In Pontpierre, near Metz, in northeastern France, hydrogen has been tapped in its natural form. Drilling to a depth of more than 3,600 meters has now confirmed the presence of a significant amount. The white hydrogen bubble was discovered three years ago, but has only now been tapped.
The hydrogen bubble is said to extend into Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany, and contain 34 million tons of hydrogen. According to the researchers, it is possibly the world’s largest natural hydrogen reservoir. At this moment, research is ongoing to measure concentrations and test extraction and separation technologies.
Types of hydrogen
Hydrogen is an energy carrier and is normally produced, for example, by the electrolysis of water. However, natural hydrogen – also called ‘white’ or ‘native’ hydrogen – is not manufactured but naturally present in Earth’s soil.
Other types are grey hydrogen, made from natural gas, which is cheap but highly polluting; blue hydrogen, produced with CO2 capture, which is less polluting but still fossil-based; and green hydrogen, made with sustainable electricity, which is clean but expensive.
Key hydrogen hub
Natural hydrogen fields are very rare. “This finding is really important for the industry,” says Jan Rongé, CEO of Solhyd, a Belgian company that produces hydrogen using solar energy. “It can help Europe become less dependent on natural gas from abroad, which is strategically important.” Moreover, its proximity to us makes it particularly interesting.
Today, Europe relies heavily on imported fossil fuels. This resource could reduce dependency on natural gas imports and future hydrogen imports. Locally extracted hydrogen could lower production costs and keep the industry in Europe. Belgium, with its petrochemical cluster in the Port of Antwerp, could become a key hydrogen hub and distribute across Europe.
One-third of global consumption
Worldwide, the search for natural hydrogen fields has been intensive for only a few years. This is the largest field found with any degree of certainty to date. Current estimates speak of approximately 34 million tons of hydrogen.
That corresponds to about a third of global annual hydrogen consumption, which is truly significant. Approximately 100 million tons of hydrogen are consumed worldwide annually.
Technical and logistical challenges
Initial estimates indicate that the cost of white hydrogen would be close to that of fossil hydrogen today, but the final price depends heavily on the difficulty of extraction.
New techniques will still need to be developed to extract and use geological hydrogen on an industrial scale. Extracting white hydrogen will still pose numerous technical and logistical challenges.
Sustainability is not a given either: it remains a gas extracted from the ground, and the environmental impact depends on how efficiently and controlled the process is conducted.
Versatile element
Hydrogen is essential for hard-to-electrify sectors, such as steel, chemicals, shipping, and aviation. For transport and heating, hydrogen seems to have been overtaken by the rapid evolution of batteries and electrical systems, among other things. However, it is a versatile element that is used on a large scale in industry to produce chemicals.
Today, we obtain hydrogen mainly from natural gas (methane), but this process emits a lot of CO2. A carbon-free source of hydrogen would, therefore, be very welcome.
What exactly is hydrogen?
Hydrogen is a colorless and odorless gas. It is the smallest and lightest of all chemical elements. It can occur naturally in Earth’s soil (white hydrogen), be produced from natural gas (gray hydrogen), or be split from water using electricity (green hydrogen via electrolysis).
