Will hydrogen pipelines catch fire? ? ? In 2023, over 2,000 km were constructed!

Thread Content

At present, China’s hydrogen energy industry is still in its infancy; the storage and transportation sector is one of the bottlenecks hindering its development. The prerequisite for the large-scale commercial development of hydrogen energy is a breakthrough in safe and efficient hydrogen transmission technologies. Zhang Wenwei, a leading expert from CNPC Pipeline Bureau, has said that large-scale centralized hydrogen production and the long-distance transportation of hydrogen are the trends of the future. As an economically viable transportation method, pipeline transport will play an important role in accelerating the distribution of hydrogen resources and expanding their market reach, thereby facilitating the use of hydrogen in optimizing the energy structure. Pipeline hydrogen transport mainly includes two methods: blending hydrogen into existing natural gas pipelines and building new pure hydrogen pipelines for transportation. The development of hydrogen pipelines abroad started early; the United States and Europe were the first to plan and lay out hydrogen pipeline networks. Although the development of hydrogen transmission pipelines in China started late and the construction progress has been slow, some progress has been made. This year, many companies led by Sinopec, CNPC, and Guodian Investment have made progress in the construction of hydrogen pipelines. On July 14, China National Petroleum Baodi Petroleum Pipe Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Baodi Pipe Company”) successfully carried out the first full-scale test in China of long-duration high-pressure operation with a high hydrogen content in spiral-welded pipes, and all test parameters met the relevant technical requirements. In this test, spiral welded pipes made of L415M steel grade with a diameter of 508 mm were used. After a prolonged period of 100 days, the test under high pressure of 6.3 MPa with a hydrogen blending ratio of up to 20% was successfully completed. This is currently the only full-scale physical test on a steel pipe involving hydrogen blending in China, where both the hydrogen blending pressure and proportion are simultaneously at “high” levels. On June 25, **Pipeline Group conducted China’s first test of transporting pure hydrogen using high-pressure multi-material pipelines in Hami, providing technical support for large-scale, low-cost long-distance transportation of pure hydrogen in China in the future. This test was the first in China to conduct hydrogen filling tests on DN250 diameter, 6.3 Mpa hydrogen transport non-metallic pipes as well as existing metallic pipes. Both the pipe dimensions and the test pressure exceeded the main operational parameters of the hydrogen pipelines already in use in China. It was also the first time in China that a full-size non-metallic pipe was subjected to high-pressure hydrogen burst testing at 9.45 Mpa, and all results met the expected standards. In May, the pipeline test platform component of the Inner Mongolia Major Science and Technology Project titled “Research and Development of Key Technologies for the Transportation of Low- and Medium-Pressure Pure Hydrogen and Hydrogen-Blended Gases via Pipelines and Their Applications”—initiated by Tongliao Longshengfeng Natural Gas Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Shuifa Paisi Gas—was ignited and put into operation at the Ganqika site in Tongliao. Other participants in this project include research institutions such as China National Petroleum Corporation, Tsinghua University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, and Southwest Research Institute of Chemical Engineering, as well as leading companies in the fields of hydrogen energy and clean energy, including Kunlun Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd., Beijing Qidi Clean Energy Technology Co., Ltd., and Beijing HJ Clean Energy Technology Co., Ltd. In the project, the pipeline lengths for the pure hydrogen and hydrogen-blended sections are 4 km, with a diameter of D323.9 mm and a design pressure of 1.6 MPa. This commissioning for operation will play a significant role in promoting the diversified utilization of hydrogen energy, the use of hydrogen-blended natural gas as well as pure hydrogen in various applications, and in facilitating the upgrading of the energy consumption structure. On April 16, CNPC announced that a breakthrough had been achieved in the technology for transporting hydrogen over long distances using existing natural gas pipelines. At the Ningdong natural gas hydrogen blending pipeline demonstration platform in Yinchuan, Ningxia, the hydrogen blending ratio has gradually reached 24%. After 100 days of trial operation, this 397-km-long gas pipeline has operated safely and stably as a whole. On April 10, Sinopec announced that the demonstration project for the hydrogen pipeline system aimed at transporting hydrogen from the west to the east had been included in the \"National Integrated Oil and Gas Network Development Plan\", marking a new stage in the development of long-distance hydrogen transportation pipelines in China. “The capacity of Phase 1 of the pipeline is 100,000 tons per year, with a potential for future expansion to 500,000 tons per year. Meanwhile, ports will be reserved at multiple locations along the route to facilitate the connection of potential hydrogen sources. ”Ma Yongsheng, chairman of Sinopec, said that in the future, Sinopec can rely on the \"West-to-East Hydrogen Transport\" pipeline to build branch lines and hydrogen refueling stations, thereby contributing to the development of a hydrogen energy corridor in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and helping to achieve the region’s \"dual carbon\" goals. On March 26, the groundbreaking ceremony for the integrated hydrogen energy project in Daye City, Hubei Province, which focuses on the production, storage, and utilization of green electricity and green hydrogen, was held. The total investment in this project is estimated to be 5.2 billion yuan. This project plans to build multiple hydrogen pipelines with a diameter of 200 mm and a total length of approximately 50 km, with a total investment of 250 million yuan. Hydrogen is delivered directly from the three green hydrogen plants planned as part of the project to several major hydrogen-consuming enterprises in the city, as well as smart energy stations (hydrogen refueling stations). On March 10, Baoji Steel Pipe Company used newly developed straight-seam high-frequency welded pipes made of the steel grade L360M with a diameter of 406 mm (domestically produced hydrogen pipelines) to successfully conduct China’s first full-scale, long-duration high-pressure test at 6.3 Mpa using pure hydrogen, thereby gaining valuable experience in the development of hydrogen transport pipelines and their full-scale evaluation. On March 9, construction began on the first domestic project involving a long-distance, high-pressure hydrogen-blended gas pipeline, undertaken by Inner Mongolia Western Natural Gas Company. The total investment in this project is 910 million yuan. The pipeline has a length of 258 km, with a design pressure of 6.3 MPa. Its maximum gas transmission capacity can reach 1.2 billion cubic meters per year. On February 9, SPIC successfully carried out a demonstration project on the application of hydrogen-blended natural gas in residential settings. “Green hydrogen” was mixed with natural gas and then delivered via pipelines to 20 households in the community. This is also the first demonstration project in China involving the application of hydrogen-blended natural gas for actual residential use. At the beginning of January, CNPC Pipeline Bureau stated that it would plan to build a hydrogen pipeline network in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, thereby becoming the first in China to take research on key issues related to hydrogen transport out of the laboratory and providing scientific evidence for the construction and expansion of hydrogen pipelines across the country. CNPC Pipeline Bureau stated that its new energy and new business initiatives have begun to take shape, with the contract value of completed and ongoing projects exceeding 500 million yuan. Since 2022, the Pipeline Bureau has been operating 41 new energy projects, some of which are related to hydrogen storage and transportation.