Exploration and Evaluation of European Natural Hydrogen Potential (H2-QUEST)
FINANCING PROGRAM
European Union Horizon Europe Research and Innovation program
Call HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2025
DURATION OF THE PROJECT
January 2026 – July 2028
DIRECTOR DE PROIECT:
Giuseppe Etiope
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Natural hydrogen (H2), generated in the Earth’s crust, represents a potential energy resource with a minimal carbon footprint and environmental impact. The H2-QUEST project addresses the European Commission’s goals for achieving a sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply by exploring the potential of natural hydrogen (H2) resources. H2-QUEST aims to overcome existing challenges related to the understanding of H2 generation rates, migration and accumulation mechanisms, interpreting confidently surface and subsurface data to ultimately identify commercially viable accumulation sites. The focus of the project is to evaluate geological, geochemical and microbiological processes governing H2 dynamics, enhancing the interpretation of surface exploration techniques and establishing methodologies to distinguish geological from non-geological H2.
The project is coordinated by the INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY (IFE, Norway) and performed by a consortium of 10 European research institutes, companies and universities.
The UBB work is carried out through the ENGAGE-LAB team (Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering; https://engagelab.granturi.ubbcluj.ro), and includes the following activities and objectives:
- Revealing natural H2 systems from surface investigations by (a) Inventorying surface H2 manifestations in Europe; (b) Interpreting the origin of H2 in soil-gas
- Study the geochemical behaviour of H2 in the subsurface, with particular reference to the storage capacity of rocks
- Geological H2 potential of Europe
Disclaimer: “Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or [name of the granting authority]. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”