The national hydrogen energy strategy has accelerated, liquid hydrogen has ushered in a good momentum of development, and the situation that was almost blank in the civilian field is gradually improving.
Liquid hydrogen is a cryogenic hydrogen storage technology. After the hydrogen is compressed, it is cryogenic to less than 21K to turn it into liquid hydrogen, which is then stored in a special insulated vacuum vessel. The density of liquid hydrogen at room temperature and pressure is 845 times that of gas hydrogen, and the volume energy density of liquid hydrogen is higher than that of compression storage. For a long time, domestic liquid hydrogen is mainly used in the aerospace and military fields, civil liquid hydrogen is slow to advance, hydrogen liquefaction equipment is mainly provided by American air products, Praxair, Germany Linde and other manufacturers.
With the rise of domestic hydrogen energy, this situation is slowly being improved, which is reflected in two aspects: 1, the civil liquid hydrogen field has now gathered a number of outstanding institutions and enterprises such as Zhongke Fuhai, Aerospace 101 Institute, Guofu Hydrogen Energy, Hongda Xingye, etc., and has made major breakthroughs in related technologies; 2, the state has issued national standards for liquid hydrogen production, storage and transportation, which makes liquid hydrogen civil standards to follow, and has achieved zero breakthroughs in the civil field of China's liquid hydrogen industry, providing important support for liquid hydrogen to enter the market-oriented development.
The liquid hydrogen project continues to advance, and new breakthroughs in technology are achieved
With the support of national policies, fuel cell vehicle demonstration and promotion have accelerated. Under the outlet of vigorously developing hydrogen energy in the country, China's liquid hydrogen industry has also ushered in a new breakthrough this year.
In February, Shanghai Remodeling, Foyan Energy, Guofu Hydrogen Energy and Taiji Power signed an agreement to cooperate in promoting the "Liquid Hydrogen Storage Hydrogen Refueling Station Project" in Foshan; in June, Hohhot's first 10,000-ton green liquid hydrogen energy project - Air Products Jiutai Efficient Hydrogen Energy Comprehensive Utilization Demonstration Project was officially signed; in September, Tsinghua and Beiqi Foton successfully launched the world's first 35-ton, 49-ton distributed driven liquid hydrogen fuel cell heavy commercial vehicle and successfully passed the comprehensive test. Subsequently, The marine liquid hydrogen storage technology of China Pacific Maritime Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has achieved a breakthrough, and has mastered the technology of liquid hydrogen film enclosure system, and the simulation cabin of thin film liquid hydrogen storage and transportation has been completed.
In addition to hydrogen energy companies, the "national team" has also made technological breakthroughs with its long-term experience in exploring the application of liquid hydrogen in aerospace and military industry. In April, the project of "Development of Large-scale Cryogenic Refrigeration System from Liquid Helium to Superflow Helium Temperature Zone" supported by the Ministry of Finance and undertaken by the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences passed the acceptance and appraisal of results, and the related technology has reached the international leading level.
In June, Beijing Aerospace Test Technology Research Institute successfully completed the first on-board liquid hydrogen bottle fire test in China, achieving a breakthrough in the field of liquid hydrogen storage. As the backbone of the domestic liquid hydrogen field, the 101 Institute of the Sixth Aerospace Academy carried out the construction of the liquid hydrogen plant project in Dingxi City, Gansu Province in July, and the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the project in October.
Recently, Chengde City, Hebei Province, Hebei Construction Investment Group and China Aerospace Science and Technology Group Hydrogen Energy Engineering R&D Center signed the "Cooperation Framework Agreement on Jointly Promoting the National Energy Innovation Platform of the National Energy Hydrogen Energy and Renewable Energy Collaborative Technology R&D Center". Tan Yonghua, director of the Hydrogen Energy Engineering R&D Center of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said that as a pioneer, leader and standard setter in China's liquid hydrogen industry, it will provide Chengde with systematic solutions for the development of hydrogen energy infrastructure, and make efforts for Chengde to become a green energy and green hydrogen export site in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.
Overall, since the beginning of this year, the number of liquid hydrogen projects has increased significantly; in terms of liquid hydrogen technology, the liquid hydrogen refrigeration, storage and filling technology that has long restricted the development of liquid hydrogen have made new breakthroughs, especially the marine liquid hydrogen storage technology has ushered in new development, laying a good foundation for the future of related technologies into ships.
Why do companies attach importance to liquid hydrogen?
Liquid hydrogen shows a good momentum of development, mainly for three reasons: First, liquid hydrogen can solve the problem of mismatch between hydrogen energy supply and demand. China is a big hydrogen producer, which can fully guarantee the hydrogen source required by the hydrogen fuel cell industry, but there is a serious geographical imbalance between the hydrogen supply end and the hydrogen use end.
There are several common ways of hydrogen transportation: high-pressure gaseous transportation; pipeline transportation; low-temperature liquid hydrogen transportation; solid or liquid hydrogen storage transportation. At present, high-pressure gas storage and transportation is the most common hydrogen storage and transportation method. Compared with high-pressure storage and transportation, liquid hydrogen storage and transportation has the advantages of low transportation cost, high hydrogen purity, convenient metering, etc., and is more suitable for large-scale deployment and transportation.
Second, the national level continues to explore the formulation of liquid hydrogen standards, which points out the development direction for the marketization and industrialization of liquid hydrogen, and strengthens the confidence of enterprises to test liquid hydrogen. In May this year, the State Administration of Market Regulation (National Standards Commission) finally approved the issuance of three national standards, namely the Liquid Hydrogen for Hydrogen Vehicle Fuels, the Technical Specifications for Liquid Hydrogen Production Systems, and the Technical Requirements for Liquid Hydrogen Storage and Transportation, which will be implemented from November 1.
The three national standards of liquid hydrogen are mainly stipulated from the technical requirements of liquid hydrogen, sampling and analysis methods, the composition and technical requirements of the liquid hydrogen production system, the setting of liquid hydrogen storage tanks, the transportation of tankers and tanks, etc., with the purpose of guiding and standardizing the healthy and orderly development of liquid hydrogen in China.
Third, the field of hydrogen energy has a higher demand for large-scale production, storage, transportation and use, forcing the original supply system to accelerate the evolution and upgrading. In this context, the industrialization and commercialization value of liquid hydrogen has entered the public vision, and enterprises have begun to turn their attention to liquid hydrogen.
"Facing difficulties" in the challenge
At present, the domestic enterprises and scientific research institutions dedicated to the development and promotion of liquid hydrogen technology are: Zhongke Fuhai, Hongda Xingye, Guofu Hydrogen Energy, Aerospace 101, etc., and their continuous efforts have played a great role in promoting domestic liquid hydrogen to enter a new stage of development. It should be noted that there are still many challenges in the development of domestic liquid hydrogen.
From the policy side, liquid hydrogen has not yet been able to achieve legal commercial use, and the relevant policies and regulations are not yet complete. From the supply side, civil liquid hydrogen related supporting facilities, including tank trucks for transportation and liquid hydrogen refueling systems, are not yet mature, and the actual completion results are less.
From the product side, the liquid hydrogen bus, heavy truck and ship applied at the lower end have not yet been put into production. Based on the above conditions, the current domestic liquid hydrogen development is still in the front-end production of liquid hydrogen, hydrogen liquefaction research and development stage, to truly achieve demonstration application, but also need to improve the entire industrial chain.
In terms of cost, the cost of hydrogen liquefaction is high, the liquefaction process consumes a lot of energy, the cost of liquid hydrogen storage is also high, and its safety and reliability need to be fully guaranteed. In terms of transportation and storage, the evaporation of liquid hydrogen is also difficult, for example, when the hydrogen fuel vehicle is not running, the hydrogen fuel will naturally decrease. Liquid hydrogen civil use needs to be scaled, and scale can bring about cost reduction.
"At present, the development of domestic liquid hydrogen is still in the demonstration stage, and the localization technology has not yet undergone long-term operation, and its reliability and economy have not yet been determined." The reason is that domestic liquid hydrogen has previously lacked application scenarios, no civilian demand, not many people involved in the industry and lack of relevant technical experience. Zhongke Fuhai Ning Yongqiang said.
Developing an emerging industry requires strategic patience. Although the development of liquid hydrogen is "obstructive and long", it has obvious advantages in itself, and with the blessing of multiple forces, the rise of liquid hydrogen in the future is only a matter of time.