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Someone asked me recently about a Houston-based startup called Gold H2. That was enough to send me down the rabbit hole. After a few hours of reading, checking some chemistry, and doing a few back-of-the-envelope calculations, I had enough material that it was worth pulling together in one place. This is not the Australian company with the same name that is drilling for naturally occurring hydrogen. This is a private spin-out from Cemvita Factory that is trying to make hydrogen underground in depleted oilfields by feeding the right microbes and letting them do their work.
Gold H2 calls its approach Black 2 Gold. The process involves injecting nutrients and hydrogen-producing microbes into old oil wells, letting the reservoir sit for a period, and then producing gas back through the same well. The microbes are meant to break down residual hydrocarbons…
