【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】Pilot plant for producing hydrogen from coal chemical wastewater while generating fresh water was successfully commissioned from 1887 to 2024
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Safety first. Prevention first – let’s give praise and support to the achievements in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment. **********************【Ten Years of Great Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment】Ongoing updates and summaries available; feel free to join the discussions at https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Engineering Forum) *****************On June 20, 2024, the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics announced that a team led by Researcher Deng Dehui and Associate Researcher Liu Yanting from the Energy and Environmental Small Molecule Catalysis Research Center (Group 509) within the Institute’s Key Laboratory of Catalytic Fundamentals has made new progress in the recycling of wastewater generated in coal chemical industries. They developed a new technology for producing high-purity hydrogen while also generating fresh water using this wastewater as raw material, and they completed testing of a pilot-scale device with a capacity of 25 kilowatts using this technology. Building on previous research, Dengde’s team has developed a new technology for producing hydrogen from seawater while generating fresh water as a by-product. In this project, the research team further expanded the application of the new technology for producing hydrogen from seawater while generating fresh water to the field of hydrogen production using industrial wastewater as a raw material. By integrating water electrolysis for hydrogen production with wastewater treatment technologies, they developed a new approach for producing hydrogen and generating fresh water from coal chemical industry wastewater. In addition to being used in the water electrolysis hydrogen production system to meet its own electrolysis needs, the produced fresh water also generates a large amount of extra fresh water that can be utilized in industries, agriculture, domestic use, and other fields. Furthermore, the oxygen produced by water electrolysis can meet the demand for pure oxygen in the hydrothermal oxidation module, thereby improving the efficiency of hydrothermal oxidation and reducing oxygen consumption costs. This approach ultimately enables the transformation of coal chemical industry wastewater into a valuable resource, allowing for the production of high-purity hydrogen along with fresh water. On this basis, the research team developed a 25-kilowatt pilot-scale unit for producing hydrogen from coal chemical wastewater while simultaneously generating fresh water, using the armor catalyst integrated electrode they developed independently. The team conducted pilot-scale tests using lignite coke wastewater from the Hami region in Xinjiang as the raw material; the chemical oxygen demand (COD) in this wastewater was 51,000 mg/L, the total nitrogen content was 2,892 mg/L, and the salinity was 32,000 ppm. The operation results of the pilot plant show that it is possible to produce hydrogen efficiently using coal chemical industry wastewater as a raw material, while also generating fresh water. The hydrogen production capacity is 30,000 cubic meters per year, with a purity of ≥99.999%. In addition to meeting the needs of electrolysis processes, 6 tons of fresh water are produced each year, demonstrating the feasibility and advancement of this new technology for producing hydrogen and fresh water from coal chemical industry wastewater.
Exploring the use of industrial wastewater for hydrogen production is of great significance to the petrochemical/coal chemical industry. Currently, the hydrogen industry, as a pioneer in the field of energy conservation and carbon reduction, is gradually entering a fast track of development. Our country is the world’s largest producer of hydrogen, with an annual production volume of around 33 million tons. Hydrogen plays a crucial role in various fields. Our country is rich in renewable resources, offering great potential for the production of green hydrogen, thus ensuring broad prospects for future development. As a strategic emerging industry, the green hydrogen sector, which relies on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power to produce hydrogen, can contribute significantly to improving efficiency and quality in various fields including the economy, society, environment, and energy. It represents an important measure for achieving the \"dual carbon\" goals. However, at present, the uneven geographical distribution of renewable energy and freshwater resources in our country, along with the shortage of freshwater, pose challenges to the development of the green hydrogen industry. China’s energy structure, characterized by abundant coal, limited oil, and scarce gas, gives coal chemical industry an important role. However, the development of this industry also brings about environmental problems; large amounts of industrial wastewater are generated during production, and these wastewaters have complex compositions, requiring intricate treatment processes. The costs associated with treating this wastewater far exceed its benefits. In addition, coal and water resources in China are distributed unevenly – areas with abundant coal often suffer from water shortages, while areas with water have little coal. These resource constraints mean that modern coal chemical projects must make efficient use of these valuable water resources. Exploring the direct production of hydrogen from industrial wastewater not only solves the problem of water required for hydrogen production but also allows companies to save billions in environmental protection investment costs. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop new, cost-effective methods and technologies for producing hydrogen using coal chemical industry wastewater as a raw material.
This year, there have been successive breakthroughs in technologies related to hydrogen production from seawater, as well as efforts to produce hydrogen from industrial wastewater. In May of last year, Dongfang Electric applied seawater hydrogen production technology to the field of hydrogen production from industrial wastewater. The phase-based field tests for its \"On-site Test of Hydrogen Production via Purification-Free Electrolysis of Gas Field Production Water\" project were carried out jointly by Dongfu Research Institute and the Oil and Gas Process Research Institute of China National Petroleum Corporation’s Changqing Oilfield. This project utilizes the technology of direct electrolysis of seawater to produce hydrogen without desalination, marking the first time this technology has been applied to the production of hydrogen from industrial wastewater. This project aims to explore the future application of direct seawater hydrogen production technology in the field of energy conservation and environmental protection, providing a reference pathway for hydrogen production from industrial wastewater such as petrochemical wastewater and steelmaking wastewater. This time, the new technology developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics for producing high-purity hydrogen while generating fresh water from coal chemical industry wastewater is expected to contribute to the green and sustainable development of China’s hydrogen industry as well as the efficient utilization of industrial wastewater from sectors such as coal chemistry. In fact, if the cost of producing hydrogen from wastewater becomes comparable to that of producing it from seawater in the future, then compared to the huge investment costs associated with water treatment, using industrial wastewater for hydrogen production not only helps companies reduce their emissions but is also more economical. It should be noted that producing hydrogen from industrial wastewater does not mean zero wastewater discharge; at present, it is only possible to significantly reduce the amount of wastewater discharged and lower the costs associated with wastewater treatment.
Pilot plant for hydrogen production and fresh water generation from coal chemical industry wastewater
Successful commissioning of the pilot plant for producing hydrogen and fresh water from coal chemical wastewater, 1887–2024