Hydrogen Exploration in Iowa Well Underway

If hydrogen becomes a viable alternative to fossil fuels, Iowa may be in a position to benefit.

Ryan Clark of the Iowa Geological Survey on the "Iowa Press" set. (Iowa PBS photo)

Ryan Clark, associate state geologist with the Iowa Geological Survey, said recent research has shown there are certain types of rocks that naturally generate hydrogen gas. “Once the rock type was sort of identified, then people started looking around the world. Well, where are these rock types? And it turns out Iowa has quite a large volume of these rock types that could generate hydrogen,” Clark said. “And to add onto that, there are some rocks that are kind of overlying those that are generating hydrogen that could potentially trap, seal and accumulate a pool of hydrogen.”

About half a dozen companies have contacted the Iowa Geological Survey for information about what may be underground. “Once they have that, then they start building their models and kind of figuring out their next steps,” Clark said. “One of their next steps is doing seismic surveys, so essentially x-raying the earth from the surface. Not drilling a hole or anything.” That can make the exploration phase quite expensive.

Hydrogen is an ingredient for fertilizer and Clark said that appears to be the “near term” market for hydrogen gas extracted from Iowa. “But in the long term it’s viewed as a clean fuel source, so when you add hydrogen into a fuel cell, it generates electricity,” Clark said, “and it’s exhaust is pure water.”

Just like oil and natural gas exraction, it’s estimated companies will have to drill up to 3000 feet to get to hydrogen that’s sitting underground. Clark said some lab experiments suggest injecting water into certain types of underground rocks could also generate hydrogen. “Nothing has been proven yet,” Clark said. “There has not been any hydrogen production from geologic sources in the United States to this date, but there has been some active exploration in Iowa and in Kansas.”

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Clark made his comments during a recent interview on the “Iowa Press” program on Iowa PBS.

A company called Koloma has drilled exploratory wells in Webster County. Experts believe underground reservoirs of hydrogen may be found in a “mid-continent” area that stretches along the Great Lakes and through Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and into northern Kansas. Fossil fuels are currently used to make the hydrogen used today to refine oil, produce fertilizer, treat steel and make methanol, which is a major ingredient in plastic.