Columbus Startup Koloma Is Exploring the Potential of Hydrogen Fuel
The hydrogen exploration and extraction company is conducting research at a new laboratory in the Innovation District at Ohio State University.
Tom Darrah, a co-founder of Koloma, a hydrogen exploration and extraction startup, likes to draw a parallel from his company to another fuel company also founded in Columbus: Standard Oil.
Darrah, the Ohio State University geologist whose research spawned what could become a global name in one of the 21st century’s most promising clean fuels, says:
I think of it as how Standard Oil was founded. We’re likely to explore in Ohio and around the world, as well as in the U.S., but the exploration engine will be here in Ohio,
Clean hydrogen doesn’t get a lot of attention compared with wind and solar. But hydrogen is already a critical industrial gas. It’s used to make fertilizer, steel and fuels.
Global hydrogen demand is rising and reached 97 million metric tons in 2023, according to the International Energy Agency. The gas also can be used to power fuel cells or be combusted, in which case the only emission is water vapor. Fuel cells can power anything from hearing aids to cargo ships and data centers.
Currently, the vast majority of hydrogen is refined from natural gas or other fossil fuels. A tiny amount—less than 1 million metric tons, according to the IEA—is produced from low-carbon emission methods such as solar-powered electrolysis.
A clean, low-cost source of hydrogen, Darrah says, could be revolutionary.
Koloma believes it can kick off such a revolution.
Darrah, a geochemistry researcher for more than 20 years, says it’s long been known that natural hydrogen reservoirs were formed by subsurface reactions in rock, but no one believed they held economic potential.
He did. Darrah’s two decades of study to discern what catalyzes those reactions and where those conditions exist have led to a treasure map of areas that could be tapped for extremely low carbon extraction of pure hydrogen.
Koloma was founded by Darrah, CEO Pete Johnson, former Chief Business Officer Paul Harraka and investors, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures (Bill Gates’ climate tech investment firm). Johnson says when he heard about Darrah’s research, he knew he wanted onboard.
I’ve been in and around the hydrogen business for 15 years … but it’s always been a little too expensive and too far away.
”With geologic hydrogen, you can do things with this clean carbon-free tool no one thought you could do, and I wanted to be part of it.”
It’s feasible, Johnson says, to make carbon-neutral ammonia fertilizers, build plants to produce carbon-free steel that is also less expensive than today’s materials, or cost-competitive, carbon-neutral synthetic diesel.
Koloma executives estimate the U.S. hydrogen industry could spark a 16 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
Their team includes members experienced in the world of petrochemical exploration and development. While Koloma is headquartered in Denver in order to take advantage of local extraction industry expertise, half of the company’s 50 employees work at the company’s new, 23,000-square-foot lab in the Energy Advancement and Innovation Center in Ohio State’s Innovation District.
Additionally, Darrah is leading research at the lab on a process to mineralize carbon dioxide and stimulate hydrogen production from subsurface rock in a carbon-negative process.
Johnson says partners from around the world will be visiting the lab for years to come to access the analytical technology and tools being built there.
He says geologic hydrogen carries the highest risk but lowest cost potential of all clean hydrogen options. The company has raised more than $360 million from backers such as United Airlines, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and other clean tech venture funds in the U.S. and abroad.
Cynthia Bent Findlay is a freelance writer.
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