A Canadian start-up company called Proton Technologies is planning on using underground oil, gas and coal-bed fires to produce net-zero emissions clean hydrogen (H2). The company has already begun testing on the companies patented “Hygenic Earth Energy (HEE).” If all goes well with the testing, this technology has the potential to revolutionize the global energy industry. Using this method would make H2 up to ten times cheaper per kilogram, than the least expensive form available today.
To harness the Hygenic Earth Energy air or oxygen is pumped into an underground oil or gas reservoir, or coal bed and then ignited, this sets fire to the hydrocarbons. Once the fire reaches 500°C existing water vapors or injected steam reacts with the hydrocarbons thereby producing a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen called syngas. When more water is added to the syngas it produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and increases the hydrogen availability. The CO2 and any other impurities will remain underground as a patented palladium- alloy membrane allows only the hydrogen to pass through.
This process also makes it possible for residual heat to be harvested as steam for generating electricity.
Proton said it will be able to produce this clean hydrogen energy for as little as $0.10-0.50 per kilogram, which is at least $0.50 cheaper than any other hydrogen-producing method available today.
The company relates this low cost mainly because there are vast amounts available underground, with Canada being home to many tar sands that would be ideal for the HEE process.
Proton points out why this process can happen quickly if successful:
The transition to HEE can be rapid since so much infrastructure is in place, and so many reservoirs are surveyed and accessible. In broad terms, about 70% of oil remains in the ground after production, because it is inaccessible or uneconomic to recover. In natural gas reserves, about 20% is left behind.
Proton Chairman and CEO Grant Strem said the Calgary-based company could “supply Canada’s entire electricity requirements for 330 years” just from the heavy oil fields located in Alberta. Strem goes on to say:
The economics and the environmental implications [will] make people look very hard at whether they want to continue conventional oil production.
Proton is now testing at the Superb oil field in Saskatchewan, in a layer of sand located 700 meters below the surface, which contains around 200 million barrels of heavy crude oil. In the initial study, they plan on testing their palladium membranes at the surface and releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. However, once they’re ready they will move to the major test of performing the process underground, including the releasing of CO2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFo3FE-SRoI
Globally, the resource base for heavy oil is several times larger than that of conventional oil. Thus, if HEE can yield clean energy — with virtually zero greenhouse-gas emissions — from heavy oil reserves, the impact is significant on both the world economy and environment.
If Grant Strem and his team are correct, this technology could help the world and provide clean energy for years to come.
