HYDROGEN: A GROWING TECHNOLOGY

摘要

Millions of pounds of hydrogen are used daily in production plants across the country and around the world (more than 50 million pounds daily in the United States alone). The "hydrogen economy" is the focus of new developing technologies that promise to change the way we live. Hydrogen is much closer than you suspect and probably exists right in your fire district. As first responders, we ignore the hydrogen economy at our peril. The good news is there are now commercial technologies that make hydrogen production―and our jobs as firefighters―safer in ways we never imagined. Today, hydrogen is a common chemical feedstock used by industry. It is handled routinely in its liquid and gaseous forms as an ingredient in refining petroleum products and manufacturing chemicals, foods, and electronics. Commercial applications such as generator cooling, electronics component manufacturing, and heat-treatment processes need reliable, pure, and safe supplies of hydrogen gas. Because of these needs and the imperative of the coming hydrogen economy, new technologies have evolved to produce and store H_2 on-site and on demand that save time, money, transport, and regulatory expense.