【Frontiers in HaiChuan Chemical Technology】The newly developed X52 hydrogen transport pipeline steel by Ansteel Group’s Panzhihua Iron and Steel Company has successfully passed the testing conducted by the China Iron and Steel Research Institute

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The X52 hydrogen pipeline steel newly developed by Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group of Ansteel Group successfully passed the testing conducted by the China Iron and Steel Research Institute, with all its performance parameters meeting the requirements for hydrogen transportation demonstration projects. This marks that Pangang now possesses the capacity for large-scale production of hydrogen pipeline steel, laying a solid technical foundation for entering this market; it will also play a significant role in accelerating the large-scale application of hydrogen energy in China. https://p3-sign.toutiaoimg.com/tos-cn-i-axegupay5k/90d08364426b482d8df1cd95890b1b39~tplv-tt-origin-web:gif.jpeg?_iz=58558&from=article.pc_detail&lk3s=953192f4&x-expires=1766026636&x-signature=OEcpdEoonD93sBPfBoKbNy2GoBk%3D In recent years, the clean energy industry has seen rapid development, and hydrogen, as a clean energy source with great potential, has been widely utilized in fields such as chemicals and aerospace. To fully realize the application potential of hydrogen energy and address the current challenges of low carrying capacity and high transportation costs in hydrogen storage and delivery, pipeline-based hydrogen transport is recognized as the key approach to enabling the large-scale use of hydrogen energy. Hydrogen is the atom with the smallest diameter in nature. In pipeline environments exposed to hydrogen, hydrogen atoms can easily penetrate into the interior of the pipes and accumulate there, thereby causing hydrogen embrittlement and posing a serious threat to the safety of the pipes. Therefore, the production of hydrogen transport pipeline steel requires overcoming numerous technical challenges: it is necessary to strictly control the levels of harmful impurity elements such as phosphorus and sulfur, reduce the amount of non-metallic inclusions in the slab, and ensure that the steel grains are fine and uniform, in order to reduce the susceptibility of the pipes to hydrogen embrittlement. In the face of these technical challenges, Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group of Ansteel established a task force for the development of hydrogen transport pipeline steel as early as January 2024, focusing on addressing three key issues: the efficient removal of phosphorus and sulfur during the converter smelting process, the precise elimination of inclusions during the refining and casting processes, and the stable control of grain size and uniformity during strip rolling. Through relentless efforts, the research team successfully developed X52 hydrogen transport pipeline steel with a fine and uniform ferrite structure. In April this year, the steel strip for this X52 hydrogen transport pipeline underwent comprehensive performance testing at the CNPC Engineering Materials Research Institute, successfully passing tests for spiral submerged arc welding into pipes, physicochemical property assessments, as well as the solution immersion hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC) test. The test results showed that all parameters met the requirements, with a crack rate of 0 in the solution immersion test, demonstrating excellent resistance to hydrogen-induced cracking. The hydrogen environment compatibility tests conducted by the Steel Research Institute have further confirmed the excellent quality of Pansteel X52 hydrogen pipeline steel produced by Ansteel Group, laying a solid foundation for its widespread use in the field of hydrogen storage and transportation.