Vema Hydrogen Starts Quebec Drilling to Determine Viability of Engineered Mineral H2
A U.S. company which is striving to create market-competitive and low-carbon hydrogen from subsurface exploration has completed drilling its first two pilot wells in Quebec, Canada.
Vema Hydrogen is testing Quebec’s geology as an opportunity to extract the company’s specific engineered mineral hydrogen from subsurface rock formations in the ophiolite and banded iron formations (BIF) of the earth’s crust.
Focusing on engineered mineral hydrogen is a cost-effective and decarbonizing method of production, in theory, with Vema Hydrogen’s website touting it can produce EMH at less than $1 per kilogram. If so, this would be less expensive than current market costs of green hydrogen (produced from electrolyzers powered by carbon-free electricity generation such as solar, wind, hydro or nuclear) and gray hydrogen (produced from steam reforming of methane natural gas).
“This pilot will provide the critical data needed to validate Engineered Mineral Hydrogen at commercial scale and demonstrate that Quebec can lead the world in this emerging clean energy category,” said Pierre Levin, CEO of Vema Hydrogen, in a statement. “The quality of the rock within our core samples is exactly what we expected and is very promising for hydrogen yields.”
Vema Hydrogen hopes to produce enough EMH to create capacity for e-fuel and clean mobility markets, such as shipping and air transport. Hydrogen is a light, energy-dense gas which itself produces no carbon emissions at the point of use.
The Quebec pilot is designed to transition laboratory research into a controlled subsurface environment for Vema to gather the data required for improvizing commercial modeling. Vema will begin a structured program of subsurface analysis to evaluate fluid movement and monitor for hydrogen production during testing.
“Vema Hydrogen perfectly embodies the spirit of the grey to green movement: transforming mining liabilities into drivers of innovation and ecological transition,” said Ludovic Beauregard, circular economy commissioner at the Thetford Region Economic Development Corp., an organization focused on economic opportunity the Thetford region of Quebec. “This project demonstrates that it is possible to reconcile the revitalization of mining regions, clean energy, and sustainable economic development for these areas.”
Recently, Vema signed a 10-year hydrogen purchase and sale agreement with Verne Power to supply clean hydrogen for data centers across California. Vema was also recognized as a Qualified Supplier by the First Public Hydrogen Authority (FPH2) to support California’s clean energy transition through future hydrogen supply to FPH2’s statewide network.