Hydrogen oceanic sources

All these circumstances have lead the industry to begin searching for a new source of energy an alternative and completely petroleum-independent power source. Several technologies are being researched, such as biomass (bio-diesel, ethanol), renewable ocean sources (wave, tidal, and thermal), hydrogen, and many more. 

The anthropogenic H2 is emitted into the air in automotive exhaust gases, which contain H2 in the range of 1-5 % by volume. The nature of the oceanic source is not entirely clear but it is probably due to microbiological activity. However, the supersaturation of ocean waters unambiguously indicates hydrogen gas formation there. The emission from soils is caused by the fermentation of bacteria. 

Gas hydrates are an ice-like material which is constituted of methane molecules encaged in a cluster of water molecules and held together by hydrogen bonds. This material occurs in large underground deposits found beneath the ocean floor on continental margins and in places north of the arctic circle such as Siberia. It is estimated that gas hydrate deposits contain twice as much carbon as all other fossil fuels on earth. This source, if proven feasible for recovery, could be a future energy as well as chemical source for petrochemicals. 

Petroleum is formed under the earth s surface by the decomposition of organic material. The remains of tiny organisms that lived in the sea and, to a lesser extent, those of land organisms were carried down to the sea in rivers along with plants that grow on the ocean bottoms combined with the fine sands and silts in calm sea basins. These deposits, which are rich in organic materials, become the source rocks for the formation of carbon and hydrogen, i.e., natural gas and crude oil. 

This simple two component model for the Fe isotope composition of seawater does not consider the effects of the Fe isotope composition of dissolved Fe from rivers or from rain. Although the dissolved Fe fluxes are small (Fig. 19) the dissolved fluxes may have an important control on the overall Fe isotope composition of the oceans if they represent an Fe source that is preferentially added to the hydrogenous Fe budget that is ultimately sequestered into Fe-Mn nodules. In particular riverine components may be very important in the Pacific Ocean where a significant amount of Fe to the oceans can be delivered from rivers that drain oceanic islands (Sholkovitz et al. 1999). An additional uncertainty lies in how Fe from particulate matter is utilized in seawater. For example, does the solubilization of Fe from aerosol particles result in a significant Fe isotope fractionation, and does Fe speciation lead to Fe isotope fractionation ... 

Trace metals are introduced to the ocean by atmospheric feUout, river runoff, and hydrothermal activity. The latter two are sources of soluble metals, which are primarily reduced species. Upon introduction into seawater, these metals react with O2 and are converted to insoluble oxides. Some of these precipitates settle to the seafloor to become part of the sediments others adsorb onto surfaces of sinking and sedimentary particles to form crusts, nodules, and thin coatings. Since reaction rates are slow, the metals can be transported considerable distances before becoming part of the sediments. In the case of the metals carried into the ocean by river runoff, a significant fraction is deposited on the outer continental shelf and slope. Hydrothermal emissions constitute most of the somce of the metals in the hydrogenous precipitates that form in the open ocean. 

Schematic representation of manganese nodule end-member morphologies. The size of the arrows Indicates the proportion and direction of metal supply, (a) Typical situation In the open ocean with the nodules lying on an oxidized sediment substrate dominant mode of formation Is hydrogenous, (b) Typical situation In nearshore and freshwater environments with nodules lying on a sediment substrate that Is partly reducing In character. Dominant supply of metals Is via Interstitial waters from below the substrate surface. Source From Chester, R. (2003). Marine Geochemistry, 2nd ed. Blackwell, p. 425.

A difficnlty in measnring D/H isotope ratios is that, along with the H2+ and HD+ formation in the ion source, H3+ is produced as a by-prodnct of ion-molecule collisions. Therefore, a H3+ correction has to be made. The amonnt of H3+ formed is directly proportional to the number of H2 molecules and H+ ions. Generally the H3+ current measured for hydrogen from ocean water is on the order of 16% of the total mass 3. The relevant procedures for correction have been evaluated by Brand (2002). 

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