Hydroma focuses on large-scale clean hydrogen projects, emphasizing both natural hydrogen and green hydrogen production, storage, transport, and distribution. The company aims to develop a robust regional hydrogen economy in West Africa and Canada, with potential exports to Europe and international markets. Hydroma’s initiatives are part of the West African Big Green Deal, promoting sustainable energy development.
Hydroma discovered large natural hydrogen accumulations in the Bourakébougou area of Mali. The initial discovery occurred in 1987 during water well drilling, when hydrogen unexpectedly escaped from the well.
Subsequent exploration and drilling campaigns, including a 24-well program in 2017–2018, confirmed multiple hydrogen reservoirs with high purity (up to 98%).
These reservoirs are located in Proterozoic sedimentary rocks, sealed by dolerite sills, forming a unique natural hydrogen trapping system
Global Significance
Hydroma’s work highlights the potential of naturally occurring hydrogen as a low-cost, carbon-free energy source. Unlike conventional green hydrogen, which is currently expensive, natural hydrogen can be extracted directly from subsurface reservoirs, offering a competitive alternative for energy generation. The company’s projects in Mali serve as a model for scaling natural hydrogen production in other regions.
In the end of 2022, H2 Consultancy contacted Hydroma for an interesting project in Africa. Making a fuel cell system in Mali which is capable of running on Natural Hydrogen coming directly from a well. The main goal was to learn from first findings and to do research for the potential of natural hydrogen.
The second week of May 2023, Hydroma installed and commissioned the customized fuel cell system in Bourakébougou. After some fine tuning of the controls, the system ran stably on natural hydrogen that came directly from the well. That week also marked the start of an endurance test over a few months, energizing the village of Bourakébougou by a fuel cell running directly on natural hydrogen.
The fuel cell ran successfully. Data has been collected and reviewed to improve the performance and durability of the system.
