Hydrogen gas cutting started as a new gas application in 2011 or so. An estimated annual consumption of the total cutting gases at present amounts to a hundred thousand tons including the major LP gas, acetylene and other hydrocarbon gases. As for hydrogen cutting gas, it is said that have reached a level of 5% because of the superior performance to the conventional gases in addition to its novelty feature to utilize hydrogen, although no definite numerical proof has been comprehended as yet. It gradually has been standing out since the start of diffusion at any rate.

Hydrogen cutting gas has got highly evaluated with its excellent environment-friendly properties to reduce thermal effects to the vicinity and CO2 emission in addition to the improvement of productivity like saving of preheating time or higher cutting speed in comparison with the existing cutting gases such as LP gas and acetylene.

The main users of the gas are the shipbuilding, shearing and steelmaking industries. The shipbuilding industry above all keeps showing a good pace after having overcome the “2014 Issue” fearing a substantial declining in orders due to the monetary crisis. The shearing and steelmaking industries are expected to keep growing in the demand related to the Tokyo Olympic Games and also to the developments of infrastructure.

It seems that manufacturers’ common reaction shows their recognition of the changing attention to hydrogen cutting gas, and unanimously say, “There is a great response by the users who introduced it, and awareness is growing gradually.” or “The cutting demonstrations in the exhibition has gathered 1.5 to 2 times as many visitors as first expected.”

From the beginning of this year each of the related companies is working out the next step one after another such as Iwatani’s participation into the pressure welding field, TNSC’ s new product lineup and AW’s renewal of the conventional facilities.