HORIZON EUROPE
Europeo
Expected Outcome:Although natural hydrogen is produced via various physical phenomena taking place in the Earth’s subsurface, notably fluid-rock interactions, the discoveries have all been accidental, limited in investigation, and only harnessed in Mali. As such, natural hydrogen is a potential new source of clean hydrogen which can play a significant role in Europe to meet the objectives set out in the Fit-for-55 Package and REPowerEU plan.
In the future, the potential of natural hydrogen accumulations in the subsurface should be determined and exploited in Europe in a safe and sustainable way to complement other routes of hydrogen production. Indeed, natural hydrogen may contribute to limiting greenhouse gas emissions, raw materials, water resources, and land use as compared to other types of hydrogen production, hereby strengthening the EU energy independency while accelerating the implementation of the hydrogen energy economy and thus the net-zero energy transition. Nevertheless, current needs are to develop methods and workflows to efficiently explore this resource, increase public support, and evaluate economically viable industrial solutions.
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Expected Outcome:Although natural hydrogen is produced via various physical phenomena taking place in the Earth’s subsurface, notably fluid-rock interactions, the discoveries have all been accidental, limited in investigation, and only harnessed in Mali. As such, natural hydrogen is a potential new source of clean hydrogen which can play a significant role in Europe to meet the objectives set out in the Fit-for-55 Package and REPowerEU plan.
In the future, the potential of natural hydrogen accumulations in the subsurface should be determined and exploited in Europe in a safe and sustainable way to complement other routes of hydrogen production. Indeed, natural hydrogen may contribute to limiting greenhouse gas emissions, raw materials, water resources, and land use as compared to other types of hydrogen production, hereby strengthening the EU energy independency while accelerating the implementation of the hydrogen energy economy and thus the net-zero energy transition. Nevertheless, current needs are to develop methods and workflows to efficiently explore this resource, increase public support, and evaluate economically viable industrial solutions.
Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
Strengthened European leadership in the exploration of natural hydrogen to identify and evaluate reserves and seek industrial production;Improved understanding of the occurrence and the resource potential of natural hydrogen in Europe, to define prospective areas for exploration and production (E&P);Identification of enablers and barriers in terms of regulation, social acceptability, market, and financial incentives to stimulate the E&P of natural hydrogen for European countries. Scope:Natural hydrogen is a resource that has recently come under the spotlight for its potential to accelerate the shift to a net-zero economy within the next decades. However, its production is critically challenged by the relatively limited understanding of the processes and geological conditions of its generation, the lack of well-proven workflows and the development of standard methods for its exploration. Efficient detection methods are required to identify promising areas prone to regional exploration, while analytical and numerical workflows are needed to quantify the potential of a geological formation to hold adequate volumes of natural hydrogen for production at an industrial scale. This requires knowledge improvement of the subsurface processes controlling the generation, migration and trapping of hydrogen in economically relevant quantities.
This topic aims to support both the development of new methods, technologies, and workflows that will enable the development of E&P of natural hydrogen in Europe. It will bridge the gap between Research and Innovation (R&I), regulatory framework, and economic investments to boost the energy transition.
Proposals in this call should aim at better understanding the mechanisms related to natural hydrogen generation and accumulation in the subsurface, developing specific tools and methods to assess the resource potential, demonstrating its environmentally and economically viable exploitation, and informing adequate regulation and policies in Europe for large-scale deployment.
Proposals should address most of the following elements:
Development of techniques, tools, and methods to better characterise and understand processes controlling the formation, migration, and accumulation of hydrogen in the subsurface as well as natural emissions to the surface, and to establish a set of criteria to confidently identify prospective areas. Proposals should include at least one case study area (two if the budget allows it) to test remote sensing and hydrogen sensors, gather geophysical data from active or passive seismic, gather geochemical data, possibly logging tool (tools which are run into the well after drilling and which, with specific development would help to characterize hydrogen in the well) in order to calibrate methods with minimal environmental impact;Guidelines for systematically identifying potential natural hydrogen sources in Europe by determining the combination of key parameters and conditions necessary to its generation;Analogue experiments to simulate in situ conditions (temperatures, pressures, rock mineralogy and chemistry, geofluid compositions) controlling the generation of natural hydrogen and its kinetic (in mol/kg/s);Numerical models to predict the dynamics of large hydrogen systems, from the source (generation, migration, and alteration), trapping in reservoirs if appropriate, to emission/leakage at the surface. It should allow the determination of a “Hydrogen Window” i.e. both chemical and physical subsurface conditions to generate natural hydrogen, applicable on specific or general conditions. Ultimately, the numerical models should allow quantifying the possible volume (in tonnes) and production rate (in tonnes/year) of selected sites of natural hydrogen in Europe in the coming years and characterizing its potential renewable aspect;Characterisation of purification requirements of selected expected gas compositions, identification of possible technologies, and test of their performances at laboratory scale.Life Cycle Assessment to determine the environmental performance of exploring, extracting, and producing natural hydrogen at this early stage of knowledge and at relevant specifications (i.e. including purification and other post-production treatments) notably in terms of (i) Greenhouse gas emissions range (in kg CO2 eq. per kg H2 produced) including possible associated gases and fugitive leakages, (ii) critical raw materials use, (iii) water resources consumption, and (iv) land use;A check (based on the LCA results) whether natural hydrogen can be classified as Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO) established under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). This would allow framing natural hydrogen into EU certifications which will ensure a commercialisation of the natural hydrogen to clients willing to decarbonise their activities. Elements to establish the right taxonomy of natural hydrogen to be certified under EU certification schemes should be provided;A conceptual study to assess the levelized cost range of hydrogen production (in € per kg H2 produced) taking into account, key parameters such as drilling design, operational costs, periodic work-over, abandonment costs, purification requirement, expected volume and well deliverability. A parametric model integrating the outputs of the conceptual study will allow the economic assessment of prospects on a case-by-case basis.At the same time, a bottleneck is to access these reserves in a safe and cost-efficient manner. Thus, research on identifying challenges related to well construction, drilling dynamics, and how to address them, will provide tools and methods to advance exploration and production of natural hydrogen, and mitigate leakages from prospection to exploitation; In addition, proposals may address the following:
Identification, description, and evaluation of the specific geological formations, processes, and settings that can potentially produce natural hydrogen in economically viable quantities in Europe;The social acceptability of these projects is also key to operate. Protocols are needed to improve public perception and acceptance including communication strategies dedicated to specific stakeholders with emphasis on the local benefits provided by the resources, and on the activities and their related safety risk mitigation;Mitigate the risks related to the safety of handling hydrogen in such quantities and opposition by the public, to accelerate the transition towards low-carbon energy solutions. As relevant, proposals are encouraged to involve European and national geological research institutes.
For additional elements applicable to all topics please refer to section 2.2.3.2.
Activities are expected to start at TRL 2 and achieve TRL 4 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.
The JU estimates that an EU contribution of maximum EUR 2.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately.
The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2025 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023–2025 which apply mutatis mutandis.
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