A few days ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Board jointly issued the implementation of “accelerating the implementation of clean and low-carbon hydrogen applications in the industrial sector” (hereinafter referred to as the “implementation program”).
It is clear that the cultivation of a number of leading enterprises and industrial clusters with strong industrial ecological dominance, as well as system solution providers with high levels of professionalism and strong service capabilities, and the initial construction of a more complete industrial chain and industrial system.
Among the key tasks include:
Encouraging clean and low-carbon hydrogen substitution in refining, coal chemical, electronics, pharmaceuticals and other industries, and upgrading the level of supply of clean and low-carbon hydrogen sources, such as hydrogen production from renewable energy sources and large-scale purification of industrial by-product hydrogen.
Accelerate the research and development of hydrogen metallurgy devices and their key materials and core components, promote the application of technologies such as blast furnace hydrogen-rich refining, hydrogen-based firm furnace, fluidized bed direct reduction ironmaking, and develop pure hydrogen reduction zero-carbon high-purity materials.
Develop clean low-carbon hydrogen and carbon capture, biomass and other coupled preparation of green methanol process technology, and promote the construction of green methanol demonstration projects. Promote the diversified development of sustainable aviation fuel technology routes.
Develop flexible production processes for synthetic ammonia. Encourage relevant enterprises to jointly promote the construction of green ammonia demonstration projects. Explore and promote the miniaturization, distributed production and application of green ammonia.
Continuously upgrade the technical level of fuel cells, hydrogen (ammonia) internal combustion engines and on-board hydrogen storage devices, support the construction of hydrogen energy logistics trunk lines, and carry out the large-scale application of fuel cell vehicles in industrial parks and other scenarios. Promote the construction of fuel cell vehicle demonstration cities with high quality, and continue to promote the demonstration project of “Hydrogen in Ten Thousand Homes”.
Accelerate the research and development of core technologies such as hydrogen-fueled marine engines, and promote the research and development of hydrogen-fueled ship models and pilot projects. Encourage conditional regions to apply hydrogen rail transportation equipment, and actively layout the key technology research and development of hydrogen aviation.
Encourage the market-oriented approach to explore hydrogen power integration of industrial green microgrids to accelerate the promotion of wind power, photovoltaic power generation, renewable energy hydrogen production, multi-dimensional hydrogen storage, fuel cell power generation/cogeneration, intelligent energy management and control and other integrated system development and operation, to achieve the integrated and optimal use of regional resources.
Data show that in 2023, China’s hydrogen production exceeded 35 million tons, an increase of about 2.3% year-on-year, accounting for about 1/3 of global production. China’s renewable energy installed capacity is the world’s largest, and the use of renewable energy to produce hydrogen has great potential. According to relevant units of measurement, as of June 2024, China’s renewable energy hydrogen production capacity exceeded 100,000 tons / year, planning and under construction capacity of about 8 million tons / year.