Posted on 04/15/2002 10:47:19 AM PDT by texlok
Huge hydrogen stores found below Earth's crust Discovery suggests near limitless supply of clean fuel
Robert Matthews Vancouver Sun
Monday, April 15, 2002
LONDON -- Scientists have discovered vast quantities of hydrogen gas, widely regarded as the most promising alternative to today's dwindling stocks of fossil fuels, lying beneath the Earth's crust.
The discovery has stunned energy experts, who believe that it could provide virtually limitless supplies of clean fuel for cars, homes and industry.
Governments across the world are urgently seeking ways of switching from conventional energy sources such as coal, gas and nuclear power to cleaner, safer alternatives.
Energy specialists estimate that oil production will start to decline within the next 10 to 15 years, as the economically viable reserves start to run out.
Hydrogen gas has been hailed as the ultimate clean fuel, as it produces only water when burned. Until now, however, moves to switch to a "hydrogen economy" have been dogged by the cost of making the gas. The two most common ways -- extraction from natural gas and sea water -- are expensive and create environmental problems.
Now scientists at the American space agency Nasa have found that the Earth's crust is a vast natural reservoir of hydrogen which has become trapped in ancient rocks.
The team made its discovery while trying to explain how bacteria live many miles below the Earth's surface. Such bugs have no access to sunlight, forcing them to rely on another source of energy for life. Scientists suspected that hydrogen was the source.
According to Professor Friedemann Freund and colleagues at Nasa's Ames Research Center in California, the gas is produced when water molecules trapped inside molten rock break down to release hydrogen.
"In the top 20 kilometres of the Earth's crust, the conditions are right to produce a nearly inexhaustible supply of hydrogen," said Professor Freund.
Studies by the team of common rock types such as granite and olivine have revealed extraordinarily high levels of trapped hydrogen. Professor Freund said that his team had "tantalizing evidence" that as much as 1,000 litres of hydrogen may be trapped in each cubic metre of rock.
Although formidable engineering problems remain to be overcome in abstracting the gas, the sheer volume of the Earth's crust means that such a high concentration would solve the world's energy problems.
"Everyone thinks of gas and oil as the main sources, and it's very difficult to get anyone to take alternatives seriously," said Dr. David Elliott, the professor of technology policy at the Open University in London. "The possibility of vast reserves of hydrogen in the Earth's crust could change that mindset."
The low yield of energy from burning hydrogen compared to gas, however, means that vast quantities of rock would have to be mined.
Professor Freund believes that the extraction and crushing of rock to extract the trapped hydrogen is likely to be prohibitively expensive. The reaction which creates the gas takes place at depths far below those involved in oil extraction, which are typically about two miles down.
The most promising source of the hydrogen may be geological "traps" similar to those now drilled for natural gas. Professor Freund said: "One of these natural hydrogen fields is already known to exist in North America, and extends from Canada to Kansas."
© Copyright 2002 Vancouver Sun
It's a few years off, but should be interesting.
There might be a lot of hydrogen in the rock, but throw a few rocks in the fireplace and see how well they burn. How to extract the hydrogen and concentrate it without spending more energy doing so than you would get back from burning the hydrogen, that's the problem.
I have been hearing this since I was six. That was more then ten to fifteen years ago.
Having said that if it will keep us from needing to kiss up to the ME for energy I am all for it. But don't look for the oil industry to collapse completely. We will still need oil for plastics and lubricants.
a.cricket
The idea of citizens pumping liquid hydrogen into their cars is ludicrous. The tanks would be enormous, very costly due to extreme insulation requirements, etc.
Storage as a high-pressure gas is even worse, since the density of 10,000 psi hydrogen is 2.45 lb/ft3, i.e, almost two times worse than liquid hydrogen.
The right way to use H2 reserves is to convert coal to hydrocarbon fuels. With enough H2, energy, and coal, you can make any hydrocarbon fuel you want: gas, diesel, natural gas, propane, etc. The energy part comes from nuclear plants, eh?
--Boris
We had that 20 year supply discussion in 5th grade in 1955. I believe it is no more than simply the design life for engineering projects. Everything is designed for 20 years because that is the point where present worth or cost-benefit analyses approximate an infinite period of time, forever.
As an aside, the estimate for time to production of the first nuclear fusion power plant is 40 years, and has been 40 years since the 50s. To my thinking, this means twice as long as forever, or, don't plan on it.
Obviously there are energy balance considerations to this discovery, but where there's a resource...
Comment:
abstracting the gas
Do you think he meant extracting the gas?
Old left: Capitalism does not meet human needs. The government should control the means of production.
Response: Capitalism does so meet human needs. Socialism destroys the means of production.
New left: Who the hell are we humans to have our needs met? The government should destroy the means of production.
(OK they don't say it so baldly, but read between the lines.)
Response: Accept their premises and there is no response.
The old left accepted sane premises but had a bad idea about how to deal with the economy. The new left is insane.
Oh, goody, now the freeway will be filled with hundreds of low-flying Hindenbergs.
Well, at least it ought to eliminate road rage after accidents.
"Abstracting" the gas???
"ABSTRACTING"???
Good Gawd, the journalists and editors reporting the news are absolute, gosh-danged, brain-damaged idiots.
1. Remember the Hindenburg
2. I like plastic. I don't think you can get plastic from hydrogen.
I'd still be putting my investment dollar into Alberta's Tarsands, however. That's a project which staggers the imagination also, but it's real and it's happening now.
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