Hydrogen value chain and associated material resources

Abundant when the Earth was formed, hydrogen is not a primary resource. Fossil hydrogen no longer exists on Earth for reasons linked to the kinetic theory of gases. Hydrogen is very light and, over geological time, has been subjected to thermal agitation whose kinetics follow a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, with a tail, towards high velocities, tangent to the velocity of release from the Earth's gravitational pull. It has gradually escaped from the atmosphere over the 4.543 billion years since its formation.

It therefore requires energy to produce, either by electrolysis of water, or by steam reforming of hydrocarbons. The latter is by far the most widely used process today.

However, a source of hydrogen was discovered in Mali, in the Bamako region, in 1987. In 2012, it supplied the small village of Bourakébougou with energy by direct...