Energy-related stories about rocks seem to be cropping up on a regular basis. First it was the potential to use rocks as a means to store energy. Now, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin are exploring using rocks to completely alter the energy landscape.
The research involves using a natural catalyst to generate hydrogen gas from iron-rich rocks. The best part is the process would not emit any carbon dioxide. Anyone that follows the hydrogen market is familiar with the myriad technical challenges hydrogen presents. If this effort were successful, it would transform the hydrogen industry.
The Austin-based researchers are leveraging a Department of Energy grant and collaborating with colleagues at the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources.
The team hopes that the nickel and platinum group catalysts that are being explored will initiate a natural geologic process called serpentinization causing a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen from iron-rich rocks. Â Serpentinization usually occurs at higher temperatures, but researchers are attempting to accomplish this at lower temperatures and at accessible geological depths. The natural release of hydrogen from iron-rich rocks usually takes millions of years. Researchers are attempting to accelerate that process just a bit.
Successful tests have been done in the lab. However, that is a far cry from anything that can be scaled or is economically feasible. The DOE grant money will be used to test a range of iron-rich rock types, experiment with other catalysts, and hopefully scale the process.
The reality is that the odds of this achieving market success probably aren’t high. Still, because it has the potential to reshape our energy strategy, this is precisely the type of research that we need more of.
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