Industrial Use of Hydrogen Gas

Hydrogen is used by industry in refining, treating metals, and processing foods.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the primary user of hydrogen as an energy fuel; Liquid hydrogen fuel lifts the space shuttle into orbit. Hydrogen batteries—called fuel cells—power the shuttle’s electrical systems.

Large quantities of Hydrogen are needed in the petroleum and chemical industries. The largest application of Hydrogen is for the processing ("upgrading") of fossil fuels, and in the production of ammonia.
Hydrogen has several other important uses. Hydrogen is used as a hydrogenating agent, particularly in increasing the level of saturation of unsaturated fats and oils (found in items such as margarine), and in the production of methanol.

Hydrogen is also used as a reducing agent of metallic ores.

Hydrogen has wide applications in physics and engineering. It is used as a shielding gas in welding methods such as atomic hydrogen welding.

Hydrogen is used as the rotor coolant in electrical generators at power stations, because it has the highest thermal conductivity of any gas.

Liquid Hydrogen is used in cryogenic research, including superconductivity studies.

Hydrogen is still regularly used for the inflation of weather balloons.

In more recent application Hydrogen is used pure or mixed with Nitrogen (sometime called Forming Gas) as a tracer gas for minute leak detection.

Applications can be found in automotive, aircraft, consumer goods, medical devices and the chemical industry.
Hydrogen is an authorized food additive (E 949) that allows food package leak testing among other anti-oxidizing properties.

Hydrogen's rarer isotopes each have specific applications. Deuterium (hydrogen-2) is used in nuclear fission applications as a moderator to slow neutrons, and in nuclear fusion reactions. Deuterium compounds have applications in chemistry and biology in studies of reaction isotope effects. Tritium (hydrogen-3), produced in nuclear reactors, is used in the production of hydrogen bombs, as an isotopic label in the biosciences, and as a radiation source in luminous paints.