Hydrogen flow chart in China

In this paper, the life cycle of hydrogen, flowing from production to consumption in China is described. Chinese industry and statistics data are used to calculate the total and segmental hydrogen production and consumption, and the by-product hydrogen are estimated. In 2007, about 12.42 million tons hydrogen was generated on-site, in which, 57.3%, 23.0% and 19.7% were produced by coal, natural gas and oil respectively. Hydrogen is mainly consumed by the following manufacturing processes: ammonia, methanol and oil refining, and the corresponding percentages are 75.8%, 10.5% and 13.7%. There are about 5.3 million tons and 0.42 million tons of by-product hydrogen produced during the carbonization process and the sodium hydroxide producing respectively. The by-product hydrogen is collected and utilized in vehicles to fuel hydrogen fuel cells or internal combustion engine technologies. Therefore, it could replace about 16 million tons of gasoline or fuel 17.7 million hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.