Focusing on the industrial chain to build a hydrogen ecosystem. On December 13, the“2023 Hydrogen Energy Carnival & Annual Meeting of the China Hydrogen Energy 100 Forum”, co-hosted by the China Hydrogen Energy 100 Forum and New Energy Think Tank, continued in Suzhou.
Hundreds of guests from across the hydrogen energy industrial chain attended the event, with more than ten distinguished guests delivering keynote speeches and presentations. Follow our camera to catch the latest insights from today’s forum!
Technical Progress and Trend Analysis of High-Pressure / Liquid Hydrogen Storage & Refueling Stations
Gao Haohua, Senior Engineer at the Hydrogen (Ammonia) Energy Technology Center of National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy and Deputy General Manager of Zhongtian Hydrogen Co., Ltd., analyzed the overall development trend of hydrogen refueling stations. He stated that high-pressure hydrogen refueling stations will be the mainstream in the short to medium term, while liquid hydrogen refueling stations will be required in the medium to long term.
Among the key technologies for hydrogen refueling stations, high-pressure refueling technology needs to improve refueling capacity and reliability; liquid hydrogen refueling technology is associated with relatively high costs. The diaphragm issue of high-pressure hydrogen compressors requires focused attention. Hydrogen dispensers need to shorten refueling time and reduce precooling energy consumption, and liquid hydrogen booster pumps impose higher requirements on the performance and processing of sealing materials.
Development Trends and Challenges of the Global Hydrogen Energy Economy
Tu Jianjun, China President of Agora Energy Transition Forum and Visiting Research Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and the Energy Institute of Peking University, stated that hydrogen energy, as a secondary energy source with relatively low efficiency, requires careful consideration in its application scenarios.
He also noted that in an era of multiple overlapping crises, energy security represents a common but differentiated challenge. Countries adopt different approaches to addressing energy security issues, while Europe has made extensive explorations in standard-setting and hydrogen energy regulation.
Challenges and Opportunities of Renewable Energy Hydrogen Production Coupled with Chemical Projects
Tian Jiangnan, Senior Engineer at North China Electric Power Design Institute of China Energy Engineering Group, stated that green hydrogen is not entirely carbon-free. At present, Inner Mongolia has permitted the use of 10% grid electricity for hydrogen production.
The current development trend of offshore wind power is moving from inshore to offshore areas. The integrated hydrogen production using off-grid offshore wind turbines combined with electrolyzers presents the highest technical difficulty and cost.
There are two types of alkaline electrolyzers: one-positive-one-negative and one-positive-two-negative configurations. The one-positive-two-negative design features uniform current distribution but entails higher costs.
Approaches to reducing electrolyzer energy consumption include adopting high-performance diaphragms and high-performance electrode coatings, modifying electrolyzer structural designs, and increasing the number of electrolysis cells.
Opportunities and Challenges of Large-Scale Water Electrolysis Hydrogen Production Systems
Xu Wei, Chief Engineer of Tianjin Dalu Hydrogen Production Equipment Co., Ltd., stated that alkaline electrolyzers will remain the mainstream for large-scale hydrogen production for a certain period of time.
Key technologies for realizing large-scale hydrogen production systems include high-current-density, low-energy-consumption and large-output single electrolyzer technology, design of large-scale gas-liquid separation systems, large-scale hydrogen and oxygen purification technologies, design of high-capacity DC power supply systems matching the volatility of new energy power grids, as well as energy management systems and automatic control strategies adapted to fluctuating power supply conditions.
He also pointed out that the current challenges facing large-scale water electrolysis hydrogen production systems lie in three aspects: cost, standards and regulations
Intelligent Safety and Operation Management of Hydrogen Refueling Stations
Gu Xiaoming, Deputy General Manager of Hopu Smart IoT Technology Co., Ltd., stated that the development trends of hydrogen refueling stations include the mainstreaming of fixed integrated energy stations, the expansion of refueling capacity at single stations, and the greater development of 70MPa hydrogen refueling stations.
According to statistics, more than 380 hydrogen refueling stations have been built in China. Potential hazards at these stations include excessive compressor leakage and valve failure to open. Operational management challenges include a lack of professional knowledge, management standards, skilled personnel, operating procedures, maintenance experience, as well as spare parts and tools.
He noted that Hopu's safety protection system for hydrogen refueling stations incorporates a safety linkage system and emergency shutdown devices, and monitors station conditions in real time to ensure safe operation.
Practice and Exploration of Hydrogen Storage System Technologies in Heavy-Duty Vehicles
Huang Huanming, Chief Engineer of Liquid Hydrogen at Unistar Energy Technology Co., Ltd., stated that the current development trend of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is characterized by rapid technological advancement, sharp cost reduction, and remarkable progress in components.
However, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles still face challenges related to affordability, usability, and practicality. He proposed that a financial ecosystem should be established to address affordability, a supply ecosystem built to ensure usability, and another supply ecosystem developed to achieve reliable and efficient operation.
Novel Electrochemical Plants Lead the Carbon Neutrality Revolution
Liu Qing, General Manager of Shanghai Yijing Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd., shared the concept of electrochemical plants. He stated that energy transformation will also bring about changes in industrial production modes, and future industries will be restructured by electrochemical plants, with SOEC serving as the underlying architecture.
The greatest advantage of SOEC is that its hydrogen production efficiency can reach 84%. It also features the ability to electrolyze CO₂, reversible operation, low operation and maintenance costs, and effective utilization of waste heat.
Typical back-end applications of electrochemical plants include hydrogen metallurgy, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and the SOEC + gas-based shaft furnace process.
Sharing of Hydrogen Safety Service Capabilities Supported by Practical Experience and Quantitative Analysis
Sun Hui, Director of Safety Management Department at Tehi Hydrogen Testing, stated that the hydrogen energy industry is confronted with issues of cost and safety.
Talent is the most critical factor in ensuring effective hydrogen safety. Tehi Hydrogen Testing has a practice-oriented safety service team that provides hydrogen safety support to various organizations in the hydrogen energy industry.
He pointed out that overemphasis on hydrogen embrittlement while ignoring other stress effects may lead to hazards. Tehi Hydrogen offers customized hydrogen safety training for clients and helps them address safety issues based on a practical near-miss incident database.
Safety ensures the steady development of the hydrogen energy industry. Tehi Hydrogen provides clients with quantitative risk assessment and one-stop safety services to meet their safety requirements
Advantages of Siemens Energy Large-Scale PEM Water Electrolysis Systems and Sharing on Power-to-X Projects
Xie Yuping, Director of New Energy Systems at Siemens Energy, shared the company’s major products and cases in the hydrogen industry.
Hydrogen energy represents an extension of Siemens’ business. To address the issue of curtailed renewable power, Siemens Energy has opted for PEM hydrogen production.
He noted that hydrogen production equipment is trending toward large-scale development in the future. Siemens Energy provides P2X hydrogen solutions based on three existing viable water electrolysis technologies, targeting the application scenarios of green hydrogen. Its highly flexible PEM systems can adapt to the intermittent and fluctuating nature of renewable energy.
R&D and Industrialization Progress of SOEC and Development Trends of ReSOC Hydrogen Energy Storage
Lu Dawei, General Manager of Beijing Proton Power Generation Technology Co., Ltd., shared the R&D progress of SOEC. He stated that water electrolysis for hydrogen production is a trillion-level blue-ocean market with rapid industry development, and China accounts for more than half of the global incremental and total volume.
Featuring high-temperature electrolysis, high efficiency, energy saving and no need for precious metals, SOEC has the advantages of high efficiency and low cost. It can be applied to user-side hydrogen production via electrolysis, consumption of green power, generation-side hydrogen production via electrolysis, as well as scenarios dedicated to SOEC.
Under the demand for long-duration energy storage, hydrogen energy storage is the only solution that achieves "dual long-duration" performance. It boasts flexible storage and transportation modes, strong economy for large-scale energy storage, and can break through geographical restrictions and realize ecological protection. However, it also has shortcomings such as relatively high cost and low efficiency.
SOEC delivers the highest electrolysis efficiency. Among all hydrogen-to-electricity conversion methods, SOFC features the highest efficiency, making the SOEC-SOFC integrated system the most efficient technical route for "electricity‑hydrogen‑electricity" hydrogen energy storage.
Development of Hydrogen Storage and Cost Analysis of Type IV Hydrogen Cylinders
Li Jun, Deputy Director of the Offshore Engineering Structure Laboratory at the College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, stated that optimizing the structure and reliability of high-pressure hydrogen storage cylinders requires improving their fatigue life. This relies on controlling residual stress, managing the stress intensity factor at crack discontinuities, regulating material toughening, and suppressing temperature rise.
At present, plastic liners suffer from poor permeability resistance and are prone to blistering, buckling and leakage, leading to liner failure. It is necessary to design multi-material and multi-layer plastic liners and optimize the material formulation of each layer to improve the liner’s permeability resistance. Meanwhile, antistatic coatings should be applied to eliminate electrostatic effects, prevent corrosion and avoid plastic liner failure.
Energy Saving, Efficiency Improvement and Sustainable Development of Alkaline Water Electrolysis for Hydrogen Production
Xu Mingjie, Marketing Manager of Conthy Jingli (Suzhou) Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd., analyzed the hydrogen market situation. He pointed out that China's hydrogen energy utilization has huge potential for improvement. Factors affecting the cost of alkaline water electrolysis for hydrogen production include hydrogen production scale, equipment cost, electricity price, power consumption level, carbon tax and annual operating hours.
He stated that the current development direction of water electrolysis hydrogen production equipment at Conthy Jingli is large-scale single-unit capacity and system integration, featuring better overall hydrogen production efficiency, faster response speed, higher automation level and more reliable safety assurance.
Development of Green Hydrogen and Electrolyzers Overseas
Han Jiabao, an analyst at Caixin Media in the electric power equipment and hydrogen energy sector, reviewed the development of overseas green hydrogen and electrolyzers.
He noted that the planned production capacity of global green hydrogen projects will reach 25 million tons by 2030, with room to double in scale.
He compared the competitive landscape of overseas electrolyzer manufacturers across five indicators: revenue, production capacity, downstream layout, profitability, and R&D investment.
In terms of revenue, order volumes were strong in 2022.
In terms of production capacity, capacity expansion accelerated in 2023, with multi-regional expansion achieved.
In terms of downstream layout, companies have centered on Europe while expanding into China.
Regarding profitability, he pointed out that difficulty in achieving profits is a common challenge for enterprises. Electrolyzer producers need to strongly support R&D, promote cost reduction and efficiency improvement, and strive to realize profitability.
Initiating a New Era of Hydrogen Production Equipment through Technological Innovation
Liang Yanfu, Sales Director of Jiangsu Hydrogen Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., introduced new products from the aspects of slurry preparation, coating, encapsulation, stack assembly and testing. The integrated slurry preparation and grinding machine, developed specifically for water electrolysis coating, integrates multiple functions including low-speed mixing, high-speed shear dispersion, ultrasonic dispersion and nano-grinding. Hydrogen Intelligent offers desktop slot die coaters, anode coaters, double-sided transfer equipment and proton exchange membrane coating equipment. In terms of encapsulation, the company provides frame cutting equipment, membrane electrode frame encapsulation equipment and other solutions to tackle encapsulation challenges. The rapid development of the hydrogen energy industry is driven by the current era and further underpinned by technological progress. Hydrogen energy has become an important strategic choice for accelerating energy transformation and upgrading and fostering new economic growth drivers.
At this critical juncture of energy transition, collaboration across the entire hydrogen energy industrial chain is required to jointly promote the sound development of the hydrogen energy industry.