Understand the whole industry chain of hydrogen energy

Hydrogen is a gas at room temperature and pressure, with a density of only 0.0899 kg/m3. As a flammable gas, it belongs to the І class of dangerous goods (non-fuel), and can form an explosive mixture when mixed with air, which will explode when heated, so it has high requirements for transportation safety.

At present, there are three main modes of hydrogen transport: gaseous transport, liquid transport and solid transport.

The demonstration application of hydrogen energy in China is mainly centered around the layout of industrial by-production hydrogen and renewable energy hydrogen production sites (less than 200 kilometers), and hydrogen energy storage and transportation are mainly in high-pressure gaseous mode.

Hydrogen refueling station

As an important raw material and infrastructure for the fuel cell vehicle industry, hydrogen refueling stations and hydrogen are the link between upstream hydrogen production and downstream users of the hydrogen energy industry, and their layout and construction are breakthroughs in the commercial development of fuel cell vehicles.

The construction number and popularization of hydrogen refueling stations determine the industrialization process of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to a large extent, and low-cost hydrogen production and transportation are also the key links for the further popularization and promotion of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which determines the economy of the driving cost.

Since the world's first hydrogen refueling station was built in Munich Airport, Germany, in May 1999, countries have promoted the construction of hydrogen refueling stations.

As of November 21, 2020, a total of 458 hydrogen refueling stations have been built in the world's major hydrogen energy countries and regions, and another 255 hydrogen refueling stations are under construction or proposed to be built.

The construction progress of hydrogen refueling stations in China has gradually accelerated, and 128 hydrogen refueling stations will be built by the end of 2020. At the same time, more than 20 large central enterprises such as petrochina, Sinopec and National Energy Group have cross-border development of hydrogen energy industry.

Operation mode of hydrogen refueling station: Most of our country uses external high-pressure hydrogen supply

From the perspective of the operation mode of hydrogen refueling station, whether it can be profitable mainly depends on the operating cost (the price of hydrogen), the investment (equipment), and the operating load of hydrogen refueling station (the number of fuel cell vehicles).

Judging from the current operation of hydrogen refueling stations at home and abroad, the current hydrogen supply methods are mainly divided into two types: hydrogen production in the station and hydrogen supply outside.

Hydrogen production in station is mainly hydrogen production by water electrolysis, which is quite mature and has been applied in most hydrogen refueling stations in Europe. The external hydrogen supply is large-scale hydrogen production by natural gas reforming or by-product hydrogen from steel mills and chemical plants, which is transported to hydrogen refueling stations using high-pressure oxygen cylinders cluster trailers after purification.

In the typical external hydrogen supply high-pressure gas hydrogen refueling station investment composition, except for civil construction and equipment costs occupy the largest proportion, mainly compressors, hydrogen storage bottles, hydrogenation and cooling system, due to the lack of mature mass production hydrogenation station equipment manufacturers, imported equipment has pushed up the construction cost of hydrogenation station.

Because fuel cell vehicles have not yet achieved large-scale operation, the current construction and operating costs of hydrogen refueling stations are much higher than traditional gas stations and filling stations. From a global perspective, the government and vehicle enterprises are the main body of hydrogen refueling station construction, and the range of government subsidies is more than 50%.

The localization of hydrogen refueling stations is gradually started

Although the technical indicators of the hydrogen refueling station equipment produced in China are still lacking, the localization has been opened, and the industry enterprises have launched their own products in various fields.

Houpu Shares provide complete sets of hydrogen refueling station equipment, covering design, component development, production, complete equipment integration, hydrogen refueling station installation and commissioning and after-sales service; On January 7, 2021, CIMC won the bid for the National Energy Group 70MPa hydrogenation station project; Hongda Xingye has built and operated China's first civilian liquid hydrogen processing plant in Inner Mongolia; Jiahua Energy by-product hydrogen purification, transportation, hydrogen refueling station integrated operation enterprise, SDIC Juli cooperation.