Unveiling the green code of the Beijing Winter Olympics: "hydrogen" dances flying, 100% green electricity blessing

The process of lighting the Olympic flame, which the world is curious about, was realized in an unexpected and reasonable way at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 4. Instead of "igniting", the main torch has a green "heart" – the first hydrogen fuel torch in the history of the Winter Olympics and a footnote to the full carbon neutrality of the Beijing Winter Olympics. From the initial magnesium blocks, to propane, to the hydrogen energy of this Winter Olympics, the fuel of the Olympic torch has become low-carbon, becoming a microcosm of the global efforts to address the challenge of climate change.

"In the darkness, the technicians dressed in black moved quickly, quickly connecting 6 pipelines hanging from the sky to the 'snowflakes'. The first two wires to be connected are cables and network cables, the circuit supply of 'snowflakes' switches from underground to the sky, real-time status feedback to the control room and receive commands, and the main torch has a 'nerve'. Then the two hydrogen tubes were successfully inserted, the hydrogen fuel supply was normal, and the main torch had a 'main artery'. Two WIA steel cables will pull this 'snowflake' up and make it dance in the air. "A report in China Aerospace News recorded technical details that were difficult for viewers to notice when the main torch was lit," torchbearers Zhao Jiawen and Dinigal Iramujiang climbed the steps and inserted the 'flying' torch in their hands into the center of the 'snowflake', so that the hydrogen supply system in the air was connected with the 'snowflake' main torch, and the hydrogen in the hydrogen storage tank swam down the flexible hose, passing through the 'snowflake' built-in gas pipeline into the 'flying'. The pipe inside the holding torch shell bends and loops, and the hydrogen flows along the pipe and finally sprays out. ”

The "Green Core" main torch lights up the snow and ice night sky

In August 2020, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee issued a notice officially clarifying the use of hydrogen as fuel for the torch. As the cleanest and most environmentally friendly fuel, hydrogen only produces water when burning, does not produce carbon dioxide, can achieve complete zero emissions, and can truly reflect the green, low-carbon and sustainable principles of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Therefore, all relay torches in the Beijing Winter Olympics should be hydrogen fuel, and hydrogen fuel was used to ignite the main torch of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games at the opening ceremony, and a large number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were used during the event to reduce pollutant emissions.

The use of hydrogen energy is the strength of aerospace. Aerospace Science and Technology Group Sixth Academy 11 Institute (Beijing) is the Beijing Winter Olympics holding the torch and the main torch development unit, as the country's only liquid hydrogen liquid oxygen engine development unit, the institute has accumulated decades of experience in hydrogen energy research, its development of the three-type hydrogen-oxygen engine, in the Beidou Project, Chang'e Project, Mars exploration and space station construction and other major engineering projects have a perfect performance.

Liu Yue, the technical leader of the main torch development team, recalled when talking about the torch development process that initially everyone referred to the design of the main torch of the previous Olympic Games, and believed that the size of the main torch should be large and the flame should be high, so in the early stage of key technology pre-research, the minimum hydrogen fuel consumption should be considered to be 2000 cubic meters / hour. However, Zhang Yimou's "micro-fire" idea surprised them, holding a torch in the center of the snowflakes without extinguishing, and the hydrogen fuel flow rate was about 1.2 cubic meters per hour.

According to the above report, in previous Olympic Games, the main torch fuel has been mainly alkanes, and only hydrogen fuel has been used at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan. The main source of alkanes is oil and gas, which are inexpensive and have high calories burned. Hydrogen energy utilization involves multiple links of "preparation, storage, transportation and application", and puts forward requirements for the comprehensive utilization level of hydrogen energy.

As the smallest element in the world, how can hydrogen be guaranteed not to leak during transportation and delivery? How to ensure that the main torch burns stably and continuously? In addition, hydrogen has no color, to carry out a flame color reaction; flames can not be sprayed out like rocket engines, there must be curvy beauty ... The project team had to solve not only technical problems, but also artistic problems. To this end, the torch development team of the six academies composed of 11 institutes (Beijing) and 101 institutes of the six academies of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group spent two years to overcome the problems of hydrogen fuel torches.

The main torch of the Bird's Nest for the 2008 Beijing Olympics was lit by natural gas. According to China Youth Daily, the main creative team of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee reviewed the technical data of 2008 and found that the main torch lit by Chinese gymnast Li Ning consumed about 5,000 cubic meters of gas an hour. In order to maintain its huge flame, the Bird's Nest is specially equipped with a gas station to deliver power to it day and night. Hearing this number, the creators were shocked. "The burning fire is certainly the embodiment of the human Olympic spirit, but is it environmentally friendly?" Zhang Yimou said. The beijing winter olympic and paralympic games opening and closing ceremonies four ceremonies, the main torch burned for more than a month, I don't know how much carbon dioxide to emit.

Compared with the previous burning torch, the last "flying" torch at the Winter Olympics is "seamlessly connected" with the main torch, there is no ignition process, coupled with the subversive "micro-fire", which can save about 99.9% of energy, fully embodying the concept of environmental protection.

Hydrogen, supplied by Sinopec's Yanshan Petrochemical, "lit" the main torch as fuel at the opening ceremony.

In order to ensure the supply of main torch hydrogen, Yanshan Petrochemical has set up a main torch hydrogen support team for the Winter Olympics, and has formulated a detailed work plan and safeguard measures from all aspects of hydrogen filling, testing, transportation support, etc., to ensure the high quality and safety of hydrogen supplied. At the same time, Yanshan Petrochemical Hydrogen New Energy Device was successfully started on January 2, 2020, and on March 27, 2020, with a design scale of 2,000 standard cubic meters per hour, which aims to provide guarantee for hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles during the Winter Olympics. The hydrogen produced by the plant can meet the needs of the fuel cell or electronics industry, and on December 16, 2020, the whole process from smooth production operation to product delivery is completed. In January 2021, Yanshan Petrochemical achieved mass production of battery hydrogen.

On the evening of February 4, in the Zhangjiakou division of the Beijing Winter Olympics, green hydrogen independently developed by China National Petroleum Corporation lit the Prince Edward City torch platform. This is the only torch stand lit by green hydrogen in the Winter Olympics, and it is also the first torch to use green hydrogen as fuel in the nearly 100-year history of the Winter Olympics. Green hydrogen refers to hydrogen obtained by electrolyzing water from renewable sources. In order to highlight the theme of "Green Winter Olympics", CHINAPC selected clean, environmentally friendly and low-carbon hydrogen manufacturing equipment and technologies in the whole system, and finally selected the solar electrolysis water hydrogen production equipment of the Affiliated Exploration and Development Research Institute to provide green hydrogen for the Winter Olympic torch.

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, hydrogen supplied by PetroChina from the Water Cube (Ice Cube) to the Yanqing Division to the Zhangjiakou Division in Hebei Province ignited the Winter Olympic Torch Platform in three sub-venues. In addition to supplying hydrogen for the Winter Olympic torch, PetroChina also uses four hydrogen refueling stations and integrated energy service stations to provide hydrogen refueling services for hydrogen vehicles for the Winter Olympics. The hydrogen supply capacity during the Winter Olympics will reach 5500 kg/day, which can provide services for nearly a thousand hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and the estimated mileage is more than 2 million kilometers.

The "green" of the Beijing Winter Olympics is far more than the torch.

In mid-January this year, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee released the "Sustainable development report for the Beijing Winter Olympics ( pre-competition)", which detailed the phased progress of sustainable work in the preparation of the Winter Olympics.

In terms of strict implementation of low-carbon management, the Winter Olympics will make full use of the Venues of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to reduce carbon emissions from the source. At the same time, the construction of low-carbon venues, all venues have reached the green building standards, 4 ice venues in the history of the Winter Olympics for the first time to use carbon dioxide refrigerant, built more than 50,000 square meters of ultra-low energy consumption demonstration project, a variety of measures to reduce the venue carbon emissions; the full use of low-carbon energy, relying on cross-regional green electricity trading mechanism, during the game all venues of the conventional energy use of green electricity; the construction of low-carbon transportation system, energy-saving and clean energy vehicles accounted for more than 80% of the vehicles during the race. On the basis of fully implementing emission reduction measures, actively expanding carbon offset channels, the governments of Beijing and Zhangjiakou will donate forestry carbon sinks to the Beijing Winter Olympics, and PetroChina, State Grid and Three Gorges Group have also sponsored carbon neutral products for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Liu Yumin, director of the Planning and Construction Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said at the press conference of the State Council New Office on January 13 that the power supply of the Beijing Winter Olympics basically relies on the existing urban municipal power grid, in accordance with the national rules on green electricity market-oriented trading, through green electricity trading to achieve green power supply for all venues.

According to estimates, from the first green electricity transaction in June 2019 to the end of the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, the venues in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou are expected to use 400 million kWh of green electricity, which can reduce the burning of 128,000 tons of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 320,000 tons.

This Winter Olympics has also achieved low-carbon travel in terms of transportation. Li Sen, director of the Overall Planning Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said at the above press conference that the Beijing competition area is located in the plain, mainly using pure electric and natural gas vehicles; the Yanqing and Zhangjiakou competition areas are mainly hydrogen energy vehicles, mainly to meet the needs of mountainous areas.