HYDROGEN APPLICATIONS

Existing industrial hydrogen applications are establishing the beginnings of a hydrogen infrastructure for emerging energy applications.

For many decades hydrogen has been an important processing gas for many industrial processes. Oil refineries are currently, by far, the largest consumers of hydrogen gas as they use it in the refining process to make gasoline from oil. In most cases, oil refineries use hydrogen that they make onsite from natural gas. Other industrial processes that use hydrogen rely largely on a wide network of truck-delivery supply lines serviced by merchant gas companies. A portion of this market share is also served by onsite hydrogen plants, such as the HySTAT™ Hydrogen Stations offered by Hydrogenics, that electrolyze water to produce pure hydrogen – on site, on demand. In addition, there are regions in the southern U.S. and in Europe where hydrogen is actually delivered through a hydrogen pipeline network, given the dense concentration of industrial hydrogen users based in those regions.

These existing industrial applications have already established the beginning of a hydrogen infrastructure as we contemplate the tremendous role that hydrogen is positioned to play for future energy applications. As fuel cell technology is commercialized for a wide range of hydrogen energy applications, the ultimate goal is to establish a pervasive network of hydrogen generation and distribution outlets to support the fueling of these fuel cell vehicles and appliances. Today fuel cell technology is being deployed for relatively small markets, for example in materials handling vehicles and backup power for data centers and telecom sites, where access to hydrogen can be more easily managed.

Whatever the application, a turnkey hydrogen station can be built from our modular and scalable HySTAT product line.