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The application of green hydrogen is a key pathway for the petrochemical industry to achieve decarbonization. Author/Source: Chemical Industry Carbon Neutrality Forum. Date: April 27, 2022. Clicks: 37. Recently, the six departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Ministry of Emergency Management jointly issued the \"Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Petrochemical Industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period\" (hereinafter referred to as the \"Opinions\”), which explicitly call for strengthening incentives for innovative development and accelerating progress in overcoming key technologies such as the large-scale use of green hydrogen. The application of green hydrogen is a key pathway for the petrochemical industry to achieve decarbonization; for this reason, the Guidelines emphasize multiple times the use of green hydrogen to drive emission reductions across the industrial chain. For hydrogen energy, the petrochemical industry is one of the key application areas. As the \"top-level framework\" for the high-quality development of this industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the release of these guidelines will have a profound impact on the development of hydrogen energy, particularly green hydrogen. Emphasize the important role of green hydrogen in the petrochemical industry to boost demand for hydrogen energy. The petrochemical industry is a key sector for carbon emissions, and it is also one where reducing emissions proves to be challenging. Promoting the use of green hydrogen is one of the important ways to achieve the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The Guidelines state that it is necessary to leverage the advantages in carbon fixation and absorption, work together to reduce carbon emissions across the industrial chain, appropriately encourage the use of gas as a substitute for coal as a fuel, and increase the proportion of hydrogen-rich raw materials to an appropriate level. In fact, the petrochemical industry has always been an important application area for hydrogen, but gray hydrogen has been the dominant form used. In 2020, global hydrogen demand reached 90 million tons, the vast majority of which was used for refining and industrial purposes. Developing \"green hydrogen chemistry\" is an important measure for the petrochemical industry to achieve deep decarbonization. For example, methanol and synthetic ammonia are the two largest areas where hydrogen is used; globally, over 10% of hydrogen is employed each year in the processes for producing methanol, while more than 37% is used in synthetic ammonia production. The use of green hydrogen to replace gray hydrogen in the manufacture of green chemical products will help to reduce carbon emissions in these sectors. Taking methanol as an example (produced by the reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen), internationally natural gas is used as the main raw material. However, in China, due to the abundance of coal, scarcity of oil, and limited gas resources, coal is primarily used as the raw material for production, with coal-based methanol accounting for 76% of total production. A large amount of carbon dioxide is emitted during the hydrogen production process using natural gas and coal. Compared to methanol produced from natural gas, methanol produced from coal results in higher carbon emissions; 4.4 tons of carbon dioxide are generated per ton of methanol produced, which is about 2.4 times more than that of the former. Data shows that China’s total methanol production in 2020 was around 65 million tons, with carbon dioxide emissions associated with the methanol synthesis industry exceeding 200 million tons. For ammonia products, China’s ammonia synthesis industry also primarily uses coal as a raw material for production; of the 49.54 million tons of ammonia produced in 2020, approximately 39 million tons were manufactured using coal as the raw material. In the production process of each ton of product, the carbon emissions associated with coal-based synthetic ammonia production are approximately 4.9 tons, which is about 1.5 times that of synthetic ammonia produced from natural gas. Based on this figure, China’s carbon dioxide emissions related to the synthetic ammonia industry in 2020 were close to 220 million tons. In the future, green hydrogen will need to be used to replace fossil fuels in hydrogen production, in order to gradually achieve carbon emission reductions. As relevant policies emphasize the role of green hydrogen in carbon reduction within the petrochemical industry, the demand for hydrogen in this sector will continue to rise. At the same time, given the existing large demand for hydrogen in the petrochemical industry, the trend toward replacing it with green hydrogen will further accelerate the rapid development of the upstream industry for producing hydrogen from renewable energy sources. Encourage demonstration projects that integrate the petrochemical and chemical industries with sectors such as green hydrogen, in order to promote innovation in business models. The synergy and integration between hydrogen production from renewable energy sources and the chemical industry represent an important model innovation for promoting the use of green hydrogen at present. The Guidelines state that petrochemical and chemical enterprises are encouraged to develop and utilize green hydrogen in a manner that suits local conditions, in a rational and orderly way. Efforts should be made to promote pilot projects that integrate refining, coal chemical processing with industries such as green electricity and green hydrogen. Taking advantage of the high purity of carbon dioxide emitted from refining and coal chemical processing facilities and the low cost of capturing it, pilot projects for large-scale carbon dioxide capture, storage, use in oil extraction, and conversion into chemicals should be carried out. Currently, there are already some demonstration projects worldwide that combine the chemical industry with green hydrogen. For example, ThyssenKrupp’s “Green Chemicals Project” and the “Green Hydrogen Chemicals Demonstration Project” at the Ningdong facility. As early as 2018, ThyssenKrupp began testing green hydrogen-based chemical production projects at its steel plant in Duisburg, where carbon dioxide from the steel plant’s exhaust gases was combined with green hydrogen to produce chemical products such as methanol, plastics, and urea, thereby replacing some fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions. Among them, the experimental power of the electrolytic water hydrogen production equipment is 2 MW, with a hydrogen production capacity of 440 Nm3/h; the purity of the hydrogen produced is greater than 99.95%. Rapid load adjustment has also been demonstrated – the equipment can automatically adjust its operating power based on electricity prices. The project is now in the commercialization phase. On April 20, 2021, Baofeng Energy’s \"**-class comprehensive demonstration project for solar-powered water electrolysis to produce hydrogen\" was officially put into operation at the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base in Ningxia. This project includes a photovoltaic power generation facility with an output of 200,000 kW, as well as a water electrolysis unit capable of producing 20,000 Nm3/h of hydrogen. It enables the reduction of 254,000 tons of coal consumption and 445,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. The hydrogen produced by this project is utilized, on the one hand, in conjunction with Baofeng Energy’s existing coal chemical facilities to reduce costs and improve efficiency in the methanol production process, as well as to achieve energy savings and emission reductions ； On the other hand, the development of the hydrogen energy industry chain is promoted by expanding application scenarios through methods such as collaboration with urban hydrogen-powered demonstration bus routes. In the future, with policy support and through demonstration projects that integrate the chemical industry with sectors such as green hydrogen, acceleration in the innovation of hydrogen energy industry models will be achieved. At the same time, as the production cost of green hydrogen decreases and CCUS technology becomes more widely applied, the scale and level of green hydrogen utilization will further increase. Support the moderate increase in the import of lightweight, low-carbon, hydrogen-rich raw materials to promote international cooperation. At present, the hydrogen industry is still in its initial stages of development, and international trade in hydrogen has not yet begun. However, as interest in hydrogen grows globally, it will become a trend in future development for countries to work together to complement each other’s strengths; international cooperation in hydrogen will thus represent a new \"blue ocean\" for growth. As of August 2021, 20 countries and regions around the world had formulated hydrogen energy development strategies and roadmaps at the national level, while nearly 30 others had begun to develop their hydrogen energy industries. Latin America, North Africa, and the Middle East are all actively pursuing hydrogen energy export initiatives. Areas related to international cooperation in hydrogen energy, such as hydrogen trade, cross-border infrastructure, technology, industry, standards, and markets, all hold great potential for cooperation in the future. In terms of applications in the petrochemical industry, ensuring the supply of hydrogen and hydrogen-rich raw materials in China will be an important requirement for international cooperation. The Guidelines emphasize the need to strengthen the security of raw material resources and ensure the safety and stability of industrial and supply chains, and call for the establishment of a supply system that is robust domestically and diversified internationally, with an appropriate increase in imports of lightweight, low-carbon, hydrogen-rich raw materials. In the future, as the hydrogen energy market continues to expand, international trade in raw materials such as green hydrogen and green ammonia will grow rapidly. Our country has the largest hydrogen production capacity in the world, and it possesses a solid foundation for engaging in international hydrogen trade. At the same time, most of the countries that have formulated hydrogen energy strategies are located along the Belt and Road Initiative. The countries and regions along this initiative possess abundant water, wind, and solar resources, giving them significant advantages in developing green hydrogen and promoting its trade – all of which will create conditions for expanding international cooperation in the field of hydrogen energy in the future. To comprehensively strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, our country should establish and improve international cooperation models based on a \"leadership-oriented\" and \"participation-oriented\" approach, accelerate the formulation of strategies for multi-level cooperation, actively participate in the development of international standards, selectively introduce advanced foreign enterprises, and at the same time encourage domestic enterprises to go global” ； Further improve the safeguards for international exchanges and cooperation, and establish key international special programs ； Under the Belt and Road Initiative, deepen cooperation in technology research and development, project development, and equipment manufacturing to build a regional community for scientific and technological innovation.