Hans F. Bauer (1932 in Hollywood, California – 6 February 2009 in Costa Mesa, California) was an American research chemist. He was married and had 4 children.

Bauer received a B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1954 from the University of California, Los Angeles. He served in the United States Navy for 2 years after receiving his undergraduate degree (1954–1956). He was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant (j.g.), and then returned to UCLA to work on a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry, which he received in 1960.

Bauer worked for several large chemical and research companies in the USA, including Occidental Petroleum, and the United States Department of Energy.^[1]

Bauer held several US patents, including:

• 4087514 ( 2 May 1978) - Process for desulfurizing char
• 4155715 (22 May 1979) - Process for reducing organic content of char
• 4301137 (17 Nov 1981) - Removal of chlorine from pyrolysis vapors^[2]
• 5164054 (17 Nov 1992) - Low-cost process for hydrogen production
• 5198084 (30 Mar 1993) - Low-cost process for hydrogen production^[3]

The latter 2 patents described methods for producing molecular hydrogen from a mixture of hydrocarbon vapor and a source of carbon, in which the mixture is agitated by electromagnetic radiation.