarette. The fountain was quickly covered, but was unplugged in 2011 and has produced hydrogen since then to operate a local village.
White hydrogen was found in the USA, Australia and France, among others, but the problem had found large quantities.
“We knew that nature produced hydrogen, but it was never really examined as an option for energy generation,” said Frank Zwaan, study author and geologist at the Helmholtz Center for Geosciences in Germany. Other energy sources are easier to access, he said, but the escalating climate crisis helps the race for alternatives.
The gas forms naturally through many processes, including radioactive decay in the crust. However, Zwaan’s team concentrated on “serpentization”, where water with iron -rich stones interacted from the earth’s mantle to produce hydrogen.
These rocks are usually deep in the earth where water is not easily available, but geological processes over millions of years can push them to the surface. It happens under the oceans, while the continents break apart so that coat rocks can rise, and also when continents collide, close ocean basins and force coat rocks upwards.
An illustration of how white hydrogen can accumulate in mountain ranges – Frank Zwaan/GFZ
The scientists use tectonic plate modeling to determine where and when this coat rock “exhumes” and in which quantities, Zwaan said, “exhumed” and in what quantities.
They found certain mountain ranges, including the Pyrenees, the European Alps and parts of the Himalaya, good conditions to create white hydrogen, since there were large volumes of the coat rock at favorable temperatures, and deep errors made it possible to circulate water.
The quantities of coat rock, which are serpented in mountain ranges solely, indicate that white hydrogen could “be a game changer,” said Zwaan.
Geoffrey Ellis, a geochemist of the US Geological Survey, who was not involved in research, said that the processes that coat stones close to the surface have already been known. What is new about this study, he said that it offers “quantitative approach” to assess the white hydrogen potential of various environments in which coat rocks were lifted.
The big question will now be where the white hydrogen accumulates in large reservoirs that can be drilled, said Zwaan. It may also be possible to artificially stimulate the serpentization by drilling areas in which coat rocks are close to the surface and pumping in water.
Early explorations are already taking place in areas such as France, the Balkans and the USA.
This new research can help to conduct geologists in regions with the greatest potential for large -scale white hydrogen resources and probably have “direct and significant effects on geological hydrogen research,” said Ellis.
There are many steps to create a sustainable white hydrogen industry, including the development of reliable economic methods to extract them, and the infrastructure for saving and transporting them. It will probably take decades to commercialize, said Zwaan. “We shouldn’t expect it to be an immediate miracle healing.”
But it is optimistic. “Oil was a curiosity until the technology was ready to be applied on a large scale,” he said, white hydrogen “can follow a similar way”.
More CNN messages and newsletter create an account at CNN.com
