内容简介
Supplying an ever-growing world population with industrial raw materials, energy and clean water, and at the same time addressing the threats posed by global change, these are the two fundamental challenges facing mankind today. Developing alternative energy sources, with a switch from high-carbon to low-carbon and non-carbon is of key importance globally, and China has the goal of developing new energy resources that are carbon neutral. One potentially important clean energy component of the energy mix is hydrogen because it has a calorific value far greater than that of coal, oil, and methane [1]. Presently, the main methods of obtaining hydrogen are industrial, via grey and blue technologies rely on fossil fuel-based feedstocks (with and without carbon capture, utilisation and storage, respectively). These hydrogen production processes come with a high cost and actually emit greenhouse gases, which presents a problem of unsustainability. Utilising naturally occurring molecular hydrogen in the Earth’s crust is not part of the above strategies. While hydrogen certainly plays a role in chemical reactions occurring in sedimentary basins, the geological circumstances under which it can be generated, concentrated and preserved have been largely overlooked.