Industrial alkaline water electrolysis technology assessment of commercial disclosures and patent aligned development pathways

Industrial alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is commercially mature, but inconsistent reporting limits comparisons of stack designs. This review connects public specifications for 29 products from 26 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with scientific, component and patent evidence through July 2026. A documented 110-candidate screening applies technology, commercial-offering and individual-stack-size criteria, followed by an energy-consumption/deployment evidence check. The commercial evidence supports two development routes: single-element/modular-cell designs more consistently emphasise high current density, whereas integrated, predominantly cylindrical stacks generally disclose lower numerical ranges. This is a tendency in the reviewed products, not an intrinsic geometrical or pressure limit. Numerical current–density evidence is available for nine records, including explicitly qualified family and shared-platform statements; other sources provide qualitative evidence. Different operating conditions and energy boundaries prevent a controlled performance ranking. The 455-publication patent inventory identifies developments coupling catalytic activity with coating adhesion, separator pore architecture, electrode contact, flow and thermal management, and variable-load operation. Patent disclosure does not demonstrate implementation in a commercial product. Linking these mechanisms to the commercial evidence defines testable development priorities and a minimum reporting dataset. The industrial objective is higher current density sustained at comparable energy consumption, pressure, purity and lifetime.