4. The future of liquid hydrogen

Today

Consumption of hydrogen gas is rising sharply in both the chemical and petroleum industries (desulfurization); the flow rates and purities required vary greatly from one customer to another, and require adapted production equipment.

Liquid hydrogen consumption is comparatively low. The production and delivery of hydrogen in liquid form can, because of the high purity required by its manufacturing process, in some cases be the solution for very pure hydrogen needs: indeed, purity is difficult to maintain when gaseous hydrogen is compressed and delivered in high-pressure packaging.

However, the main advantage of liquid hydrogen remains its use as cryogenic propellant.