Presentation of the natural hydrogen project ENWAS at the H2 Ressources conference in Nancy

EIFER had the opportunity to present first results of the German BMFTR (Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space) funded project “ENWAS – Exploration of natural hydrogen sources in the Albstadt shear zone” at the H2 Ressources conference.

The event brings together representatives from the public sector, industry, science and innovation working on hydrogen and the sustainable use of the Earth’s resources.

The two project partners, KIT – Structural Geology as coordinator and EIFER, aim to investigate the potential of natural hydrogen occurring at a site in the rural district of Tuttlingen, Germany.

Initial LiDAR and stress analysis conducted by the partner KIT reveals geological conditions which appear favourable for gas migration from the underground along permeable fracture systems. EIFER performed first shallow soil drilling campaigns (Fig. 1) and installed permanent sensor stations (Fig. 2) to evaluate the underground gas household in such fractured areas. Data is constantly being transferred and can be accessed in real time via LoRaWAN technology and a data dashboard (Fig. 3).

Initial measurements show hydrogen occurring in pulses and reaching considerable concentrations. However, its origin has not yet been fully determined. As a next step, deeper drilling into the hard rock is planned to gain further insights into the source and geological processes behind the observed hydrogen occurrences.