February 2026: Engineered Geological Hydrogen Generation

ABSTRACT: The global energy demand is huge and cannot be met currently without fossil fuels. New carbon-free energy resources are needed; one such resource being geological hydrogen. Hydrogen is also used in the chemical industry and can be used in steel and fertilizer industry to reduce carbon emission. Small amounts of hydrogen deposits have been found in earth’s crust in recent years. Many companies are currently exploring for geological deposits of hydrogen. There is also an effort to engineer hydrogen generation in subsurface mineral deposits. In our laboratory, we have studied the hydrothermal reactions of several minerals (Peridotite, Flood Basalt, Olivine-in-Flood Basalt and Newberry Formation). These hydrothermal reactions and engineering hydrogen production will be discussed in this presentation. BIO: Kishore Mohanty is the W.A. (Monty) Moncrief Centennial Chair Professor in Petroleum Engineering in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering (PGE) at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests are in EOR, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen generation, and nanotechnology. He received his BTech from IIT Kanpur and PhD from University of Minnesota, both in chemical engineering. He worked at ARCO Oil & Gas Company R&D from 1981-1991 before joining the faculty at the University of Houston where he worked for 17 years. He joined UT PGE in 2009 and was the director of the Center for Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, 2013-2019. He has won several awards from the Society of Petroleum Engineers including the John Franklin Karll award in 2022, SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, 2016 and AIME/SPE Anthony F. Lucas Technical Leadership Gold Medal, 2013.