With large-scale support and subsidies, it is believed that the commercial time of hydrogen energy will be earlier than expected.
On March 23, the national energy administration and the national development and Reform Commission jointly issued the medium and long term plan for the development of hydrogen energy industry (20212035). It is clearly proposed that hydrogen energy is an important part of the future national energy system, give full play to the clean and low-carbon characteristics of hydrogen energy, realize the green and low-carbon transformation, and take the hydrogen energy industry as a strategic emerging industry and a key industry in the future.
In addition, the plan puts forward the objectives of various stages of the development of hydrogen energy industry: by 2025, we will basically master the core technology and manufacturing process, have about 50000 fuel cell vehicles, deploy and build a number of hydrogen refueling stations, produce 1 China Vanke Co.Ltd(000002) 00000 tons of hydrogen from renewable energy, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1-2 million tons / year.
By 2030, a relatively complete technological innovation system for hydrogen energy industry and a clean energy hydrogen production and supply system will be formed to effectively support the realization of the carbon peak goal. By 2035, a diversified application ecology of hydrogen energy will be formed, and the proportion of hydrogen production from renewable energy in terminal energy consumption will increase significantly.
Stimulated by this good news, hydrogen energy concept stocks started a trading tide in the secondary market.
Friends who know something about the industry should know that since the hydrogen energy industry was incorporated into the national energy strategy in 2016, China’s hydrogen energy industry has developed rapidly, has begun to take shape in all links of the industrial chain, has completed the process from 0-1 and is moving towards the road from 1-n.
According to the prediction of China hydrogen energy alliance, the output value of China’s hydrogen energy industry will reach 1 trillion yuan from 2020 to 2025 and 5 trillion yuan from 2026 to 2035. It can be said that the future prospect of hydrogen energy is the sea of stars.
Of course, at this stage, there are still many technologies that need to be tackled in various technical links of the industrial chain, such as liquid hydrogen storage and transportation, type IV hydrogen storage bottles, large hydrogenation stations, electric reactor costs, etc.
On top of these problems, there is another problem. If it cannot be solved, it is impossible to promote the hydrogen energy industry.
This link is the first important door to promote the process of hydrogen energy industry – hydrogen productionP align = “center” 01 p align = “center” Green hydrogen is needed for deep tire removal
With the gradual popularization of hydrogen energy knowledge, people generally accept the advantages of high-efficiency and carbon free combustion of hydrogen energy, and understand the industrial chain of hydrogen energy.
Indeed, in terms of energy efficiency, the calorific value of hydrogen is about 140mj / kg, which is more than three times that of traditional fuels such as coal and gasoline.
In terms of reserves, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, accounting for about 75% of the mass of the universe. The earth’s rich water resources contain a large amount of hydrogen energy that can be developed. In the future, it will be one of the most convenient and lowest cost energy sources.
On the contrary, the cost of metal materials of lithium batteries, such as lithium and cobalt, accounts for a large proportion of the overall cost of batteries, which is relatively scarce and expensive.
A large number of lithium, cobalt, nickel and other metal materials are used in the battery production process. In the production process, the mining, production and processing of metal materials will produce a large amount of energy consumption and carbon emission, which belongs to the smelting and chemical industry.
The product of direct combustion of hydrogen or power generation through fuel cells is water, which can achieve real zero carbon emission and does not cause any pollution to the environment. Therefore, hydrogen energy is called the ultimate energy.
According to the order of the industrial chain from top to bottom, the hydrogen energy industrial chain can be divided into three sections. The upstream is hydrogen production and supply; The midstream is the fuel cell and its core components, while its downstream is the fuel cell application.
At present, there are three mature technical routes for hydrogen production: first, hydrogen production by reforming fossil energy represented by coal and natural gas, commonly known as blue hydrogen; Second, hydrogen production from industrial by-product gas represented by coke oven gas, chlor alkali tail gas and propane dehydrogenation, commonly known as grey hydrogen; The third is hydrogen production by electrolyzing water, commonly known as green hydrogen.
Hydrogen production from fossil energy is the mainstream way of hydrogen production in China, while the hydrogen production from electrolytic water based on renewable energy has the lowest carbon emission.
The first two technologies for hydrogen production cannot get rid of the consumption of traditional energy, although carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) can effectively reduce the carbon emissions generated in the process of hydrogen production from fossil energy. However, in the long run, only the “green hydrogen” prepared from renewable energy electrolytic water can achieve real zero carbon emission.
China is the world’s largest hydrogen producer, with an annual hydrogen production of about 33 million tons, of which about 12 million tons can meet the industrial hydrogen quality standard. The installed capacity of renewable energy ranks first in the world and has great potential in clean and low-carbon hydrogen energy supply.
In the future, abundant renewable energy can be transformed into green hydrogen through electrolytic water, so as to provide clean and environmentally friendly green raw materials and fuels for high emission departments such as construction, transportation and industry, so as to reduce the use of fossil energy and effectively reduce carbon emissions.
Therefore, the large-scale production of green hydrogen in the future is the primary task for the hydrogen energy industry to achieve deep decarbonization.
However, actual progress has been hampered and long. According to Irena’s calculation, only 4% of the world’s hydrogen comes from electrolytic water to produce hydrogen, and the rest comes from coal, natural gas and petroleum refining.
The reason for the failure of large-scale promotion is the cost. The cost of hydrogen production from electrolytic water is much higher than that of fossil energy.
However, with the further cost reduction of photovoltaic and wind power, by 2030, the cost per kilowatt hour of some advantageous regions of renewable resources in China will reach 0.1-0.15 yuan / kWh, and the cost of green hydrogen will gradually drop to about 14 yuan / kg, realizing parity with gray hydrogen.
Green hydrogen with deep decarburization property is undoubtedly a better choice, and large-scale commercial expansion will followP align = “center” 02 p align = “center” PEM electrolytic water technology
The basic principle of water production by electrolysis is that hydrogen can be separated out from solid water (AEE), anion exchange membrane (PEM) and electrolyzed water (electrolyzed water) by electrolysis, which can be divided into four basic processes: electrolyzed water (electrolyzed water), anion exchange membrane (electrolyzed water) and electrolyzed water (electrolyzed water).
At present, the industrialization degree of alkaline water electrolysis and PEM is relatively high.
Alkaline electrolytic water technology is the most mature. It uses potassium hydroxide aqueous solution as electrolyte and asbestos as diaphragm to separate water to produce hydrogen and oxygen.
Because it is alkaline, non noble metal electrocatalyst can be used, so the cost of electrolytic cell is low; However, it is difficult to start and change load quickly, and the hydrogen production speed cannot be adjusted quickly, so it has poor adaptability to renewable energy.
From a technical point of view, PEM electrolytic water technology has unique advantages. Many new projects began to choose PEM electrolytic technology, and began to gain more market share in recent years.
Compared with alkaline electrolytic water technology, PEM electrolysis adopts pure water electrolysis, which has no pollution and corrosion; Secondly, the proton exchange membrane has higher proton conductivity, and the working current of the electrolytic cell can be greatly improved, so as to improve the electrolytic efficiency.
At the same time, PEM electrolyzed water technology can provide a wider load range and shorter response start-up time. It has a good match with hydropower, wind power and photovoltaic (with large fluctuation and randomness of power generation), and is most suitable for the development of energy structure in the future.
In recent years, the promotion of PEM electrolytic water technology has been gradually accelerated.
In 2015, Siemens and Linde gas built the world’s largest PEM electrolysis plant in Mainz energy park, Germany, with a rated installed power of 6MW. Since then, the number and installed scale of PEM electrolysis projects have also been increasing. In 2020, Air France completed the construction of 20 MW PEM electrolytic water project in becancour, Canada.
In China, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and 718 Research Institute of China shipbuilding industry group are carrying out the research and manufacturing of PEM pure water hydrogen production equipment.
Sinopec, Sany, Longji and Sungrow Power Supply Co.Ltd(300274) and other new Chinese entrants pay more attention to PEM water electrolysis for hydrogen production.
On March 4, 2021, Shanghai Electric Group Company Limited(601727) power station group and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences officially signed the “cooperation agreement on megawatt modular and high-efficiency PEM electrolytic water hydrogen production equipment and system development project”.
On March 18, 2021, Sungrow Power Supply Co.Ltd(300274) heavyweight released “sep50” PEM electrolyzer. It is understood that the single cell power of this product is 250KW, which is the PEM electrolytic cell with the largest single cell power in China at present, and it is also the first mass-produced 50 standard square PEM electrolytic cell in China.
Cummins won the bid for China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) the first 2.5mwpem project.
On January 15, 2022, Longpan hydrogen energy company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Lopal Tech.Co.Ltd(603906) ( Jiangsu Lopal Tech.Co.Ltd(603906) . SH), and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly launched the R & D project of PEM hydrogen production catalyst for electrolytic water.
It can be seen that the scale of PEM electrolysis project in China is small, and most of the equipment delivered and applied in China are small electrolytic cells. What factors restrict the promotion of PEM electrolytic hydrogen production? To trace the source one by one, we need to go back to the structure of PEM electrolytic cellP align = “center” 03 p align = “center” bottlenecks affecting the promotion of PEM hydrogen production by water electrolysis
The main components of PEM water electrolyzer are proton exchange membrane, anode and cathode catalytic layer, anode and cathode gas diffusion layer, anode and cathode sector, etc.
Among them, the diffusion layer, catalytic layer and proton exchange membrane constitute the membrane electrode, which is the main place for the material transmission and electrochemical reaction of the whole water electrolysis cell. The characteristics and structure of the membrane electrode directly affect the performance and service life of PEM water electrolysis cellP align = “center” source: PEM: the most potential hydrogen production technology from electrolytic water
In terms of investment cost, the cost of electrolytic cell has decreased by 40% in the past five years, but at present, the cost of PEM electrolysis is still at least twice that of alkaline electrolytic water. Investment and operation cost are still the main problems to be solved in PEM water electrolysis hydrogen production.
Electrolytic cell is the core part of hydrogen production system from electrolytic water. In terms of cost composition, the proportion of electrolytic cell in the total cost of hydrogen production system is about 40% – 50%.
The proton exchange membrane is the core part of the electrolytic cell. It not only conducts protons and isolates hydrogen and oxygen, but also provides support for the catalyst. Its performance directly determines the performance and service life of the water electrolytic cell, so it is very important in the whole equipment.
Different from alkaline water electrolysis hydrogen production, PEM water electrolysis hydrogen production selects perfluorosulfonic acid proton exchange membrane with good chemical stability, proton conductivity and gas separation as solid electrolyte to replace asbestos membrane, which can effectively prevent electron transfer and improve the safety of electrolytic cell.
The preparation of proton exchange membrane has long been monopolized by a few manufacturers in the United States and Japan such as DuPont and gore. At present, DuPont nafion-711 and 511 series are mainly used. This series is mainly made of perfluorinated sulfonic acid resin, and the membrane thickness is 10-15 times that of ordinary fuel cell exchange membrane, so the overall cost is very high.
At present, China’s Dongyue, Kerun and other enterprises are actively arranging. The first phase of Dongyue’s 1.5 million square meter proton exchange membrane production line has been put into operation, and Kerun’s 1 million square meter proton exchange membrane project has also been started. With the continuous breakthrough of Chinese technology, there is a huge space for domestic proton exchange membrane to realize import substitution.
In terms of noble metal catalysts, platinum and iridium are mainly used as anode and cathode of PEM membrane electrode.
However, in terms of the distribution of upstream resources, the reserves of these two precious metals in China are very small, mainly distributed in South Africa, Russia, South America and other regions. Once PEM hydrogen production is used on a large scale, China’s industry will face the supply chain risk of relying heavily on foreign imports of raw materials.
At the same time, the manufacturing process and production capacity of these two catalysts in China are not comparable with foreign brands such as Johnson Matthey. The demand for platinum and iridium catalysts imported by Chinese PEM equipment enterprises is still obvious.
In terms of diffusion layer materials, at present, sintered felt, titanium felt and carbon felt are mainly used in the industry. Titanium felt is the most effective anode and carbon felt is the main cathode. In order to achieve the best cooperation between materials and their own processes, diffusion layer filling materials basically need to be customized, which is also one of the core links reflecting the process level of each company.
Although many Chinese enterprises are sending samples of similar products for testing, there is still a big gap between the overall effect and foreign counterparts.
In addition to the diffusion layer anode filling material, the bipolar sector, end sector and other parts are made of titanium alloy to prevent hydrogen embrittlement and improve the overall safety of the equipment. Titanium alloy is difficult to process, which also puts forward very high requirements for the processing accuracy level of domestic enterprises.
In general, PEM hydrogen production is in the ascendant in China, which needs to overcome many technical links and realize large-scale commercialization.
However, in the future energy landscape, hydrogen energy is undoubtedly an important puzzle. With the active promotion of the state and the intervention of capital, the prospect of realizing localization and substitution is more optimisticP align = “center” 04 p align = “center” conclusion
In the context of carbon neutrality, it is an inevitable trend of historical development for new energy to replace traditional energy.
The importance of energy for a country is self-evident. The competition between countries has gradually shifted from the competition for traditional energy to the competition for new energy construction.
Governments of all countries are vigorously supporting the R & D and industrial layout of hydrogen energy technology, and striving for the first step through the introduction of intensive support policies.
With large-scale government support and subsidies, it is believed that the commercial time of hydrogen energy will be earlier than expected.
At this stage, the first thing to do is to open the first door of the hydrogen energy industry, which is the localization and substitution of PEM electrolytic water technology.
