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[Energy people are watching, click on the upper right corner to add 'Follow'] Accelerate the replacement of gray hydrogen and take multiple measures to support and promote the low-carbon development of the chemical industry. In response to climate change, my country has proposed the goal of striving to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. 2021 * * The work report proposed that this year we must do a solid job in carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and formulate an action plan to peak carbon emissions before 2030. The chemical industry is a key area of carbon emissions and is a difficult area to reduce emissions. Carbon peaks have put forward higher requirements for the transformation of the chemical industry. The chemical industry is both the largest manufacturing source of hydrogen and an important area of use. Promoting the application of blue hydrogen and green hydrogen in the chemical industry is an important path to achieve my country's carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. 01 Deep decarbonization of green hydrogen chemical industry In the chemical industry, hydrogen is mainly used to produce products such as synthetic ammonia and methanol. my country is the world's largest producer of synthetic ammonia. According to production estimates, hydrogen consumption is 12 million to 15 million tons, and most of it uses gray hydrogen, which is produced from fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum. From the perspective of carbon emission intensity of hydrogen production, hydrogen production from coal is 20 kg carbon dioxide/kg hydrogen, and hydrogen production from natural gas is 10 kg carbon dioxide/kg hydrogen. Green hydrogen is hydrogen made by electrolysis from renewable energy sources. Not only does it emit no carbon dioxide, it is an efficient form of energy storage that can help solve the intermittency issues that plague wind and solar energy. Replacing gray hydrogen with green hydrogen as a chemical raw material, also known as "green hydrogen chemistry", is an important way to achieve deep decarbonization of the chemical industry. In the future, green hydrogen has great potential to replace gray hydrogen. At present, the biggest problem in popularizing green hydrogen chemical industry is that the cost of green hydrogen is high, which is 2 to 3 times that of gray hydrogen. However, my country is relatively rich in renewable energy resources and is the largest country in the use of renewable energy in the world. In 2020, my country's grid-connected wind power and solar power installed capacity were 280 million kilowatts and 250 million kilowatts respectively, a year-on-year increase of 34.6% and 24.1%. At the Climate Ambition Summit on 12 December 2020, * * * * It is proposed that by 2030, my country's total installed capacity of wind power and solar power will reach the goal of more than 1.2 billion kilowatts, which will provide an important guarantee for the promotion of green hydrogen in my country. As the price of photovoltaic and wind power equipment falls rapidly, the cost of solar and wind power generation is also significantly reduced. Taking photovoltaics as an example, in 2019, the average annual utilization hours of photovoltaics nationwide was 1,169 hours, and the construction cost of photovoltaic power stations was 4.5 yuan/W. At this time, the cost of 1kW·h was 0.44 yuan, which has dropped by more than 80% from 10 years ago. Therefore, in the long run, my country has quantitative guarantees and price competitiveness in the supply of green hydrogen, and can take the lead in exploring large-scale green hydrogen chemical applications in areas with favorable conditions. Many internationally * * and regions have proposed a roadmap for "green hydrogen chemical industry" and carried out large-scale practice. The European Hydrogen Economy Roadmap states that by 2030, one-third of ultra-low carbon hydrogen will be used in the chemical industry including refineries and ammonia production. ； The U.S. Hydrogen Economy Roadmap states that by 2026, the production of ammonia, methanol and petrochemicals will transition to using low-carbon hydrogen. In 2018, Shell teamed up with ITM Power to build a 10MW PEM electrolysis hydrogen production plant at its refinery in Rhineland, Germany, with an annual green hydrogen output of 1,300 tons. In contrast, in China, the application of hydrogen energy is still in its infancy, and "green hydrogen chemical industry" is in the exploratory stage. So far, our country has not released a similar road map or plan. In December 2019, China’s first solar fuel production demonstration project was launched in Lanzhou New District Fine Chemical Industry Park. The project consists of three major system units: photovoltaic power generation, electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen, and carbon dioxide hydrogenation to synthesize methanol. The hydrogen produced by the 10MW photovoltaic power generation unit through the electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen reacts with carbon dioxide under the action of a catalyst to synthesize methanol. Ningxia Ningdong Energy and Chemical Base, my country's largest modern coal chemical industry demonstration zone, plans to give full play to the advantages of solar energy resources and actively deploy "green hydrogen chemical" projects. 02 Promoting the transformation of gray hydrogen into blue hydrogen China is the world’s largest hydrogen producer. In 2019, the country's hydrogen production was approximately 22 million tons, accounting for more than 30% of the global total. More than 95% of domestic hydrogen is produced from coal, petroleum and other fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide emission intensity is very high, with total annual emissions of 200 million to 400 million tons. The hydrogen produced by adding a carbon capture and storage (CCS) device to gray hydrogen preparation is called "blue hydrogen", which can effectively reduce the carbon emission level during the production process. Data shows that hydrogen production from coal can reduce carbon emissions to 2 kg of carbon dioxide/kg of hydrogen, and hydrogen production from natural gas can reduce carbon emissions to 1 kg of carbon dioxide/kg of hydrogen, reducing carbon emissions by more than 90%. However, adding CCS devices will cause operating costs to increase by approximately 100%. For example, the power generation cost of the Shanghai Shidongkou Capture Demonstration Project of Huaneng Group increased from 0.26 yuan/kWh to 0.5 yuan/kWh. Compared with CCS, CCUS (carbon capture, utilization and storage) increases the utilization of carbon dioxide and can effectively amortize investment and operating costs, but it is still in the research and development and demonstration stage. In 2020, the global CCUS market size is expected to reach US$1.6 billion, and this figure is expected to increase to US$3.5 billion by 2025. During this period, the compound annual growth rate reached 17%. From an industry perspective, oil, gas and chemical companies will become major players in the global carbon capture, utilization and storage market, including Shell, Equinor (Norwegian Petroleum Company), Linde, Hitachi, ExxonMobil, JGC Holdings, Honeywell, Halliburton and other companies. Foreign petrochemical companies have begun to explore the large-scale development of blue hydrogen. In July 2020, Equinor announced the company's plans to build a plant to produce hydrogen from natural gas and combine it with CCS at Saltend Chemical Park near the city of Hull in northeast England. This project, called H2H Saltend, is the largest of its kind in the world and is expected to start construction in 2023 and be put into production in 2026. After the project is put into operation, it is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 900,000 tons per year. In the short term, the domestic carbon capture market is still in its infancy, and no major leading chemical companies have yet participated. Chemical companies can take advantage of their own industrial chain and use blue hydrogen production as an opportunity to accelerate technology research and development, and achieve low-carbon development while gaining new market opportunities. 03 Take multiple measures to support green hydrogen chemical industry. According to the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance, my country’s hydrogen energy supply will reach 40 million tons by 2035, accounting for 5.9% of the terminal energy system. As an important product and production raw material in the chemical industry, hydrogen is an important carrier for realizing low-carbon production in the chemical industry. It is necessary for our country to vigorously support the development of the green hydrogen chemical industry in terms of policies. First, provide policy support from planning and financial aspects. including from * * Promulgate a development plan for the hydrogen energy industry at all levels, clarify the development goals of gray hydrogen, blue hydrogen, and green hydrogen, and provide a clear signal to the industry ； Introduce corresponding incentive mechanisms to guide social capital into the green hydrogen and blue hydrogen fields, build corresponding funding and guarantee mechanisms, encourage the development of green hydrogen and blue hydrogen industries, and provide a good policy environment and institutional guarantee for the transformation of hydrogen production and hydrogen use by chemical companies. Secondly, accelerate the cultivation of innovative hydrogen chemical companies. Support enterprises in establishing engineering technology centers for research and development of hydrogen energy preparation and utilization, and promote chemical enterprises to actively develop new technologies and equipment for green hydrogen and blue hydrogen. ； Establish an industry-university-research cooperation platform to accelerate the improvement of the industry's independent innovation capabilities and lead the development of the industry with innovation. Thirdly, strengthening environmental policy supervision will force industrial transformation. my country must internalize the externalities of carbon emissions, further improve carbon emissions trading policies, establish a unified national carbon emissions trading market, combine hydrogen energy with carbon emissions trading, enrich carbon financial products and markets, and gradually limit traditional reaction processes such as coal-to-methanol through market-oriented means such as carbon sinks and carbon taxes. Actively encourage the coupling of green hydrogen and fossil energy production to promote the deep decarbonization of my country’s chemical industry. Disclaimer: The above content is reproduced from China Petroleum and Petrochemical Company, and the content published does not represent the position of this platform. National Energy Information Platform contact number: 010-65367702, email: hz@people-energy.com.cn ,address: Content source of People’s Daily, No. 2 Jintai West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing: National Energy Information Platform