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Generation of Hydrogen Gas as a Result of Drilling Within the Saturated Zone
Author(s) -
Bjornstad Bruce N.,
McKinley James P.,
Stevens Todd O.,
Rawson Shirley A.,
Fredrickson James K.,
Long Philip E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
groundwater monitoring and remediation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-6592
pISSN - 1069-3629
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6592.1994.tb00492.x
Subject(s) - drilling , petroleum engineering , hydrogen , geology , environmental science , materials science , chemistry , metallurgy , organic chemistry
Hydrogen gas was discovered within the steel casing above standing water in a percussion‐drilled borehole on the Hanlord Site in south‐central Washington state. In situ measurements of the borehole fluids indicated anoxic, low‐Eh (<‐400 mV) conditions. Ground water sampled from adjacent wells in the same formation indicated that the ground water was oxygenated. H 2 was generated during percussion drilling, due to the decomposition of borehole waters as a result of aqueous reactions with drilled sediment and steel from the drilling tools or casing. The generation of H 2 within percussion‐drilled boreholes that extend below the water table may be more common than previously realized. The ambient concentration of H 2 produced during drilling was limited by microbial activity within the casing‐resident fluids. H 2 was generated abiotically in the laboratory, whereby sterilized borehole slurry samples produced 100 times more H 2 than unsterilizcd samples. It appears that H 2 is metabolized by microorganisms and concentrations might be significantly greater if not for microbial metabolism.