Hydrogen energy, the new code of modern energy system
Hydrogen energy is a kind of secondary energy with abundant sources, green and low carbon, and wide application. It can help large-scale consumption of renewable energy, realize large-scale peak shaving of power grids and cross-season and cross-regional energy storage, and accelerate the promotion of industrial, construction, Low carbonization in transportation and other fields. my country has a good foundation for hydrogen production and a large-scale application market, and has significant advantages in developing hydrogen energy. Accelerating the development of the hydrogen energy industry is an important path to help my country achieve the goal of carbon neutralization. A few days ago, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Medium and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035)". The development and utilization of hydrogen energy is triggering a profound energy revolution. Hydrogen energy has become a new code for cracking the energy crisis and building a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient modern energy system.
The energy crisis has opened the way of exploration for hydrogen energy development and utilization
Hydrogen energy entered people's field of vision as an alternative energy back in the 1970s.
At that time, the Middle East war triggered a global oil crisis. In order to get rid of the dependence on imported oil, the United States first proposed the concept of "hydrogen economy", arguing that in the future, hydrogen could replace oil and become the main energy supporting global transportation.
From 1960 to 2000, the fuel cell, an important tool for the utilization of hydrogen energy, developed rapidly, and its application in aerospace, power generation and transportation has fully proved the feasibility of hydrogen energy as a secondary energy source.
The hydrogen energy industry entered a low ebb around 2010.
But the release of Toyota's "future" fuel cell vehicle in 2014 sparked yet another hydrogen boom.
Subsequently, many countries have successively released strategic routes for hydrogen energy development, mainly focusing on power generation and transportation to promote the development of hydrogen energy and fuel cell industries; the EU released the EU Hydrogen Energy Strategy in 2020, aiming to promote hydrogen energy in industry, transportation, Power generation and other applications in all fields; in 2020, the United States will release the "Hydrogen Energy Plan Development Plan", formulate a number of key technical and economic indicators, and expect to become the market leader in the hydrogen energy industry chain.
So far, countries that account for 75% of the global economy have launched hydrogen energy development policies to actively promote the development of hydrogen energy.
Compared with developed countries, my country's hydrogen energy industry is still in the initial stage of development.
In recent years, my country has paid more attention to the hydrogen energy industry.
In March 2019, hydrogen energy was written into the "Government Work Report" for the first time, accelerating the construction of facilities such as charging and hydrogenation in the public domain; Included in the energy category; in September 2020, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other five departments jointly carried out the demonstration application of fuel cell vehicles, and rewarded eligible urban agglomerations for the industrialization and demonstration applications of key core technologies of fuel cell vehicles ;In October 2021, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Completely Accurately Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Neutralization" to coordinate the development of the whole chain of hydrogen energy "production-storage-transmission-use"; In March 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Medium and Long-Term Plan for the Development of the Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035)", and hydrogen energy was identified as an important part of the future national energy system and an important part of the energy-using terminal to achieve a green and low-carbon transformation. An important carrier, the hydrogen energy industry has been identified as a strategic emerging industry and a key development direction of the future industry.
In recent years, my country's hydrogen energy industry has developed rapidly, basically covering the whole chain of hydrogen production-storage-transmission-use.
The upstream of the hydrogen energy industry chain is hydrogen production. my country is the world's largest hydrogen producer, with a hydrogen production capacity of about 33 million tons.
According to the carbon emission intensity of the production process, hydrogen is divided into "grey hydrogen", "blue hydrogen" and "green hydrogen".
Gray hydrogen refers to the hydrogen produced by burning fossil fuels, and there will be a lot of carbon dioxide emissions during the production process; blue hydrogen is based on gray hydrogen, applying carbon capture and storage technology to achieve low-carbon hydrogen production; green hydrogen is produced by Renewable energy such as solar energy and wind power is used to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen, and there is no carbon emission in the process of hydrogen production.
At present, my country's hydrogen production is dominated by coal-based hydrogen production, accounting for about 80%.
In the future, as the cost of renewable energy power generation continues to decrease, the proportion of green hydrogen will increase year by year, and it is expected to reach 70% in 2050.
The midstream of the hydrogen energy industry chain is hydrogen storage and transportation. The high-pressure gaseous storage and transportation technology has been commercialized and is the most extensive hydrogen energy storage and transportation method.
The long-tube trailer has high transportation flexibility and is suitable for short-distance, small-volume hydrogen transportation; liquid hydrogen storage and solid-state hydrogen storage do not require pressure vessels, and the transportation is convenient, which is the direction of large-scale hydrogen energy storage and transportation in the future.
The downstream of the hydrogen energy industry chain is the comprehensive application of hydrogen. As an industrial raw material, hydrogen can be widely used in petroleum, chemical, metallurgy, electronics, medical and other fields. In addition, hydrogen can also be converted into electricity and heat through hydrogen fuel cells or hydrogen internal combustion engines. , which can cover all aspects of social production and life.
By 2060, my country's hydrogen energy demand is expected to reach 130 million tons, of which industrial demand dominates, accounting for about 60%, and the transportation sector will expand to 31% year by year.
The development and utilization of hydrogen energy is triggering a profound energy revolution
Hydrogen energy has broad application prospects in many fields such as transportation, industry, construction and power.
In the field of transportation, long-distance road transportation, railways, aviation and shipping regard hydrogen energy as one of the important fuels for reducing carbon emissions.
At this stage, my country is mainly dominated by hydrogen fuel cell buses and heavy trucks, the number of which exceeds 6,000.
In terms of corresponding supporting infrastructure, my country has built more than 250 hydrogen refueling stations, accounting for about 40% of the global number, ranking first in the world.
According to the data released by the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, this Winter Olympics will demonstrate the operation of more than 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, equipped with more than 30 hydrogen refueling stations, which is the largest demonstration application of fuel cell vehicles in the world.
At present, the field with the largest proportion of hydrogen energy application in my country is the industrial field.
In addition to its energy fuel properties, hydrogen energy is also an important industrial raw material.
Hydrogen can replace coke and natural gas as a reducing agent, which can eliminate most of the carbon emissions in iron and steelmaking processes.
The use of renewable energy and electricity to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen, and then synthesize chemical products such as ammonia and methanol, is conducive to substantial carbon reduction and emission reduction in the chemical industry.
The integration of hydrogen energy and buildings is a new concept of green building that has emerged in recent years.
The construction field needs to consume a lot of electric energy and heat energy, and it has been listed as the three major "energy-consuming households" in my country together with the transportation field and the industrial field.
The pure power generation efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells is only about 50%, while the overall efficiency of combined heat and power can reach 85%. While hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity for buildings, the waste heat can be recovered for heating and hot water.
In terms of hydrogen transportation to building terminals, hydrogen can be mixed into natural gas at a proportion of less than 20% with the help of a relatively complete household natural gas pipeline network and transported to thousands of households.
It is estimated that in 2050, 10% of global building heating and 8% of building energy will be supplied by hydrogen, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 700 million tons per year.
In the field of electricity, due to the instability of renewable energy, hydrogen energy can become a new form of energy storage through electricity-hydrogen-electricity conversion.
During periods of low electricity consumption, hydrogen is produced by electrolyzing water with surplus renewable energy, and stored in the form of high-pressure gaseous, low-temperature liquid, organic liquid or solid materials; during peak periods of electricity consumption, the stored hydrogen is passed through fuel Batteries or hydrogen turbine units generate electricity, which is fed into the public grid.
The storage scale of hydrogen energy storage is larger, up to one million kilowatts, and the storage time is longer. Seasonal storage can be realized according to the output difference of solar energy, wind energy, and water resources.
In August 2019, my country's first megawatt-scale hydrogen energy storage project was launched in Lu'an, Anhui Province, and was successfully connected to the grid for power generation in 2022.
At the same time, electro-hydrogen coupling will also play an important role in the construction of a modern energy system in my country.
From a clean and low-carbon perspective, large-scale electrification is a powerful tool for carbon reduction in many fields in my country, such as electric vehicles in the transportation field replacing fuel vehicles, and electric heating in the construction field replacing traditional boiler heating.
However, there are still some industries that are difficult to achieve carbon reduction through direct electrification. The most difficult industries include steel, chemicals, road transport, shipping and aviation.
Hydrogen energy has the dual properties of energy fuel and industrial raw material, and can play an important role in the above-mentioned fields that are difficult to deeply decarbonize.
From the perspective of safety and efficiency, first, hydrogen energy can promote the development of a higher share of renewable energy, effectively reducing my country's dependence on oil and gas imports; The regional balance of energy supply and consumption in my country; in addition, with the reduction of the cost of renewable energy electricity, the economics of green electricity and green hydrogen energy will be improved, and they will be widely accepted and used by the public; hydrogen energy and electricity, as energy hubs, are more It is easy to couple various energy sources such as heat energy, cold energy, fuel, etc., to jointly establish an interconnected modern energy network, form a highly resilient energy supply system, and improve the efficiency, economy and security of the energy supply system.
The development of my country's hydrogen energy industry still faces challenges
The production of low-cost and low-emission green hydrogen is one of the important challenges facing the hydrogen energy industry.
Under the premise of not adding new carbon emissions, solving the problem of the source of hydrogen is the premise of the development of the hydrogen energy industry.
Fossil energy hydrogen production and industrial by-product hydrogen production are mature and cost-effective, and will remain the main source of hydrogen in the short term.
However, the reserves of fossil energy are limited, and there is still a carbon emission problem in the hydrogen production process; the production of industrial by-product hydrogen production is limited and the supply radiation distance is short.
In the long run, hydrogen production from water electrolysis is easy to combine with renewable energy, has greater scale potential, is cleaner and more sustainable, and is the most potential green hydrogen supply method.
At present, my country's alkaline electrolysis technology is close to the international level and is the mainstream technology in the field of commercial electrolysis, but there is limited room for cost reduction in the future.
Proton exchange membrane electrolysis of water for hydrogen production is currently expensive, and the degree of localization of key devices is increasing year by year.
Solid oxide electrolysis is close to commercialization internationally, but it is still in the catch-up stage domestically.
my country's hydrogen energy industry chain supply system is not yet complete, and there is still a gap between large-scale commercial applications.
More than 200 hydrogenation stations have been built in my country, most of which are 35MPa gaseous hydrogenation stations, and 70MPa high-pressure gaseous hydrogenation stations with larger hydrogen storage capacity account for a small proportion.
Lack of experience in the construction and operation of liquid hydrogen refueling stations and integrated hydrogen production and hydrogenation stations.
At present, the transportation of hydrogen is mainly based on high-pressure gaseous long-tube trailer transportation, and pipeline transportation is still a weak point.
At present, the mileage of hydrogen pipelines is about 400 kilometers, and the pipelines in use are only about 100 kilometers.
Pipeline transportation also faces the possibility of hydrogen embrittlement caused by hydrogen escaping. In the future, it is still necessary to further improve the chemical and mechanical properties of pipeline materials.
Significant progress has been made in liquid hydrogen storage technology and metal hydride hydrogen storage technology, but the balance between hydrogen storage density, safety and cost has not been resolved, and there is still a certain gap between large-scale commercial applications.
The specialized policy system and the multi-department and multi-field coordination and cooperation mechanism are not yet perfect.
The "Medium and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035)" is the first hydrogen energy development plan at the national level, but the special plan and policy system still need to be improved. In the future, it is necessary to further clarify the direction, goals and priorities of industrial development.
The hydrogen energy industry chain involves a variety of technologies and industry fields. At present, there are still problems such as insufficient cross-disciplinary cooperation and insufficient cross-departmental coordination mechanism.
For example, the construction of hydrogen refueling stations requires multi-departmental collaboration such as capital, technology, infrastructure, and hazardous chemicals control. At present, there are problems such as unclear competent authorities, difficult approvals, and hydrogen properties are still only hazardous chemicals, which poses a serious threat to the development of the industry. big constraints.
We believe that technology, platforms and talents are the growth points to support the development of my country's hydrogen energy industry.
First of all, it is necessary to continuously improve the level of key core technologies.
Technological innovation is the core of the development of the hydrogen energy industry.
In the future, my country will continue to promote the research and development of key core technologies in the production, storage, transportation and application of green and low-carbon hydrogen energy.
Accelerate the technological innovation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells, develop key materials, improve main performance indicators and mass production capacity, and continue to improve the reliability, stability and durability of fuel cells.
Efforts will be made to promote the R&D and manufacturing of core components and key equipment.
Accelerate the improvement of the hydrogen production conversion efficiency of renewable energy and the scale of hydrogen production of a single device, and make breakthroughs in key core technologies in the hydrogen energy infrastructure link.
Continue to carry out research on the basic laws of hydrogen energy safety.
Continue to promote advanced hydrogen energy technology, key equipment, demonstration applications and industrialization development of major products, and build a high-quality development technology system for the hydrogen energy industry.
Second, we must focus on building an industrial innovation support platform.
The development of the hydrogen energy industry needs to focus on key areas and key links, and build a multi-level and diversified innovation platform.
Support universities, research institutes, and enterprises to accelerate the construction of key laboratories and cutting-edge cross-research platforms, and carry out basic research on hydrogen energy applications and cutting-edge technology research.
At the beginning of 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Education issued the "Approval of the Feasibility Study Report on the National Energy Storage Technology Industry-Education Integration Innovation Platform Project of North China Electric Power University", the North China Electric Power University National Energy Storage Technology Industry-Education Integration Innovation Platform Project It was officially approved and became the first batch of colleges and universities to be "in command".
Subsequently, the North China Electric Power University Hydrogen Energy Technology Innovation Center was formally established.
The innovation platform and innovation center focus on technical research in the fields of electrochemical energy storage, hydrogen energy and its application technology in the power grid, and actively promote the development of the national hydrogen energy industry.
Third, it is necessary to promote the construction of a team of hydrogen energy professionals.
The technological level and scale of the hydrogen energy industry have continued to make breakthroughs. However, the hydrogen energy industry is facing a large shortage of talent, especially the serious shortage of high-level innovative talents.
A few days ago, the “Hydrogen Energy Science and Engineering” major declared by North China Electric Power University was officially included in the catalogue of undergraduate majors in ordinary colleges and universities, and the “Hydrogen Energy Science and Engineering” discipline was included in the new interdisciplinary subject.
This discipline will take power engineering, engineering thermophysics, chemical engineering and other disciplines as the traction, organically integrate hydrogen production, hydrogen storage and transportation, hydrogen safety, hydrogen power and other hydrogen energy module courses, and carry out all-round interdisciplinary basic and applied research. It will provide favorable talent support for realizing the safe transition of my country's energy structure, as well as the development of my country's hydrogen energy industry and energy industry.
(Author: Yang Yongping, President and Professor of North China Electric Power University)