Massachusetts startup Eden GeoPower is testing an electricity-based rock-fracturing technique, originally developed for enhanced geothermal systems, to enable production of 'stimulated' or engineered geologic hydrogen. Using pulsed-power Marx generators nicknamed Zeus and Thor, the company creates plasma channels inside iron-rich rock to fracture it and expose more surface for water-rock reactions that release hydrogen. Competing approaches from GeoKiln, Vema Hydrogen, and Koloma use heaters, catalysts, and carbon-dioxide injection respectively. Researchers caution that no single method alone will likely sustain commercial-scale hydrogen production, and the technology remains unproven at scale.
Table of contents
There’s Plenty of Underground HydrogenEden GeoPower’s Underground Rock FracturingUsing Pulsed Power for Rock FracturingOther Approaches to Stimulated Geologic Hydrogen126 Impressions