IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v401y2025ipbs0306261925014564.html

Origins, migrations and accumulations of natural hydrogen

Author

Listed:
  • Cao, Pinqiang
  • Ning, Fulong

Abstract

Natural hydrogen as an emerging field in geoscience and energy has attracted great attention around the world. Understanding origins, migrations and accumulations of natural hydrogen is of great importance to achieve its commercial exploitation and utilization. In this review, several leading advances and open questions on natural hydrogen are highlighted and discussed from the perspective of petroleum geology systems, focusing on its origins, migrations, and geological accumulations. A theoretical framework of natural hydrogen systems is proposed to accurately understand natural hydrogen systems. Hydrogen pump as a core of this theoretical framework provides a novel intentional paradigm addressing the importance of coupling associations of physics, chemistry, and biology in the Earth's interior from the molecular complexity to large scale crustal movements at the geological scale. Moreover, hydrogen pump exhibits a technical route for the sources and sinks of natural hydrogen and evolution mechanisms of natural hydrogen systems. This work advances our understanding of fundamental questions on natural hydrogen systems and bridges critical knowledge gaps to develop its exploitation strategies in the cutting-edge field.

Suggested Citation

  • Cao, Pinqiang & Ning, Fulong, 2025. "Origins, migrations and accumulations of natural hydrogen," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 401(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:401:y:2025:i:pb:s0306261925014564
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126726
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261925014564
    Download Restriction: Full text may be restricted for ScienceDirect subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126726?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blay-Roger, Rubén & Bach, Wolfgang & Bobadilla, Luis F. & Reina, Tomas Ramirez & Odriozola, José A. & Amils, Ricardo & Blay, Vincent, 2024. "Natural hydrogen in the energy transition: Fundamentals, promise, and enigmas," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).
    2. Xi Yang & Chris P. Nielsen & Shaojie Song & Michael B. McElroy, 2022. "Breaking the hard-to-abate bottleneck in China’s path to carbon neutrality with clean hydrogen," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 955-965, October.
    3. Sonja Renssen, 2020. "The hydrogen solution?," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 10(9), pages 799-801, September.
    4. Hector M. Lamadrid & J. Donald Rimstidt & Esther M. Schwarzenbach & Frieder Klein & Sarah Ulrich & Andrei Dolocan & Robert J. Bodnar, 2017. "Effect of water activity on rates of serpentinization of olivine," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Thaysen, Eike M. & McMahon, Sean & Strobel, Gion J. & Butler, Ian B. & Ngwenya, Bryne T. & Heinemann, Niklas & Wilkinson, Mark & Hassanpouryouzband, Aliakbar & McDermott, Christopher I. & Edlmann, Kat, 2021. "Estimating microbial growth and hydrogen consumption in hydrogen storage in porous media," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Deborah S. Kelley & Jeffrey A. Karson & Donna K. Blackman & Gretchen L. Früh-Green & David A. Butterfield & Marvin D. Lilley & Eric J. Olson & Matthew O. Schrenk & Kevin K. Roe & Geoff T. Lebon & Pete, 2001. "An off-axis hydrothermal vent field near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 30° N," Nature, Nature, vol. 412(6843), pages 145-149, July.
    7. Wei, Yongbo & Liu, Quanyou & Zhu, Dongya & Meng, Qingqiang & Xu, Huiyuan & Zhang, Wang & Wu, Xiaoqi & Li, Pengpeng & Huang, Xiaowei & Mou, Yicheng & Jin, Zhijun, 2025. "Helium and natural hydrogen in the Bohai Bay Basin, China: Occurrence, resources, and exploration prospects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 383(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gordon, Joel A. & Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye & Nabavi, Seyed Ali, 2023. "Price promises, trust deficits and energy justice: Public perceptions of hydrogen homes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    2. Rodolfo Christiansen & Mohamed Sobh & Christian Ostertag-Henning & Guido Gianni & Nicolas Saspiturry & Sebastien Chevrot & Victoria Langenheim & Javier García-Pintado & Gerald Gabriel, 2026. "Controls on natural hydrogen generation during serpentinization of mantle rocks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 17(1), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Kaczmarczyk, Michał & Tomaszewska, Barbara & Lankof, Leszek & Bielec, Bogusław, 2026. "Life and water cycle assessment of natural hydrogen exploitation for energetic purposes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    4. Rezaei, Sajjad & Hormaza Mejia, Alejandra & Wu, Yanchen & Reed, Jeffrey & Brouwer, Jack, 2025. "Global warming impacts of the transition from fossil fuel conversion and infrastructure to hydrogen," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 397(C).
    5. Valeria Vallejo & Quoc Nguyen & Arvind P. Ravikumar, 2024. "Geospatial variation in carbon accounting of hydrogen production and implications for the US Inflation Reduction Act," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 9(12), pages 1571-1582, December.
    6. Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Wang, Suilin, 2023. "Study of the geometry and structure of a thermoelectric leg with variable material properties and side heat dissipation based on thermodynamic, economic, and environmental analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    7. Narukulla, Ramesh & Chaturvedi, Krishna Raghav & Ojha, Umaprasana & Sharma, Tushar, 2022. "Carbon dioxide capturing evaluation of polyacryloyl hydrazide solutions via rheological analysis for carbon utilization applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    8. Luo, Zongkai & Zou, Guofu & Chen, Ke & Chen, Wenshang & Deng, Qihao & He, Dandi & Xiong, Zhongzhuang & Chen, Ben, 2025. "Evolution of current distribution and performance degradation mechanism of PEMFC during transient loading under gas starvation condition: An experimental study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 388(C).
    9. Abuzayed, A. & Pollitt, M. G. & Liebensteiner, M. & Hochgreb, S., 2025. "Exploring the Feasibility of Low-Carbon Fuel Blends in CCGTs for Deep Decarbonization of Power Systems," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2557, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    10. Barbara Uliasz-Misiak & Joanna Lewandowska-Śmierzchalska & Rafał Matuła & Radosław Tarkowski, 2022. "Prospects for the Implementation of Underground Hydrogen Storage in the EU," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-17, December.
    11. Wan, Tianyi & Fu, Hao & Li, Xiaoshan & Wu, Fan & Luo, Cong & Zhang, Liqi, 2025. "Assessment of decarbonization pathway for Chinese road transport sector based on transportation-energy integration systems framework," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    12. Gordon, Joel A. & Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye & Nabavi, Seyed Ali, 2022. "Homes of the future: Unpacking public perceptions to power the domestic hydrogen transition," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    13. Dan Zhang & Steve Pye & Jim Watson & James Price & Dan Welsby, 2026. "Global implications of uncertainty in China’s climate policy delivery," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 17(1), pages 1-12, December.
    14. Lin, Ning & Patonia, Aliaksei & Shuster, Mark & Lambert, Martin & Zhang, Tongwei, 2026. "Natural hydrogen techno-economics and valuation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 408(C).
    15. Nicolò Santi Vasile, 2024. "A Comprehensive Review of Biogeochemical Modeling of Underground Hydrogen Storage: A Step Forward in Achieving a Multi-Scale Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-31, December.
    16. Aditiya, H.B. & Mahlia, T.M.I. & Huang, Z., 2026. "Scaling green hydrogen: Production, storage, techno-economics and global perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 226(PD).
    17. Dong, Jie & Yang, Chen & Zhang, Hongyan & Zhou, Peng, 2026. "Identifying and understanding disruptive energy technologies: A data-driven integrated approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    18. Kaandorp, Chelsea & Miedema, Tes & Verhagen, Jeroen & van de Giesen, Nick & Abraham, Edo, 2022. "Reducing committed emissions of heating towards 2050: Analysis of scenarios for the insulation of buildings and the decarbonisation of electricity generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    19. Shaojie Song & Haiyang Lin & Peter Sherman & Xi Yang & Chris P. Nielsen & Xinyu Chen & Michael B. McElroy, 2021. "Production of hydrogen from offshore wind in China and cost-competitive supply to Japan," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    20. Huang, Zhenguang & Li, Chao & Chu, Yican & Gu, Jing & Li, Wenqing & Xie, Jiaxing & Gao, Ge & Wang, Haoyu & Fan, Meiqiang & Yao, Zhendong, 2025. "Potential and challenges for V-based solid solution hydrogen storage alloys," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:401:y:2025:i:pb:s0306261925014564. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.