The U.S. hydrogen industry currently produces 9 million tons of hydrogen per year for use in

95% of hydrogen we use today is produced via steam reforming of natural gas at oil refineries Photo by Warren Gretz DOE/NREL

chemicals production, petroleum refining, metals treating, and electrical applications. If used as an energy carrier, 9 million tons of hydrogen could power 20-30 million cars or 5-8 million homes⁽¹⁾.

Hydrogen may be produced from many different sources. Hydrogen-containing compounds such as fossil fuels, biomass or even water can be a source of hydrogen.

Numerous different process technologies exist to extract hydrogen include:

• Steam methane reforming - converts hydrocarbon fuels such as natural gas into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, accounts for 95% of the hydrogen produced in the United States.
• Thermochemical - heat from nuclear or solar reactions to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
• Electrolysis - an electrical current splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, electricity may be generated by renewable resources.
• Gasification - biomass or coal is heated to form a gas from which hydrogen can be generated.
• Photobiological - uses algae to produce hydrogen in the presence of sunlight.
• Photoelectrochemical - splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using only sunlight.

EERE along with other labs and research organizations are currently investigating various methods to produce hydrogen in order to reduce the cost of hydrogen production.