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CloudWatcher

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Name: Jim
Gender: Male
Hometown: Frostbitefalls
Member since: Mon Apr 2, 2018, 08:44 PM
Number of posts: 1,681

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Cheap hydrogen?

I know I know ... yet another hopeful article on cheap energy. But this seems pretty cool to me.

Scientists extract hydrogen gas from oil and bitumen, giving potential pollution-free energy
News article on phys.org

Scientists have developed a large-scale economical method to extract hydrogen (H2) from oil sands (natural bitumen) and oil fields. ... The process can extract hydrogen from existing oil sands reservoirs, with huge existing supplies found in Canada and Venezuela. Interestingly, this process can be applied to mainstream oil fields, causing them to produce hydrogen instead of oil.
...
The researchers have found that injecting oxygen into the fields raises the temperature and liberates H2, which can then be separated from other gases via specialist filters. Hydrogen is not pre-existing in the reservoirs, but pumping oxygen means that the reaction to form hydrogen can take place.


Of course the headline is awful (the production isn't pollution-free, you'll need a lot of oxygen), but it sounds like this might have potential. I just hope the oxygen they pump into the ground doesn't explode.
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