Scientists propose converting natural gas into hydrogen directly in gas fields (techxplore.com)
from CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work to technology@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 2024 18:07
https://lemmy.crimedad.work/post/94026

#technology

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RememberTheEnding@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 11 Jun 2024 18:34 next collapse

xkcd.com/2929/

ianovic69@feddit.uk on 11 Jun 2024 18:46 next collapse

I’m no expert, but this doesn’t sound like a good idea.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 11 Jun 2024 19:54 collapse

The alternatives are the status quo or severely restricting natural gas extraction. I won’t say the latter isn’t doable, especially if we can ramp up nuclear power capacity, but there’s a lot of baggage there. We should welcome a solution that effectively makes natural gas an emissions-free resource.

ianovic69@feddit.uk on 11 Jun 2024 20:13 next collapse

I wouldn’t call carbon monoxide a good side product. If the amount created is negligible then great, but are there realistic figures?

Delta_V@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 2024 22:44 next collapse

Also, its probably safe to assume the producers will lie about how much they’re allowing to leak into the air.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 2024 04:19 collapse

You’re cheating by using trends to predict this. :-p

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 00:53 collapse

I don’t understand what you mean. As described in the article, the process leaves the CO trapped in the ground.

ianovic69@feddit.uk on 12 Jun 2024 06:13 collapse

Yes, the article says that but I’m not sure how much I believe it. If there’s a decent body of work that draws consensus I would be less sceptical.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 15:02 collapse

Not sure what direction to point you in. Gas storage in geological formations has been successfully practiced in the helium and natural gas industries for a while. Subterranean storage of carbon dioxide has also been successfully demonstrated. Apparently, there’s a big gas field being used for this purpose off the coast of Norway since 1996.

ianovic69@feddit.uk on 12 Jun 2024 19:12 collapse

Keeping in mind I have zero knowledge of what you’re telling me about, but these examples don’t include anything about carbon monoxide.

If the similarities to the other gases are close enough to mean that it can be safely stored using the same techniques, then I’m inclined to feel a lot less worried about the whole thing.

But I don’t really trust these sectors to act on our behalf, only to make profit line go up. Lying and bribing appears to be part of that, as can be seen all around us these days.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 22:54 collapse

I’m unaware of any examples of subterranean carbon monoxide storage. However, underground helium storage has been done successfully for a while. Helium is one of the best gases at leaking because of its small size, which should provide some reassurance as to the storage of larger gases underground.

I agree that greed and corporate malfeasance are a thing, but it’s kind of a separate problem. The government is either going to enforce environmental regulations and manage our resources properly or it’s not.

ianovic69@feddit.uk on 13 Jun 2024 20:24 collapse

Well, that sounds promising at least.

If you don’t think those things are very much related, may I suggest reading this post on Lemmy today.

The levels of corruption aimed at climate denial and in furthering fossil fuels is frightening.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 14 Jun 2024 01:10 collapse

For sure. The fossil fuel industry is absolutely insidious.

tal@lemmy.today on 11 Jun 2024 20:52 collapse

I won’t say the latter isn’t doable, especially if we can ramp up nuclear power capacity

We could do both and hedge our bets.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 11 Jun 2024 23:59 collapse

Yes. I mean, I don’t think we’re getting anywhere without a war economy build-out of nuclear power capacity regardless.

xodoh74984@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 2024 19:47 collapse

First of all, they spelled Heelys wrong. Second, Heelys are a great idea, even better as an adult in an office with polished concrete floors.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 2024 04:18 collapse

So heely wheels deliberately pluralize wrong?

xodoh74984@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 20:49 collapse

Yep. It bothers me, but I respect the decision.

weirdingmodule@lemmynsfw.com on 11 Jun 2024 19:11 next collapse

What could possibly go wrong?

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 11 Jun 2024 19:47 next collapse

This worst case scenario is probably the same as with any reservoir of natural gas (a massive leak and explosion), which is all the more reason to convert it to hydrogen and sequester the weaker, non-flammable GHG byproduct in situ.

Wispy2891@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 2024 20:44 next collapse

I imagine that suddenly all the co2 stored as gas underground could suddenly come out and being odorless, kills the whole neighboring town

NOT_RICK@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 2024 20:48 next collapse

Natural gas is also odorless and able to displace oxygen so I don’t see how it being CO2 underground instead of natural gas changes anything from a risk perspective. Maybe because the molecules are smaller and thus more prone to leaks? I’m admittedly way out of my depth here.

Wispy2891@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 01:01 collapse

Methane is lighter than air and goes up while co2 is heavier than oxygen and stays down. I don’t know maybe in case of some disaster where water leaks in the well and then pushes out the co2

I wouldn’t want to live nearby in both cases anyway

tal@lemmy.today on 11 Jun 2024 20:49 collapse

I mean, all that methane coming out would probably be at least as bad, and the cavity had previously been filled with methane.

It’ll be a cavern deep under a lot of rock. If it can contain methane for zillions of years, I imagine that it can contain carbon dioxide.

Sewer_King@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 2024 20:52 collapse

I’d be worried about the now excess co2 levels disrupting the normal saturation levels in the groundwater.

towerful@programming.dev on 12 Jun 2024 03:15 collapse

Sparkling water, on tap!

Sewer_King@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 18:22 collapse

It’s what plants crave I guess.

Devdogg@lemmy.ml on 11 Jun 2024 19:14 next collapse

Yeah, something about this screams at me it’s not right.

Why wouldn’t this work? What would go wrong?

Mongostein@lemmy.ca on 11 Jun 2024 19:32 collapse

Producing hydrogen from natural gas still releases carbon in to the air.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 11 Jun 2024 19:57 collapse

…which is the whole reason for doing the SMR within the natural reservoir and leaving the CO~2~ in there.

Mongostein@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 2024 00:44 collapse

We could just give up on the idea that natural gas is “clean.”

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 01:09 collapse

That used to be my thinking, but there’s a lot of natural gas ready to be exploited and we need hydrogen. Therefore, methods like the one described in the article as well as ex situ methane pyrolysis are worth investigating.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 2024 06:24 collapse

but there’s a lot of natural gas ready to be exploited

Sooooo money. That’s the exception to doing the right thing?

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 14:03 collapse

You forgot to quote the rest of that sentence. We need hydrogen, which is easy to get from natural gas, of which there is a lot. The right thing to do is figure out how to use it without emitting greenhouse gases. The problem is the same whether we’re under the current mode of production or some hypothetical moneyless condition.

Grimy@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 2024 22:47 next collapse

Fuck hydrogen. Its a fake green product so oil companies can transition as slow as they want while still keeping their strangle hold on our society.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 11 Jun 2024 23:24 next collapse

I disagree. We need hydrogen for GHG-free fertilizer and steel production and it’s the superior choice for powering vehicles. Regardless, this research is interesting because it could help solve the natural gas problem.

grue@lemmy.world on 11 Jun 2024 23:49 collapse

Hydrogen from gas fields is anything but GHG-free!

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 01:13 next collapse

That’s why processes that capture or avoid the GHG component of hydrogen production are worth investigating.

anindefinitearticle@sh.itjust.works on 12 Jun 2024 09:30 collapse

Ok, but what about the ecosystems dependent on that chemical energy staying underground?

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 15:10 collapse

Are you implying that there are subterranean ecosystems somehow dependent on natural gas deposits that are harmed by the exploitation of these resources?

anindefinitearticle@sh.itjust.works on 13 Jun 2024 03:25 collapse

Yes.

These ecosystems are well studied.

This paper from the oil industry opens with the sentence “Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) have long been recognized as an important bioindicator for oil and gas exploration.” We literally look for these ecosystems to know where to extract their food.

This isn’t controversial in the slightest. We are destroying unique ecosystems with every barrel we extract.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 13 Jun 2024 03:38 collapse

That’s fascinating. Thank you for sharing. I guess these specific bacterial ecosystems would suffer, so to speak. Perhaps there should be rules to prevent oil and gas deposits from being completely depleted, or some could be set aside as nature preserves.

Wooki@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 09:02 collapse

Massive green hydrogen plants running on renewables now being built in Australia but hey keep being part of the problem instead of the solution.

assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 17:19 collapse

It depends a lot on where the hydrogen is sourced from. Hydrogen that is generated from electrolyzers using renewable power is completely green (and funny enough, called Green Hydrogen), and is a good way to store excess energy from solar and wind.

Oil companies however want to market hydrogen from drilling and refining, which is dirty as hell.

It’s an important differentiation to make though. Hydrogen is not inherently bad and will have plenty of green applications. We just have to make sure it’s coming from the right places.

Grimy@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 18:58 next collapse

Sadly almost all hydrogen currently making its way to market is dirty. I have high hopes for it in the future but it seems like thinly veiled poison at the moment.

And this article is definitely about the dirty kind or at least feels like it is.

assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 19:31 collapse

There’s companies working on it! We’re just broke

And yes, this is definitely the dirty kind. It may still be an improvement on using natural gas directly, but there would need to be a fairly comprehensive analysis to tell for sure. One possible advantage though is we could start building up a hydrogen infrastructure that we can then feed green hydrogen into and completely replace the dirty hydrogen.

Anyway though, you’re right to be skeptical. It’s important though to look into the details to determine if it’s legitimately green energy or if it’s just oil companies greenwashing. We need to shun the latter while we promote the former.

(There is a grey area, and it’s the same as electric cars – if we’re using electricity from the grid to power cars, and electrolyzers which make hydrogen, is it truly green? I would say this is acceptable for the same reason EVs are acceptable. It’ll become completely emission free once the grid is run on renewables.)

GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml on 12 Jun 2024 20:55 collapse

and is a good way to store excess energy from solar and wind.

Is it really that good of a storage method, though? The round-trip efficiency is quite bad when compared to other methods of storage.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 13 Jun 2024 00:10 next collapse

“That good of a storage method” in terms of what, arbitrage? We should be producing hydrogen for the practical and environmental benefits of having emissions-free vehicle fuel (that avoids the problems of battery production and disposal), steel, and fertilizer.

GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml on 13 Jun 2024 06:48 collapse

I don’t see any good reason why the merits of hydrogen for vehicle fuel would be any better than production and disposal of batteries. The other cases I agree that hydrogen will have a useful niche.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 13 Jun 2024 21:47 collapse

This article is a little old, but it explains the problems on the disposal side pretty well. This one covers the production side. Hydrogen powered vehicles avoid all that.

assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world on 13 Jun 2024 01:46 next collapse

We’ll need it anyway to produce existing chemical materials sustainably. It may not be the best energy carrier nor most efficient, but it shines in specific applications. Vehicles are a promising example.

GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml on 13 Jun 2024 06:42 collapse

There are some use-cases where hydrogen will be useful, but I don’t think storage is one of them. Nor do I think vehicles are a particularly good use-case either, as compared to just iterating on battery technology.

RarePossum@programming.dev on 13 Jun 2024 04:59 collapse

Acording to this paper/article, its better than technologies such as batteries, but the study isn’t the most comprehensive and doesn’t consider things like pump hydro.

GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml on 13 Jun 2024 06:47 collapse

It’s hard to assess the validity of those claims as the article doesn’t bring any numbers and the paper itself is paywalled. As the fossil fuel industry is pushing hard towards wedging in hydrogen as a means of keeping themselves alive for a while longer, it’s vital to be able to assess the actual claims, lest they are just planted there by the fossil fuel industry.

fubarx@lemmy.ml on 12 Jun 2024 01:52 next collapse

Wait. Am I getting this right? They want to inject high-pressure steam and chemicals into a massive underground natural gas reservoir. Then set off a big fire + explosion.

Surely, nothing can go wrong.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 03:44 collapse

It’s called in situ combustion and apparently it’s a well established practice in the petroleum industry: glossary.slb.com/en/terms/i/in-situ_combustion

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 2024 04:15 collapse

So is coal extraction. How long has that coal fire burned under that town? 60 years?

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 12:02 collapse

You can read all about the Centralia mine fire here. ISC for oil extraction, as referenced by the paper, is not applicable to coal mining.

optissima@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 19:10 collapse

You miss their point

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 19:55 collapse

I do. I hope they will explain.

optissima@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 19:56 collapse

To spell it out for you, Just because something is well established in the industry does not make it good.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 23:34 collapse

I never said it was good. I said it was a well established practice in response to @fubarx@lemmy.ml who seemed surprised that anyone would even consider it. I was surprised to learn about it as well, but it makes sense to use the oil or gas in the deposit to directly help fuel the process.

Crashumbc@lemmy.world on 13 Jun 2024 02:25 collapse

MANY WELL ESTABLISHED practices are horribly stupid…

See the many natural disasters caused by company standard practices.

  1. Dumped raw toxins directly into rivers

  2. Locking the doors on clothing factories

  3. Fracking

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 13 Jun 2024 03:27 collapse

None of those things are in situ combustion thermal recovery. It may well be that this method isn’t appropriate for the process described in the paper. The paper also suggests RF thermal recovery as an alternative. The process just requires additional heat besides the steam to affect the SMR reaction and get the hydrogen out.

Crashumbc@lemmy.world on 13 Jun 2024 05:54 collapse

No but they all claim their business practices were safe…

The water dilutes and carries the toxins away. Until the river catches fire…

If there’s a mine fire just close up the entrance and it’ll go out. Except it hasn’t for 60+ years.

Fracking can’t cause earthquakes, except it does and there is evidence the chemicals could actually be getting in ground water… This one is particularly interesting. Considering they claim this process is safe.

But I doubt you care about facts.

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 14 Jun 2024 01:42 collapse

I do care about facts, but relevance and context matter.

Zrybew@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 02:25 next collapse

We’re about to make Fracking look like a great idea 😂

bamfic@lemmy.world on 12 Jun 2024 04:59 next collapse

carbon monoxide? is that healthy for you?

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jun 2024 16:24 collapse

In some cases, yes.

Crashumbc@lemmy.world on 13 Jun 2024 02:20 next collapse

Yes because igniting fires underground is a GREAT idea!

Centralia,PA would like a word…

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 13 Jun 2024 02:28 collapse
lath@lemmy.world on 13 Jun 2024 08:31 collapse

This how you realize that there are people around that just want to blow shit up.