WorldOil

Drilling advances

The benefits of hydrogen for generating power from fuel cells are well-documented, whether for vehicles or commercial electricity production. Hydrogen combines with atmospheric oxygen in an oxidation/reduction reaction to produce electricity, with water and heat as the only byproducts. This presumably avoids such nasty waste products as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and, the worst of them all (gasp), carbon dioxide. However, most folks don’t have a clear understanding of the sources of hydrogen. Hydrogen, the most abundant of all elements, makes up more than 90% of all atoms. It is composed of one proton and one electron. Its atomic structure makes it attractive to electron-hungry molecules. So, free molecular hydrogen is not found in significant quantities in nature (less than 1 ppm in the atmosphere by volume). It is almost always atomically bound to something else, and to separate an appreciable volume of hydrogen gas these bonds must be severed.