Scientists are shocked by the discovery of white hydrogen in France: could this be Europe’s fuel?

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The energy crisis has dominated public debate in Europe since the beginning of the Ukraine war in February 2022. Among the solutions proposed to reduce European countries’ dependence on gas imports from Russia, hydrogen has emerged as an important candidate.

Spain and France have already developed investment plans to strengthen this energy modality. But what exactly is hydrogen, and is it Europe’s fuel of the future?

Hydrogen, the mysterious energy carrier

First discovered by British scientist Henry Cavendish in 1766, hydrogen is an odorless, tasteless, and highly flammable chemical element.

It is defined as an energy carrier because it exists in nature as a result of reactions with other energy sources and facilitates the transport and storage of other energy sources.

There are different types of hydrogen that correspond to different colors depending on the fuel with which it reacts. Gray hydrogen is produced from natural gas, green hydrogen from renewable energy, black hydrogen from coal, pink hydrogen from nuclear power generation, and blue hydrogen from carbon capture.

The most popular color for hydrogen is gray, which accounted for 62% of global hydrogen production in 2022. Hydrogen is produced by reacting methane, a greenhouse gas, with high-temperature steam and is used in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, industry, and more. Manufacturing sector. But the problem is that, like any major energy source, it’s polluted. In 2022, the production of gray hydrogen generated 2% of the world’s carbon emissions.

A more sustainable alternative to this energy source is green hydrogen, which is produced from renewable energy through electrolysis. Electrolysis is a process that uses electrical energy to separate water molecules and retain the hydrogen portion.

Contrary to gray hydrogen, producing green hydrogen produces no emissions. However, it is much more expensive.

“The problem with green is that we don’t have a lot of solar or wind power,” explains Professor Ad van Wijk from Delft University of Technology. “We need to install more solar and wind power infrastructure, and the cost of that and the subsequent electrolysis is still higher than the cost of producing gray hydrogen,” he added. Ta.

So if green hydrogen is so expensive and gray hydrogen so polluted, why is there so much hype around hydrogen?

White hydrogen, an untapped energy source

“A year and a half ago, no one was talking about natural hydrogen,” explains Philippe de Donato, head of research at France’s National Center for Scientific Research and professor at the University of Lorraine. “And then there’s natural hydrogen. Hydrogen that’s produced directly by nature. It’s a major energy source. That means it can be extracted directly from the ground and used directly as an energy source.”

First discovered in Mali’s town of Bourakebugou in 1987, white hydrogen is a primary energy source produced underground through a chemical reaction. Compared to other forms of hydrogen, natural hydrogen is less well-studied, but it has been found in many parts of Europe, including France’s Lorraine region.

In this industrial region of France, de Donato and colleague Jacques Pironon spent more than four years implementing the Regalore project to extract exploitable methane resources. However, in addition to greenhouse gases, we also discovered natural hydrogen and demonstrated that its proportion increases with drilling depth. “For us, it was a real surprise. It was something that had never been demonstrated before,” Pironon admits.

Although the Regalor project ended in December 2023, much research is being carried out across Europe to find other hidden sources of white hydrogen.

What is the situation with hydrogen in the EU?

Hydrogen is a relatively new player in the European Union’s energy system.

In 2022, only 8% of global hydrogen production will come from Europe. This hydrogen accounted for less than 2% of Europe’s energy consumption, and was generated almost entirely from polluting greenhouse gases.

“It actually started with the Green Deal, so at the beginning of Ursula von der Leyen’s term in 2019-2020,” explains Le Context’s energy journalist Anna Hubert. “We recognized that significant efforts are needed to decarbonize the EU’s energy mix. It also included investments in other technologies that were not available.”

In December 2023, the EU approved a gas package and put money into an investment fund for projects aimed at producing green hydrogen on the continent. Among these initiatives is, for example, his €800 million hydrogen bank, which will encourage industry and countries to experiment with this energy source.

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Despite significant investments from Brussels, several major obstacles remain to integrating hydrogen in its various forms into Europe’s energy landscape.

The European agency is still drafting definitions for the various colors of hydrogen and is far from speaking about its original version.

Moreover, many political and scientific questions still await clear answers. Will investing in green hydrogen undermine renewable energy development? Where is white hydrogen? How can people use it?