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France hits hydrogen jackpot: largest reserve valued $92B found
- jlund-molfese 2y agoAlternate link: https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/09/french-drillers-may-have-stumbled-upon-a-mammoth-hydrogen-deposit https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/09/french-drillers-may-... Seems to be news from 2023
- pierbdt 2y ago[flagged]
- throw310822 2y agoI was completely unaware of the existence of deposits of natural hydrogen- seems rather counterintuitive. I guess the easiest way to use them would be for local electricity generation?
- crote 2y agoElectricity generation would be a massive waste - especially in nuclear-powered France. It is far more valuable as input for various industrial processes. For example, the Haber-Bosch process requires hydrogen and nitrogen to produce ammonia, which is used as fertilizer. Traditionally the hydrogen is obtained from methane, but that emits a massive amount of CO2 - about 1% to 3% of all worldwide CO2 emissions. Feeding the process directly with hydrogen would be a gamechanger.
- tim333 2y agoThere's quite a lot of it apparently. From an FT article quote https://archive.ph/5v3Vz https://archive.ph/5v3Vz >Most hydrogen is likely inaccessible, but a few percent recovery would still supply all projected demand — 500mn tonnes a year — for hundreds of years Most of it comes from a reaction between water and 'ultrabasic rocks' according to Wikipedia. It hasn't been searched for much as it occurs in different geology to natural gas and there hasn't been much demand till recently.
- zeegroen 2y ago> To put this discovery into perspective, the newly found deposit represents more than half of the world’s annual gray hydrogen production Only half the yearly production, and yet we're nowhere near anything resembling widespread adoption of hydrogen.