On the evening of February 4, Zhangjiakou Prince City torch station was ignited by green hydrogen fuel, which is the first green hydrogen torch in the centennial history of the Winter Olympics. For the first time, zero carbon emission was achieved in the whole process from fuel production to application. In the middle of the Olympic snowflake, behind the flame beating is the effort of energy people and the blooming of technical strength in the Shanxi Guoxin Energy Corporation Limited(600617) field.
The task of green hydrogen production of the Winter Olympic torch was received on December 20, 2021. The new energy research center of Petrochina Company Limited(601857) exploration and Development Research Institute was ordered to quickly organize the green hydrogen supply guarantee team to work overtime to optimize the performance, test and improve the key materials and equipment for green hydrogen preparation, Ensure the green hydrogen supply of the torch station of Prince city in Zhangjiakou competition area.
zero carbon emission in the whole process from production to application
Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared. Providing green hydrogen for the Winter Olympic torch, Petrochina Company Limited(601857) Jin Xugong, deputy director of new energy research center of exploration and Development Research Institute, is indispensable. His team has ten years of experience in R & D of new energy materials and about five years of experience in technical reserve of key materials in the field of hydrogen energy and energy storage. It has advanced technical level and solid experimental foundation in the preparation of catalyst materials. At this crucial moment of the Winter Olympics, he won this precious and arduous opportunity to show the country’s scientific and technological strength.
The team had an insight into the trend of energy transformation as early as 2016. In recent years, it has done a lot of basic research on new energy such as hydrogen energy and energy storage. Facing this possible only opportunity in life, the team members are confident and determined to complete the Winter Olympic task. Everyone has expressed the need to give full play to the spirit of scientists and constantly transform themselves, Continuously innovate technology to successfully complete the green hydrogen supply task with faster, higher and stronger efficiency.
In the process of preparing green hydrogen, they optimized and transformed the electrode materials and electrolytic cell components, adopted self-developed high-performance catalysts, improved the service life and load stability, and reduced the power consumption by 10% – 15% compared with commercial traditional materials. In the electrolyzer, the traditional monolayer mesh material is replaced by foam nickel mesh, and the traditional asbestos membrane is replaced by the composite diaphragm, which improves the safety in preparation process and the efficiency of hydrogen production by electrolysis water.
Why choose green hydrogen as fuel? Green hydrogen is hydrogen obtained by electrolyzing water with renewable energy. Only water is produced during combustion. Compared with gray hydrogen and blue hydrogen with coal and natural gas as raw materials, it can achieve zero carbon emission from the source. Based on 10 kg of hydrogen, the carbon emission will be reduced by 15 kg after combustion compared with the same quality of natural gas.
Petrochina Company Limited(601857) said that in recent years, the company has accelerated the transformation from “resource victory” to “technology victory”. The “birth” of the green hydrogen torch is one of the important achievements in tackling key scientific and technological problems in the field of Petrochina Company Limited(601857) new energy. Since the establishment of the hydrogen energy core technology research team, Petrochina Company Limited(601857) has not only made major breakthroughs in the independent development of Cecep Solar Energy Co.Ltd(000591) electrolytic water catalyst, but also reserved key technologies in photolysis of water to produce hydrogen, solid metal hydrogen storage, proton exchange membrane fuel cell and solid oxide fuel cell, which is conducive to the establishment of green hydrogen industry in the future, Achieving green and low-carbon development is a milestone.
the team behind the torch blooms
Although the technical conditions have become mature, from the laboratory to demonstration and landing, from hydrogen production to filling, from equipment improvement to site transformation, the on-site situation in cold winter is much more complex than the laboratory test, and the team has experienced many tests.
“The green hydrogen supply process is much more difficult than I thought.” Dr. Li Jianming, a member of the team, told the Huaxia times that the project team spent ten days on the skid mounted transformation of the electrolytic water equipment and the safety demonstration of the process and site, and another ten days on the site transformation, water and electrical connection, equipment commissioning, photovoltaic laying and hydrogenation equipment installation and commissioning of the hydrogen production demonstration base in Langfang park. On December 21, the team was testing photovoltaic and hydrogen production equipment. It snowed heavily in Langfang. The thickness of the snow was below the ankle. The ultra-low temperature outside was unexpected, which directly led to the ice blockage of the water supply pipeline of the electrolytic water equipment. Dr. Xue Huaqing immediately checked the blocking points one by one and dredged the water flow again by means of heating gun and laying auxiliary heat pipe
illustration: Petrochina Company Limited(601857) green hydrogen fuel preparation base of new energy research center of exploration and Development Research Institute
As the green hydrogen preparation uses the green power generated by photovoltaic, but after the snow, all the roof photovoltaic panels are covered with snow. Dr. Li Jianming picked up the blower and climbed up the roof more than five meters high to clean up the ice and snow, ensuring the smooth power supply of photovoltaic and the smooth progress of hydrogen production.
After green hydrogen is produced, it needs to be compressed and filled into the hydrogen storage bottle, and the matching between equipment is particularly important. In the process of equipment troubleshooting, the green hydrogen team once found that the compressor was running slower, there were many leakage points in the pipeline, and the hydrogen pressure did not go in. The team members didn’t sleep that night. They tried to find a way to check the problems bit by bit. They didn’t solve the problem by changing the pipe diameter until dawn.
In addition to equipment and technical problems, due to the approaching Spring Festival years ago and the impact of the local epidemic, it is difficult to buy parts, and many problems that were not problems before have also appeared. For example, the supporting wheel of the cylinder bundle has cracks, and serious accidents are likely to occur if it is broken. It could have been replaced by mail from the manufacturer, but due to the epidemic situation, the manufacturer could not send express delivery. Finally, the problem could only be solved by contacting the technicians of PetroChina Hebei transportation company for welding and fixation.
Jin Xu, the team leader, was very anxious about the problems faced by the project, “In the 12 years since I started my career, I have never had such great pressure. I slept for about seven hours in three consecutive days, and I didn’t sleep almost all night in the first night. However, I know in my heart that after this equipment originally used for experimental research is given the sacred meaning of hydrogen supply for the Winter Olympics, it must be completed no matter how difficult it is.”
In the process of solving problems, Petrochina Company Limited(601857) green hydrogen team cooperation ability has been greatly exercised. Li Yiheng, a new employee of the team, said: “We have set up a 24-hour duty system, with a shift every two hours and a half-hour patrol inspection. Although we are very tired, we have found and solved many problems in time. We feel that we have integrated into the team at once, and everyone is like a family. When we sent the green hydrogen bottle group out on December 29, we really felt like sending it to Beijing for the exam. We feel very happy that we can do such a thing Pride. “
After completing the supply of green hydrogen for the Winter Olympic Games, Petrochina Company Limited(601857) green hydrogen team has put into the preparation of green hydrogen for the winter Paralympic Games.
traditional energy enterprises make green and low-carbon transformation
With the strong support of the state, the hydrogen energy industry has ushered in a high light moment, the status of hydrogen energy has been continuously improved and the industrial development has been accelerated, but it still needs to face practical problems such as safety, high cost and application scenarios.
Dr. Jin Xu said that the green winter Olympics has a positive role in promoting the development and scale application of new energy technologies. Under the guidance of China’s double carbon goal and driven by the concept of Green Olympics, the concept of clean energy utilization will enter the hearts of the people, especially hydrogen energy, and enter public life from a relatively unfamiliar energy carrier. At present, many traditional fossil energy enterprises are also transforming to green and low-carbon. With the further improvement of the hydrogen energy industry chain in the future, from production to storage and transportation to large-scale utilization, and finding suitable application scenarios, the cost of hydrogen will be lower and lower.
The natural gas produced by Petrochina Company Limited(601857) once lit the main torch of the bird’s nest of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Now, Petrochina Company Limited(601857) has lit the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic torch with cleaner self-produced green hydrogen. In the past 14 years, Petrochina Company Limited(601857) has also embarked on the path of green and low-carbon transformation.
Petrochina Company Limited(601857) said that taking the opportunity of serving the Winter Olympics, Petrochina Company Limited(601857) made efforts in the whole hydrogen energy industry chain, accelerated the construction of hydrogen energy R & D and supply system, accelerated the construction of a new pattern of multi energy complementary energy industry, and provided low-carbon and clean energy. In addition to supplying hydrogen for the Winter Olympic torch, Petrochina Company Limited(601857) also makes full use of four hydrogenation stations and comprehensive energy service stations to provide hydrogenation services for hydrogen energy vehicles for the Winter Olympic Games. During the Winter Olympics, the hydrogen supply capacity will reach 5500kg / day, which can provide services for nearly 1000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, with an estimated mileage of more than 2 million kilometers.
