When microbes use hydrogen in
their life processes, it can lead to a decrease of hydrogen around the cells
and can cause changes in the gases around them. This can affect also our future
energy systems!
We want to use renewable energy sources like solar or wind
power to produce hydrogen through a process called electrolysis. This is where
water (H2O) is split into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2).
The hydrogen is then stored deep underground in geological formations, similar
to how natural gas is stored. Why do we do this? Well, renewable energy sources
like the sun and wind aren’t always available when we need them. The sun
doesn’t shine at night, and the wind doesn’t always blow. But by converting
their energy into hydrogen, we can store that energy and use it whenever we
need it. When we’re ready to use the stored energy, we bring the hydrogen back
to the surface.
But here’s where it gets really interesting: Some of the
subsurface microbes love to munch on hydrogen so much that this can lead to
changes in the gas mixture stored underground, which is something scientists
are studying closely.
While microbes eat hydrogen, other gases like methane or
hydrogen sulfide (H2S) might be produced. This could affect how we
can use the hydrogen that we get back from storage. Even a tiny bit of H2S
can cause problems with the quality of the gas and might even be a safety or
health risk. So, we’d need to treat the gas to make it safe and useful again.
Microbes can also trigger other effects like plugging or corrosion or
geochemical changes. All factors which might change the subsurface environment
and therefore the potential gas storages.
In simple terms, the tiny life
forms deep within the Earth can interact with their environment in ways that
can affect our human activities, including storing hydrogen underground. As we
continue to learn more about this hidden world, we’ll keep finding new and
amazing things about life on Earth. It’s a bit like discovering a whole new
world, right beneath our feet!