The "economical" role of hydrogen energy - hydrogen production from natural gas

Hydrogen energy, as a high-calorific value, zero-pollution energy source, will play an indispensable alternative role in promoting the decarbonization of the global economy, especially in industry and transportation. At present, the development of hydrogen energy industry has reached a period of acceleration. The United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea and other major industrialized countries and regions have incorporated hydrogen energy into the national energy strategic planning, and the commercialization of hydrogen energy industry continues to accelerate. The International Hydrogen Council predicts that by 2050, the hydrogen industry will create 30 million jobs, reduce 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, create a $2.5 trillion market size, and account for 18% of global energy consumption.

Although hydrogen energy is a clean, renewable energy source that releases no carbon emissions in the process, the current process of producing hydrogen energy is not 100 percent "zero carbon."

"Blue hydrogen" has high cost performance

Or become the current first choice for hydrogen production

On Earth, hydrogen exists mainly in the form of compounds in water and fossil fuels, and hydrogen energy, as a secondary energy source, needs to be "extracted" through hydrogen production technology. According to the source of hydrogen production and the emission in the production process, hydrogen energy is named gray hydrogen, blue hydrogen and green hydrogen respectively. From the current cost of hydrogen production, "gray hydrogen" is the lowest cost of hydrogen production from coal, while the "green hydrogen" production of wind power hydrogen is the highest cost, although it is expected that with the progress of production technology, the future cost of green hydrogen will gradually decline, but it is foreseeable that in the next 10 years, "gray hydrogen" still has a cost advantage. At present, as a clean energy, coal to hydrogen has a disadvantage, is dependent on fossil energy, can not avoid carbon emissions. In contrast, "blue hydrogen", which costs slightly more than "grey hydrogen", seems to be the best choice at the moment.

"Blue hydrogen" is also called natural gas hydrogen production, the process principle is to first pretreat natural gas, and then in the converter methane and water steam into carbon monoxide and hydrogen, waste heat recovery, carbon monoxide in the conversion tower into carbon dioxide and hydrogen, the basis of this process technology is achieved on the basis of natural gas steam conversion technology. In the conversion tower, under the condition of the presence of catalyst, the reaction temperature is controlled to react carbon monoxide and water in the conversion gas to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Although natural gas is also a fossil fuel and produces greenhouse gases in the production of blue hydrogen, the use of advanced technologies such as carbon capture, utilization and Storage (CCUS) has reduced the impact on the Earth's environment by capturing greenhouse gases and achieving low-emission production.

According to industry research institute data, natural gas hydrogen production process currently occupies the first place in the world hydrogen production market. The proportion of hydrogen production from natural gas in China ranks second, after that from coal. Hydrogen production from natural gas in China began in the 1970s, mainly providing hydrogen for ammonia synthesis. With the improvement of catalyst quality, process flow, control level, equipment form and structure optimization, the reliability and safety of natural gas hydrogen production process have been guaranteed.

In recent years, the output of China's natural gas hydrogen production industry has grown rapidly, from 2.775 million tons in 2015 to 4.589 million tons in 2020. The market size of hydrogen production from natural gas increased from 42.134 billion yuan in 2015 to 75.611 billion yuan in 2020.

A number of listed companies layout "blue hydrogen" industrial chain

The chemical performance of the satellite is remarkable

Among the A-share listed companies, there are A number of companies involved in the production of "blue hydrogen" related business, including satellite Chemical, Fumiao Technology, Furen Energy, Huibopu and so on.

The first company is Satellite Chemical, which is A leading enterprise in the field of A-share light hydrocarbon chemicals. At present, it has a production capacity of 900,000 tons of propylene, 450,000 tons of polypropylene, 1.41 million tons of acrylic and ester, 210,000 tons of polymer emulsion, 150,000 tons of SAP. 220,000 tons of hydrogen peroxide and 21,000 tons of pigment intermediates in the chemical industry chain. It is one of the few large-scale manufacturers of acrylic acid and ester, polymer emulsion and functional polymer materials with the whole industrial chain in China. The raw materials of light hydrocarbon chemical industry belong to hydrogen-rich raw materials, and a large amount of blue hydrogen is produced by side, which is an important resource. In the past, by-product hydrogen was burned as fuel gas, but with the development of hydrogen energy, hydrogen has been utilized with high added value.