The French startup Lhyfe offers a groundbreaking solution to combat ocean suffocation. In contrast to current trends focused on pollution cleanup, its idea is to inject oxygen, co-produced during the creation of green hydrogen, directly into the depths of the Baltic Sea.
The oceans are suffocating. According to Aurélien Paulmier, a biogeochemist at the Research and Development Institute (IRD), since the 1960s, the number of dead zones—areas without oxygen—has quadrupled offshore and increased tenfold in coastal areas. The Baltic Sea is one of the most concerning examples of this rapid deoxygenation.
However, instead of addressing the root causes—pollution and climate change—a French company has opted for a technological remedy. Lhyfe, a specialist in green hydrogen, has teamed up with Flexens and Stockholm University to test the injection of pure oxygen into the deep marine waters.
This solution resembles the oxygenation systems used in aquariums but on the scale of an entire sea. The project, named BOxHy, has already received approval from the United Nations.
Offshore electrolysis could produce 1,600 tons of oxygen daily
Nature sometimes provides solutions that we fail to recognize. After the discovery of « black oxygen » in the deep ocean, this essential molecule for life is now at the heart of a project based on a simple principle: when hydrogen is produced through the electrolysis of seawater on offshore platforms, eight kilos of oxygen are generated for each kilo of hydrogen produced. Until now, this oxygen has gone unused.
Lhyfe proposes to use these large quantities—up to 1,600 tons daily for a site producing 200 tons of hydrogen—to revive oxygen-deprived marine areas. The oxygen would be injected in the form of microbubbles through a system of pipes extending into the depths, below the zone where water density variations occur. Three potential sites along the Baltic coast have already been identified for this six-year experimental project.
The partners have established a dozen selection criteria, considering both technical and environmental aspects: the presence of anoxia, bathymetry, existing infrastructure, and local regulations.
Valuing the oxygen generated by hydrogen: the project of this French startup – © Kelly Marken / Shutterstock
Although on paper, the idea of recycling and utilizing oxygen to revive the oceans seems excellent, the scientific community is approaching the project with a very cautious enthusiasm. While the technique has already proven effective in lakes in the United States, Germany, and Switzerland, its application in marine environments is less straightforward.
According to Le Parisien, Catherine Jeandel, a marine geochemist at CNRS, considers it « completely crazy » to contemplate reoxygenating the oceans on such a scale. Even less optimistic, Aurélien Paulmier believes that the artificial injection of oxygen could have a perverse effect: the more oxygen is added, the more bacteria consume it, generating more CO2 and releasing nutrients that fuel algae blooms. This could create a vicious cycle, exacerbating the original problem.
Jean-Philippe Jenny from INRAE compares this approach to an « oxygen patch » that, at best, will temporarily alleviate the symptoms without curing the underlying problem. The real solution, he argues, would involve a drastic reduction in domestic, industrial, and agricultural discharges that continue to suffocate coastal waters.
China, one of the world’s largest polluters, could pave the way by targeting carbon neutrality by 2060, which could lead to several more COPs being organized.
Source: clubic
