The largest natural flow of gaseous hydrogen, which is detected, leaks through the tank deep inside the chrome mine in Albania. Scientists report this find in a new study, noting that this discovery can open the way to new, clean methods of hydrogen production for use as environmentally friendly fuel.
Hydrogen has long been considered an alternative to fossil fuels because it can be burned without greenhouse gases. By this time, natural sources of hydrogen were inaccessible, and the resource itself was usually produced from natural gas by means of processes that require high energy costs and emit carbon dioxide.
Despite the fact that hydrogen plays an important role in life deep in the earth's crust, researchers have long believed that its high reactivity prevents its accumulation in large underground deposits.
The situation changed when, in 1992, it was first discovered by a combustible gas in the Bulkise mine in Albania. In 2011, 2017 and 2023, a series of explosions increased suspicion that odorless gas is indeed hydrogen. Researchers have now found that the mine can be at the top of a fault containing from 5,000 to 50,000 tons of precious resource.
Analyzing the gas released in the mine, the researchers found that it consists of 84% of hydrogen, and also contains less methane and nitrogen. Calculating gas flow, they assume that the mine allocates about 11 tons of hydrogen annually, which is equivalent to 34 kilograms per day. Given other flows in the same mine, the total amount of gaseous hydrogen passing through it is about 200 tons per year.
"Our study revealed a high level of release of almost pure geological hydrogen, which indicates the potential of a new primary energy source," scientists said.
Interestingly, the Bulqizë mine is in an area where there are many iron ores known as offices, which are known to generate hydrogen, responding to water. Therefore, researchers suggest that other significant natural deposits of hydrogen may be under other official detachables in other places.
"We have found that the offices, which are mantle rocks of the oceanic cortex, which are brought to continents, are not only effective sources, but also have the potential for the placement of high quality, hydrogen -rich gas deposits," scientists summed up.
