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Can Bulqiza's hydrogen be used? Major risks for the chrome mine revealed...
2026-05-13 22:14:07 / AKTUALITET
In a mine, where ventilation and control are crucial, any uncontrolled accumulation can be fatal. Therefore, any discussion of exploitation cannot be made outside the context of safety.
Study: We conducted an exploration campaign at the deep underground Bulqiza chrome mine in Albania, where the presence of flammable gas was first reported in 1992 at a depth of 620 m. Following the discovery of the gas, major explosions occurred in 2011, 2017, and 2023. The Bulqiza chrome mine is one of the largest chrome mining sites in the world, with a total extraction of over 20 million tons of high-quality ore.
The findings so far in Bulqiza challenge a long-held belief of the energy industry, which has overlooked these areas as unsuitable for exploitation.
"This thing we are talking about, hydrogen, is a new thing that is not used anywhere in the world. There are signs in other places, in other mines where there is chromium, chromite in ophiolitic massifs. Hydrogen and methane occurrences have been identified before, many years ago. The special thing about Bulqiza is that the amount found in Bulqiza is the largest to date compared to all other places where hydrogen and methane have been found in the world ," said Bardhyl Muceku, professor at the Polytechnic University of Tirana.
However, the study's authors remain cautious. They emphasize the need for a deeper understanding of the geological factors that control the creation, accumulation, and movement of hydrogen. Without this knowledge, any attempt to turn this phenomenon into an industrial one remains uncertain.
"It's about a deposit. 200 tons of hydrogen are released per year in the mine, so if we calculate the outflow, in monetary value it could be 1 million, 1 million and a half euros, it depends on the market what the price of hydrogen is, because its price also varies depending on the way it is produced ," said Muceku.
"For this reason, natural hydrogen, or what is otherwise called white hydrogen, is required, because when it burns, when it releases energy, it does not release carbon dioxide, but only releases water vapor, and it enters clean, very clean energy. I do not think it will replace hydrocarbons or methane in the future, but it is within the framework of energy diversification ," says the professor.
Faced with such a discovery, the question arises: is Albania prepared to understand and manage this potential? Will hydrogen continue to emerge as an invisible hazard in the mine galleries or will it be treated as an asset that requires strategy, investment and control? The current data are encouraging and indicate an active system, but they are not yet conclusive to prove unequivocally the existence of a genuine and exploitable reservoir.
"98% of the world's hydrogen is produced industrially, because industry needs hydrogen, but here we have no benefit because we waste energy to benefit from it, while we should use it to give us energy ," says Professor Bardhyl Muceku.
"We are conducting analyses and doing a kind of expertise with world-renowned specialists in this field, and for which we have not made any special investment, simply the cooperation that has taken place with our department ," concluded Professor Bardhyl Muceku./ Inside Story
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