SRI ConsultingPublishes 2007 Hydrogen Report

Consumption to Increase Over 40%

MENLO PARK, CA. October 24,, 2007— Global environmental regulations and the inferior quality of today’s sour crude feedstock available for refineries will drive consumption of hydrogen in excess of 40% over the next five years.  Today, SRI Consulting (SRIC) released its 2007 Hydrogen report that provides current and comprehensive information on the global hydrogen industry, producers and trends.

Bala Suresh, Senior Consultant at SRIC said, “The severe environmental regulations on sulfur in diesel are responsible for the increased consumption.  The process of removing sulfur consumes hydrogen, and it is estimated in the future that diesel production will increase relative to gasoline.”

SRIC’s 2007 Hydrogen report estimates that globally 630.8 billion cubic meters (52.6 million metric tons) of hydrogen were consumed in 2006.  Approximately 96% of all hydrogen is from fossil fuels, with natural gas being the most frequently used at an estimated 49%, followed by liquid hydrocarbons with 29%, coal with 18% and electrolysis and other sources at about 4%.

The increasing use of hydrogen deficient heavy crude as feedstock material in refineries is expected to also contribute to the growing hydrogen consumption.  In addition, oil-sands processing, gas-to-liquids, and coal gasification projects that are ongoing, all require enormous amounts of hydrogen and will boost the size of the market significantly.

Lead Author Stefan Schlag commented “Hydrogen fuel cells have a long way to go to become a widespread energy source in transportation.  Technical problems are numerous and the infrastructure necessary for area-wide distribution of hydrogen requires massive investments.”  Mr Schlag continued “To make hydrogen meaningful as a future energy carrier, a tremendously larger percent of hydrogen should be produced through electrolysis of water, with energy from renewable resources, preferably solar and wind.

SRIC’s 250 page Hydrogenreport contains comprehensive global coverage as well as producer details, market segments and some fuel cell research programs by geographic region. For additional information about the Hydrogenreport, please contact Koon-Ling Ring, Program Director of SRIC’s Chemical Economics Handbook (CEH) group at kring@sriconsulting.com or +1 650 384 4359.  Visit the website at www.sriconsulting.com for SRI Consulting’s complete offering of reports.

About SRI Consulting (SRIC)
SRI Consulting is the world’s leading business research service for the global chemical industry. Publishing for almost 60 years, SRI Consulting is the preeminent source for in-depth business and process analysis.  This report was developed by the Chemical Economics Handbook (CEH) group, which provides evaluation of supply/demand relationships and analysis of the industry competitive environment for over 300 chemical products and product groups.  SRI Consulting's headquarters are located in Menlo Park, California with offices in The Woodlands, Texas; Zürich, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; and Beijing, China. SRI Consulting is a division of Access Intelligence, LLC. Additional information is available at www.sriconsulting.com.

SRI Consulting (SRIC) is a trade name and a registered trademark of SRI International, used under license.