The US Department of Energy (DOE) is stumping up $20m in funding to develop technologies that can stimulate the generation of hydrogen within the subsurface.
Engineering the production of underground hydrogen could potentially unlock substantial resources for clean energy and lead to the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industries. Large-scale hydrogen storage will also be required as the US transitions to a carbon- and emissions-free clean energy economy.
Evelyn N. Wang, ARPA-E Director, said, “When it comes to geologic hydrogen, we’re asking ‘are there disruptive ways to access this hydrogen source and explore the potential?’ There is significant opportunity to accelerate the development of hydrogen production, and I look forward to the teams pursuing this exploration.”
While the supply of naturally accumulating hydrogen, in and of itself, can enhance the US energy economy, reduced iron minerals within the earth’s crust could theoretically produce even more hydrogen from reactions within the subsurface.
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