Hydrogen and Oxygen Uses
Hydrogen has long been an important gaseous raw material for chemical and petroleum industries such as cyclohexanol, ammonia, stearin, isooctane, methanol.
Hydrogen is sold as gas and liquid. Liquid hydrogen is the most profitable, as it is
a friend of environment when used as a fuel in fuel cells.
A major use of oxygen is the production of steel in open hearth or basic oxygen furnaces. The steel industry also uses oxygen as well as the chemical industry which is the consumer of oxygen in such applications as acetylene, ethylene oxide, hydrocarbons and medical purposes.
4.2 Hydrogen Manufacture
Hydrogen is derived almost exclusively from carbonaceous primarily hydrocarbons or water. These materials are decomposed by the energy, which may be electrical, chemical, or thermal. Examples include electrolysis of water, steam reforming of hydrocarbons, and thermal dissociation of natural gas. Hydrogen is also produced by partial oxidation of hydrocarbons and by steam-hydrocarbon reforming process.
Hydrogen has long been an important gaseous raw material for chemical and petroleum industries such as cyclohexanol, ammonia, stearin, isooctane, methanol.Hydrogen is sold as gas and liquid. Liquid hydrogen is the most profitable, as it is a friend of environment when used as a fuel in fuel cells.
Water is capable of undergoing both oxidation at anode and reduction at cathode. Catalytically reacting a mixture of steam and hydrocarbons at an elevated temperature to form a mixture of H2 and oxides of carbon. Breakdown of water to H2 and O2 by electrolysis is usually carried out in dilute solution. For Partial Oxidation Processes the starting material can use natural gas, refinery gas, or other hydrocarbon gas mixtures as feedstocks, but their chief advantage is that theses processes can also accept liquid hydrocarbon.