Hydrogen world demand

At very large scale, around a gigawatt and above, the principal supply options include carbonaceous fuels and nuclear energy. About 100 such plants would be able to supply the current world demand for hydrogen, about 42 million tons per year (ORNL, 2003), and about 20 such plants would be able to supply the current U.S. demand for hydrogen of about 9 million tons per year. 

World demand for hydrogen is increasing - some years ago, it was around 5 billion cubic metres per year (Lu et al., 2007) - of which the greatest part is deliberately produced while the remainder is a by-product of other chemical processes (Uhrig,2005). 

The demand for aviation gasoline during World War II was so great that isobutanc from alkylation feedstock was insufficient. This deficiency was remedied by isomerization of abundant normal butane into isobutane using the isomerization catalyst aluminum chloride on alumina promoted by hydrogen chloride gas. 

At the highest level of abstraction, hydrogen fuel is one of the options being considered in the World s quest for sustainable mobility. This, as discussed for instance in a recent report of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is a multifaceted subject, encompassing everything from future fuels to future vehicle technology and transportation infrastructure, in all of which major strides forward are needed [1], In what follows we restrict ourselves to fuels. But the fact that a sustainable fuel is just an element of the complex issue of sustainable mobility makes clear that such a fuel must meet a complex and sometimes contradictory set of demands. The following three requirements stand out a sustainable fuel should, in a cost effective way, contribute to... 

Current world hydrogen prodnction is approximately 50 milhon tons per year (45 billion kg per year), which represents 2% of world energy demand (Raman, 2003). However, cnrrent total annnal worldwide hydrogen consumption is in the range of 400-500 billion Nm Of this qnantity, approximately 97% is represented by captive or internal production and only about 3% is provided from merchant sonrces (MEDI, 2003). 

---