Long before humans ever dreamt of splitting water to release hydrogen, our planet had been quietly producing it. Deep within the Earth’s crust — and in some cases, bubbling to the surface — lies a form of naturally occurring hydrogen gas now being dubbed white hydrogen. For decades it was ignored or dismissed as a curiosity. Today, scientists are beginning to ask a different question: what if this overlooked resource could help power a clean, post-fossil world?
Recent work from researchers at the University of Oxford [51.8°N, 1.3°W] and the University of Toronto [43.7°N, 79.4°W] offers new insights into how this hydrogen is formed, how it escapes (or is trapped), and what it might take to harvest it. Their findings suggest that Earth’s crust could contain significantly more hydrogen than previously estimated — and much of it may be accessible with minimal environmental impact.
Could this be the energy equivalent of stumbling upon a gold seam after years of panning for flakes? With any geological gift, the devil is in the detail of timescale, the technology, and the economics.
How White Hydrogen Forms — And Why We’re Only Just Noticing
Hydrogen can be created in the Earth’s crust through several natural processes:
- Water–rock reactions (especially with iron-rich minerals like olivine and pyroxene) generate hydrogen gas as a by-product.
- Radiolysis, where natural radiation splits water molecules trapped in rocks, can slowly release hydrogen over millions of years.
- In some settings, serpentinisation — the reaction of mantle rock with water — can create large volumes of hydrogen.
What’s changed is our ability to detect and map these hidden hydrogen flows. In the past, exploration companies drilled for oil and dismissed hydrogen seepage as an inconvenience. But in places like Mali, France, and even the USA, prospectors are now drilling with hydrogen in mind — and finding concentrations that exceed expectations.
One study estimates that natural hydrogen could be forming at rates exceeding 20 million tonnes per year globally — roughly the same scale as current industrial production.
Prospecting for Hydrogen — A Safer Bet Than Oil?
Hydrogen’s properties offer unusual advantages for explorers:
- It’s lighter than air, so surface seepage can be detected relatively easily.
- It doesn’t contaminate soil or water like oil, making exploration lower risk.
- Because it forms in situ, it doesn’t need to be “refined” — only collected and compressed.
This suggests that white hydrogen exploration could be cleaner and more socially acceptable than traditional fossil fuel operations. If reserves are found close to existing infrastructure or in regions with minimal extraction history, it could offer local economic benefits without the typical environmental cost.
Still, this is not a free lunch. Geological hydrogen accumulates over long timeframes — often millennia or more. While it may continue forming underground, its regeneration is not fast enough to be considered renewable.
A New Hydrogen Economy — Or Just a Supplement?
What does all this mean for regions like Northern Europe and Canada, where hydrogen is increasingly seen as a clean fuel for industry, heating, and transport?
For one, white hydrogen could reduce reliance on energy-intensive methods like electrolysis, especially in off-grid or remote locations. Small-scale, naturally sourced hydrogen could power mining operations, ferries, or microgrids — all without the need for high-voltage connections or large renewable installations.
But researchers are cautious. White hydrogen is not evenly distributed, and the science of extracting it at scale is still young. Moreover, relying too heavily on a natural source that forms over geological timescales risks repeating the extractivist model of fossil fuels — one that has led to emissions and instability.
What Comes Next?
As the University of Oxford paper puts it, we’re in the early prospecting phase, much like oil exploration in the early 20th century. The challenge now is to:
- Map and measure the global hydrogen resource with modern tools
- Understand the risks of extraction and leakage
- Evaluate whether this hydrogen should be used locally, or fed into global markets
White hydrogen is a remarkable twist in the energy story, showing that our ever-resourceful Earth has already been stockpiling the clean energy we’ve been trying so hard to make.
Source
Natural hydrogen resource accumulation in the continental crust, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 2024-05-13
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