El Confidencial: Golden hydrogen, Helios Aragon featured

Golden hydrogen: The first European hydrogen well is in Aragon and can change the energy sector.

The discovery of natural hydrogen reserves, which could also be regenerated, triggers studies and projects: the first in Europe makes its way in Huesca

GOLDEN HYDROGEN The first European hydrogen well is in Aragon and can change the energy sector The discovery of natural hydrogen reserves, which could also be regenerated, triggers studies and projects: the first in Europe makes its way in Huesca

Hydrogen reserves are located under the Aragonese Pyrenees (EFE/Javier Cebollada)
By Jose Pichel
01/03/2023

Hydrogen is in fashion. In this time of energy crisis and climate change, there is a lot of talk about this promising fuel, especially green hydrogen, which is generated from water and using renewable energy, so it would be clean. In theory, it would be perfect because it does not produce emissions, it is inexhaustible and leaves water vapor as the only residue. However, breaking down water through electrolysis to form oxygen and hydrogen requires a large amount of energy, which calls into question this type of project. The issue is even more controversial when the sources to produce it are other, as in the case of black or brown hydrogen (comes from coal), blue (natural gas) or pink (nuclear). All current production pollutes or requires using very expensive electricity. What if there was natural hydrogen in the subsurface in large quantities, available for extraction and, furthermore, it was renewable? Having something like this would be a real treasure, so it is not surprising that its color is the most striking of all: they call it golden hydrogen. If we add to this the possibility that Spain has an important deposit, it would even seem too beautiful to be true. However, all these expectations are real and have great potential, although the road to exploiting this type of fuel is full of scientific uncertainties and technical and political difficulties.

The future of renewable hydrogen: Spain wants to produce, transport and export it

If until now we have not heard of natural hydrogen, it is because not even geologists and chemists thought that it could exist in the subsurface, at least in large concentrations, but in the last decade scientific publications on this issue have skyrocketed. In fact, an article from Science journal, published a few days ago, reviews the evidence and the most important natural hydrogen projects. In 2019, the startup Natural Hydrogen Energy explored the first US well in Nebraska, while in 2021 Australia changed its regulations to allow this type of drilling, leading to a boom in studies and investments.

The Huesca project

In Spain, Helios Aragón has already been established, a startup founded by two geologists that aims to extract hydrogen in and around Monzón, in the province of Huesca. Its goal is to carry out the first drilling in 2024 and commercially exploit the deposit for 20 to 30 years, starting in 2028. The total investment over the next decades would be 900 million euros (starting with 14 million in 2024), generating 400 direct and 1,500 indirect jobs. To find the origin of the project, it is necessary to go back to data from 1963. ENPASA Empresa Nacional de Petróleos de Aragón SA) fails in its search for oil and natural gas in the area, but records the presence of hydrogen at various points, including a purity of 100% in the Monzón-1 well. At the beginning of the 2000s, new failed explorations were carried out in search of gas, and the geologist Chris Atkinson, one of the co-founders of Helios Aragón, completed his doctorate on the characteristics of the area. When interest in natural hydrogen grows, this expert returns with his business idea, which will not lack international support.

The future of renewable hydrogen: Spain wants to produce, transport and export it

“The companies are eager to participate in the first natural hydrogen project in Europe and we hope that at least one of our partners will be Spanish,” says the CEO of the startup, Ian Munro, in statements to Teknautas. According to their forecasts, Monzón will be able to produce 1.1 million tons of hydrogen (between 55,000 and 70,000 tons per year), 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To achieve this, “conventional technology such as that currently used in geothermal or natural gas wells” will be used, he explains, trying to make it very clear that the method has nothing to do with the reviled fracking, which uses aggressive methods to break rocks to produce gas or oil.

In this case, natural hydrogen flows to the surface through the well. In reality, according to geological studies, the source of this gas is located “deep in the Pyrenees” and migrates along faults until it finds a trap: a sandstone deposit with high porosity and permeability, but which is sealed by other materials so that it does not come to the surface. In short, this area has “all the necessary factors” for the extraction to be a success. There is only one major problem today: Spanish legislation does not allow this type of extraction operations, but the company hopes that golden hydrogen may soon become an exception. According to Helios Aragón, the first drilling, scheduled next year for evaluation purposes would not violate current regulations. However, the Government of Aragón must give its approval. Later, they hope “that the Spanish government will follow the example of France,” says Munro, who last year modified its mining legislation to make an exception for natural hydrogen. “The authorities understand the need for adequate legislation so that Spain can become a world leader in natural hydrogen,” he adds.

Artist’s representation of hydrogen

Why didn't we know about it until now?

One of the big questions is why nobody had paid attention to this natural resource until now. Somehow, the oil and gas developments that have so interested us thus far have blinded us to their presence. In them, hydrogen is scarce or reacts to form other products. Even when it doesn’t, experts thought it couldn’t accumulate at scale, since it’s a very small molecule that seeps through rocks, so it seemed impossible that it could be commercially exploited.

“For many years, the analyzes of the oil companies have used gas chromatography, a technique that identifies molecules precisely using hydrogen as a carrier gas, which did not allow detecting the presence of this gas,” explains Javier de Mendoza, retired professor of Organic Chemistry at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and emeritus professor at the Instituto Catalán de Investigación Química (ICIQ). For this reason, “there is a lot of data from the oil and gas companies that did not say anything about hydrogen.” Everything began to change in Mali barely a decade ago. At the moment, the hydrogen deposit that is closest to commercial exploitation is not in the US, Australia or Europe, but in this African country thanks to drilling that was carried out in search of water. The small town of Bourakebougou has been cited in many scientific publications since it was discovered that, a few tens of meters from the surface, emanated a gas composed almost exclusively of pure hydrogen (98%). An article by geologist Alain Prinzhofer, in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy in 2018, became the starting point for this new gold rush (or rather, golden hydrogen).

Gas well in Bolivia (EFE)

Until then, we simply weren’t looking in the right places or with the right tools. “We had always thought that hydrogen did not exist free on Earth, despite being the most abundant element in the universe, so it had to be manufactured”, comments the chemist. However, the appearance of scientific work in recent years that reveals its presence in the subsurface, changes everything. Research shows that hydrogen reservoirs can be reached via drilling, since they would typically be less than 3,000 meters deep.

From an energy point of view, hydrogen is considered a vector, since it needs energy to be produced and transport that energy elsewhere. However, “from the moment there is natural hydrogen on Earth, it becomes a source and things start to get more interesting,” he says. For this reason, Javier de Mendoza considers that the natural hydrogen industry is still “in its infancy, but starting with great force”. According to him, several wells are going to be drilled in the US this year.

A renewable resource?

Despite everything, many doubts remain and a key issue is that many experts maintain that it is a renewable resource. That is to say, that the Earth would be generating it continuously. A set of reactions at high temperatures between water and certain minerals rich in iron and other metals could explain the process of hydrogen release. “That regeneration exists, but we don’t know if it’s enough to have a permanent source,” says Javier de Mendoza. In reality, “everything is renewable if we give it enough time, even oil, the problem is that in two centuries we have burned something that took 200 million years to generate.” Therefore, studying the mechanisms of hydrogen formation and the rate at which it is produced is key.

Green hydrogen (EFE)

Do we have any leads? In Antalya (Turkey), there is an area of about 5,000 square meters from which flames have been burning continuously for 2,500 years. In fact, it is considered that this could be the origin of the Olympic flame. We now know that they are powered by hydrogen and methane. “This is an argument in favour of renewal, because if not, the well would have been exhausted, which burns spontaneously and with a volume that never decreases,” he points out.

The ICIQ chemist, who reflects on these issues in the journal Anales de Química, from the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry, believes that there is a lot of laboratory work ahead to understand the details of this natural generation and that in the coming years research will multiply, especially to find out to what extent it is renewable. In his opinion, it will be necessary to raise the debate of “how much are we going to extract” and “if we are willing to do it at a lower rate than its regeneration”.

In the case of Aragón, it seems that the company itself rules out the possibility that a natural regeneration of hydrogen allows it to be exploited indefinitely, at least in the term they manage. The company´s plan is that after two or three decades, is to give the deposit a new use as a storage place for green hydrogen. “The green hydrogen economy can only become a reality if there is safe and profitable subsurface storage, due to the prohibitive costs and safety issues with above ground storage tanks”, comments the CEO of Helios Aragón.

Conventional gas pipelines are useless (EFE)

The problems for its commercialization

Doesn’t natural hydrogen have those problems? The initial strategy of this company involves not having to store it, as they explain. “The most profitable use is to supply new local industries,” says Ian Munro, who points out, for example, the possibility of establishing ammonia plants or fuel manufacturers. Therefore, “we envision a relatively short pipeline from the processing plant” to those industries. However, as the project grows, especially as more hydrogen wells are drilled, “it is possible that demand will increase either within Spain or as an export to Europe.”

For Javier de Mendoza, an important doubt in the case of Aragón and most of the potential exploitations is the quality of this hydrogen. “In the field in Mali, they were fortunate that it was almost pure hydrogen, but it can be mixed with methane and sometimes with helium,” he explains, so it is necessary to properly process all these components and prevent them from becoming a problem, especially in the case of methane, which is the second compound that contributes most to global warming after CO₂. According to the startup, in Huesca, helium can be exploited, a highly sought after element of great value due to its multiple applications, in addition to hydrogen.

Sánchez announces an agreement to replace the Midcat with a new Barcelona-Marseille energy corridor.Nacho Alarcon. Brussels

In addition, there are many other issues to resolve, including safety. Transporting hydrogen, a gas that despite its benefits is still explosive and flammable, requires specific pipelines, as demonstrated by the H2Med project (the first renewable hydrogen corridor in the European Union, which includes the submarine section between Barcelona and Marseille). “We are a long way from solving crucial questions about storage, transport and consumption,” warns the ICIQ, who recalls that hydrogen batteries or the option of liquefying it by cooling it at very low temperatures so that it takes up less volume, are still great technological and efficiency challenges. However, he sees great potential as a fuel for large means of transport, such as ships, planes or trains.

In any case, if natural hydrogen establishes itself as a new energy source in the world, it is likely that the great obstacle will be more political. “There is a reluctance from many countries to carry out massive exploration of these resources and this also explains how little we knew about this resource,” he says. In these matters, Europe tends to be especially cautious, although for the moment, Helios Aragón is optimistic: in addition to exploring the potential of other areas of Spain, they have already established a subsidiary in Poland.