Who are the major users of hydrogen in the chemical industry?

As an important support for global economic development, the chemical industry's products are widely used in various fields of agriculture, industry and services, especially in emerging fields such as high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, electric vehicles, aerospace, etc. In the long-term trend of global green and low-carbon development, compared with other industries, the chemical industry is currently making slow progress in climate action and there is a gap in achieving the scientific goal of net zero emissions. Among the many low-carbon development paths, hydrogen energy is one of the keys to the green transformation of the chemical industry. The widespread application of hydrogen energy (and hydrogen gas) in the chemical industry is of great significance to reducing chemical pollution and reducing carbon emissions in the chemical industry. It is a key measure for the industry to implement the "dual carbon" strategy.

As global climate pressure continues to increase, countries have accelerated the pace of low-carbon and green transformation. The development of hydrogen energy has become a common goal of major countries in the world, and the global layout of the hydrogen economy has been launched. Major economies have attached great importance to the development of hydrogen energy. Developed countries such as the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan have incorporated hydrogen energy into their national energy strategies and regard hydrogen as the key to low-carbon development in their chemical industry.

The hydrogen energy industry in the United States has entered a period of rapid growth, and government investment has promoted low-carbon technological innovation in the chemical industry. In March 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $6 billion grant to fund 33 projects to promote the low-carbon transformation of industries such as chemicals and refining. The projects focus on key technologies such as hydrogen substitution, electrified heating, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), plastic recycling, methanol production and by-product recycling. Among them, Exxon Mobil received US$332 million for hydrogen fuel decarbonization transformation of its Baytown plant; ISP Chemicals and other companies received US$35.2 million to promote the electrification of heating at the Kentucky chemical plant; Dow received US$95 million for carbon capture facilities on the Gulf Coast.

Green hydrogen drives the transformation of Germany's chemical industry. The market growth of green hydrogen and methanol is a new area promoted by the German government, which hopes to use hydrogen production to achieve the transformation of most of the country's industrial sectors, covering everything from the automotive industry to the chemical industry. For example, the German company Viridi RE is currently planning to use dozens of hectares of solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines to generate electricity to produce hydrogen and methanol. The company has set a goal of achieving an annual production of more than 60,000 tons of green hydrogen by the end of 2025. However, given that Germany itself lacks the ability to produce hydrogen on a large scale, a strategy of importing and storing it is adopted. Regarding the import of hydrogen, the latest version of Germany's National Hydrogen Strategy predicts that by 2030, approximately 50% to 70% of the hydrogen needed in Germany will rely on imports.

The UK is actively promoting the application of hydrogen in industrial fields such as chemical industry, and exploring the potential of hydrogen as a clean energy through demonstration projects. The UK implements a dual-track system of green hydrogen and blue hydrogen, with the goal of reducing 10 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions through CCUS in four industrial clusters by 2030, and establishing a hydrogen energy fund to encourage green production. The government has increased its financial support for the hydrogen energy industry and launched a series of hydrogen energy demonstration projects, which cover everything from hydrogen production, storage and distribution to applications in industry, housing and transportation, such as HyNet Northwest, and also include innovative demonstrations of the application of hydrogen fuel cells in transportation, such as the Sheffield Hydrogen Demonstration Project. Together, these projects form an important foundation for the UK's hydrogen energy development and low-carbon economic transformation.

Japan's hydrogen energy industry is widely used, but faces challenges in the production and import costs of green hydrogen. Japan is one of the world's largest hydrogen producers, producing about 7 million tons of hydrogen each year. Most of it is used for industrial purposes, such as chemicals and steelmaking. At present, hydrogen energy is not only used as a clean energy in Japan, but is also widely used in many fields such as automobiles, transportation, urban construction and power generation. However, due to Japan's lack of natural resource conditions for large-scale deployment of wind and solar energy, it is difficult to produce green hydrogen on a large scale. In addition, the cost of importing hydrogen energy from overseas is high, and the implementation and promotion of the hydrogen energy strategy has not met expectations.