A material flow of hydrogen from production to consumption

Abstract

Hydrogen supply infrastructures such as hydrogen production and filling stations are expected to accelerate the penetration of fuel cell vehicles. This study focuses on a hydrogen material flow from the production to the consumption sector to discuss hydrogen supply potential in Japan. Both the hydrogen supply capacity and demands are investigated to estimate hydrogen sales and its self-consumption status based on the current data. The difference between the supply capacity and consumption quantity is defined as a surplus hydrogen capacity. Detailed estimation indicates that the surplus hydrogen capacity affords to supply high purity hydrogen up to 8,700 million Nm³ a year, which is equivalent to 3.3% of the final energy consumption in Japan's transportation sector in 2012.