Coal-based hydrogen production is the main method for hydrogen generation

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Coal-based hydrogen production is the main method of hydrogen generation. Author/Source: Gasification Industry. Date: December 8, 2021. Click-through rate: 5. In recent years, “hydrogen energy” has been gradually being utilized in people’s daily lives as a highly efficient and pollution-free energy source. The draft outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan mentions that hydrogen energy, along with energy storage, is listed as one of the six key industries to be developed in the future. The future development potential of large-scale electrolytic hydrogen production and the liquefaction and transportation of hydrogen energy is enormous, prompting more and more enterprises to enter the hydrogen energy industry. According to projections by authoritative agencies, under the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, China’s annual hydrogen demand will reach 37.15 million tons by 2030, accounting for approximately 5% of total final energy consumption. By 2060, China’s annual hydrogen demand is expected to rise to around 130 million tons, accounting for approximately 20% of total final energy consumption. Among them, hydrogen used in the industrial sector still accounts for the largest share, making up 60% of the total demand. In recent years, the number of patent applications related to hydrogen energy has been on the rise. As a technology-intensive industry, hydrogen energy demands extremely high technical standards. In the early days, the development of patents related to hydrogen energy technologies in China was relatively slow, with less than 100 patent applications filed per year. Since 2015, the number of domestic patent applications related to hydrogen energy has risen rapidly. By 2020, the number of patent applications related to hydrogen energy technology in our country was 269. Hydrogen production, storage, and transportation technologies are key areas for the development of this industry. To advance the development and industrialization of hydrogen energy technologies, from 2018 to 2020, a specific program focused on \"renewable energy and hydrogen energy technologies\" was launched under the key research and development initiatives. Among them, the Ministry of Science and Technology allocated 27 hydrogen energy research and development projects under the key initiative on \"renewable energy and hydrogen energy technologies\", with an investment of around 500 million yuan in research funds. From the perspective of the industrial chain, downstream applications were the focus of R&D efforts for hydrogen energy from 2018 to 2020, followed by hydrogen production and storage technologies. Among the **key R&D projects from 2018 to 2020**, there were 14 projects related to fuel cell technology, accounting for 51.9% of the total; 5 projects related to hydrogen production technology, accounting for 18.5%; 6 projects related to hydrogen storage technology, accounting for 22.2%; and 2 projects related to hydrogen refueling station technology, accounting for 7.4%. Coal-based hydrogen production is the main method for hydrogen generation. Currently, in China, hydrogen production primarily takes place in industries such as chemicals and steel, specifically in sectors like petrochemicals, chemicals, and coking. According to statistics, China’s current hydrogen production capacity is around 41 million tons per year, with an actual output of about 33.42 million tons. Among them, the production volume of industrial hydrogen that meets the quality standard with a purity of ≥99% is approximately 12.7 million tons per year. In terms of raw materials for production, these mainly include fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, as well as industrial by-product gases. Among them, hydrogen produced from coal had the highest output, at 21.24 million tons, accounting for 63.54% ； Next are hydrogen produced as an industrial by-product and hydrogen produced from natural gas, with outputs of 7.08 million tons and 4.6 million tons respectively; the output of hydrogen produced via water electrolysis is approximately 500,000 tons. Hydrogen is produced primarily in the Northwest, North China, and Northeast regions. In terms of regional distribution, China’s hydrogen production capacity is concentrated in the Northwest, North China, and East China regions, accounting for 75% in total. Among them, the production capacity in the Northwest region is 10.67 million tons per year, in the North China region it is 10.21 million tons per year, in the East China region it is 9.4 million tons per year, and in the South China region it is 4.99 million tons per year. The production capacities in the Southwest and Northeast regions are 3.35 million tons per year and 1.95 million tons per year respectively, accounting for 8.3% and 4.8% of the total.