Natural or white hydrogen can be formed under various geological conditions. The most important ones include serpentinization, radiolysis of water and biological processes. You can find out more about this topic on our page Natural Hydrogen.

Our understanding of the accumulation of natural hydrogen in the subsurface is still full of uncertainties. However, one thing is obvious: in order for hydrogen to be stored in usable quantities, it must be stored in geological formations that have certain geological characteristics. These charactersistics are called play-concepts. At the moment, geologists presume a number of very different play-concepts, however, their validity must be further investigated. The most important variants are natural gas-like reservoirs, ophiolites and ultramafic rocks, salt domes and caverns, and aquifers. You can find more information on this topic on our page Natural Hydrogen.

The systematic search for natural hydrogen is quite new. For a long time, it was thought that the quantities present in the subsurface were not large enough to make extraction economically viable. In recent years, however, geologists have found increasing evidence of large deposits of natural hydrogen in the depths of the earth. New technologies such as mobile hydrogen sensors have led to the identification of more and more natural hydrogen emissions (e.g. in Russia, the USA, Australia and Brazil).

One of the reasons for this is the fact that the hydrogen system works differently from the petroleum system, the processes that control the formation, transport and accumulation of oil and gas in the subsurface. This system has been well researched, but cannot be applied to natural hydrogen deposits. These are often found in geological settings where neither oil nor gas is present.

According to the current state of research, this question cannot yet be answered in full. However, there are clear indications that natural hydrogen could be continuously reproduced in deep geological layers (e.g. through serpentinization and radiolysis).

When natural hydrogen is produced, there are initial low CO2 emissions due to the installation and operation of the technical facilities. Natural hydrogen itself has no CO2 footprint, as it is formed by natural processes in the earth’s crust and mantle and only water and energy are released when it is used.

Natural hydrogen is fundamentally not harmful to the environment as it comes from geological processes and does not require fossil fuels to be produced. When hydrogen is used in fuel cells, only water and electricity are produced – no harmful emissions. Nevertheless, there are some environmental aspects and technical challenges that need to be taken into account when producing natural hydrogen.

If natural hydrogen is produced in geological formations that contain methane (CH₄), care must be taken to ensure that there is no uncontrolled release, as methane is a potent greenhouse gas.

Hydrogen is a very light gas. When natural hydrogen is being extracted, uncontrolled releases into the atmosphere must be prevented. This is done by permanently monitoring the production facilities. Hydrogen itself does not directly contribute to the greenhouse effect, but large quantities in the upper atmosphere could extend the lifespan of methane, which could have an indirect impact on the climate. However, existing climate models do not yet take into account the current estimated minimum of 23 million tons of hydrogen leaking out into the atmosphere worldwide.

Tellus Energy Solutions aims to combine natural hydrogen production with geothermal energy use to increase efficiency. Natural hydrogen, which migrates through aquifers, is pumped to the earth’s surface along with geothermal water. The heat is used for the hydrogen separation processes and for heat supply, being fed into local heating networks. After both the energy and the natural hydrogen have been extracted from the geothermal water, it is returned to its natural reservoir.