Researchers believe the deposit could pave the way for new, cleaner ways to capture hydrogen.
Hydrogen has long been used as an alternative to fossil fuels because it can be burned without emitting greenhouse gases. But until now, natural flows of hydrogen have been extremely difficult to detect; IFLScience writes that this resource is generally produced from natural gas through a process that consumes energy and emits carbon dioxide.
Hydrogen is also known to be extremely important for supporting life deep within the Earth, but researchers believed that hydrogen’s high reactivity did not allow it to accumulate in large underground deposits. Fortunately, this turned out to be a wrong assumption.
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Everything started to change in 1992, when flammable gas was first discovered in the Bulkize mine in Albania; The fault contained 5 to 50 thousand of the valuable resource. In a new study, scientists analyzed gas bubbles in the mine and found that it consists of 84% hydrogen, as well as small amounts of methane and nitrogen. The team then calculated the gas flow and concluded that the pool was emitting around 11 tonnes of hydrogen per year, or about 34 kg per day.
The team combined this data with other flows in the shaft and shaft of the same mine and calculated that the total amount of hydrogen gas passing through the mine was approximately 200 tonnes per year. Scientists now believe their findings point to the potential for a new, extractable primary energy source.
In this way, researchers have actually discovered the largest flow of natural hydrogen gas ever discovered on Earth. Interestingly, it was discovered seeping from a pool of water deep inside a chrome mine in Albania.
The team notes that the Bulkize mine is located in an area of iron-rich rock known as an ophiolite, which scientists know produces hydrogen when it reacts with water, and is also linked to other hydrogen flows in other previously discovered regions around the world. . Now the study’s authors believe that the ophiolite can be further used to search for important natural hydrogen reserves.
Previously Focus He wrote that an ancient supervolcano in the United States hides the largest lithium deposit.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.