At present, the application of green hydrogen in China is deeply penetrating into high-energy-consuming industries from the demonstration of the transportation industry, effectively supporting the decarbonization of industry. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Notice on Carrying Out the Pilot Work of Comprehensive Application of Hydrogen Energy" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), pushing the upper limit of central government financial rewards to 16 billion RMB for a single urban agglomeration, and for the first time including four major industrial scenarios in the national pilot scope. Among them, the chemical industry is not only the production side of hydrogen, but also the application side, and there is a natural demand for a large amount of hydrogen in the industry. The "double carbon" goal has high requirements for emission reduction, which further releases the application potential of green hydrogen in the chemical industry. At the same time, new materials in the chemical industry are helping hydrogen energy equipment to break the "barrier" continuously, and the large demand for green hydrogen thus generated is also expected to further reduce the hydrogen cost in the downstream and promote the implementation of hydrogen energy in more scenarios.
Bringing multiple possibilities
Compared with the previous round of pilot projects, which focused only on the transportation sector, the "Notice" expands the pilot projects to industrial application scenarios, and proposes to focus on the development of industrial applications in urban agglomerations, with the proportion of industrial applications not less than 75% in principle. Key areas for promotion include green ammonia, hydrogen-based chemical raw material substitution, hydrogen metallurgy, hydrogen blending combustion, etc.
The "China Hydrogen Energy Development Report 2025" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), released by the National Energy Administration, shows that the production and consumption of hydrogen in China are mainly distributed in traditional heavy industrial areas such as Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Shanxi. In 2024, the consumption of hydrogen in the synthesis of methanol and ammonia has accounted for the first and second places in the subdivided hydrogen consumption field, accounting for 27% and 26%, respectively; the consumption of hydrogen in refining and petrochemicals and coal chemical industry accounts for 16% and 11% of the national hydrogen consumption, respectively.
There are various ways to produce hydrogen for chemical use. Take methanol, known as the "mother of chemicals," for example, its production mainly involves the synthesis of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. By 2025, China's total methanol production capacity reached 116.25 million tons, an increase of 5.46 million tons year-on-year.
At the same time, hydrogen amine alcohol, as an important front-end material, is also the basis of a variety of new chemical materials such as high molecular materials, high-performance fibers, and functional membrane materials. These new materials are the key to promoting the independent development of hydrogen energy technology in China and to landing in more scenarios.
The hydrogen exchange membrane, as the core component of the fuel cell stack known as the "heart" of fuel cell vehicles, falls under the above-mentioned functional membrane materials. The person in charge of a hydrogen energy company in China told the reporter of China Energy News that the current technology patents related to the stack are mostly registered by foreign companies such as Toyota, but our country's independent technology research and development is constantly "breaking the barriers". In recent years, a number of domestic companies have achieved self-reliance in the technology of the hydrogen exchange membrane of the stack.
As a key material with a high technological barrier, the proton exchange membrane is known as the "chip" in the field of hydrogen energy. Behind this barrier lies the continuous development of China's fluorine chemical industry, which has led to the continuous improvement of material performance. In addition, carbon fiber enhances the strength of hydrogen storage bottles, and graphite is an important material for the bipolar plates of the battery. It can be said that the development of China's hydrogen vehicle independent technology is inseparable from the chemical new materials based on hydrogen ammonia alcohol.
Promising to further reduce the price of green hydrogen
Chemical industry not only uses hydrogen, but also produces it. The report shows that the production of hydrogen from fossil energy, especially coal-to-hydrogen, still occupies the dominant position in China's hydrogen supply. In 2024, the output of coal-to-hydrogen increased by about 6.7% year-on-year, and the new output was mainly used for coal-to-cracking. Under the "double carbon" target, the access threshold of the chemical industry has been significantly improved. Replacing gray hydrogen with cleaner green hydrogen has become a feasible path for the industry to reduce emissions.
The notice makes clear requirements for the types of hydrogen sources in various industrial scenarios. Green ammonia and hydrogen-based chemical feedstock substitution, as well as hydrogen-blended combustion, are all based on hydrogen produced from renewable energy, requiring the construction of matching hydrogen production capacity and the formation of a stable consumption system, with relevant assessment indicators linked to the scale of green hydrogen use.
In recent years, green hydrogen substitution has made breakthroughs in chemical scenarios. In March of this year, the country's first green hydrogen and coal chemical deep coupling demonstration project was fully implemented in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. It is predicted that after the project is fully put into operation, it can utilize about 29,000 tons of green hydrogen to replace the original gray hydrogen every year. The new green hydrogen project in Kuerle, Xinjiang, which was put into operation in 2023, has been stable for many years, and the green hydrogen production equipment such as photovoltaic and electrolytic cells. The green hydrogen produced is used for refining and chemical processing, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 485,000 tons per year.
Unlike the scenarios of automobiles, ships, and aircraft, which require cultivating hydrogen demand, the demand for hydrogen in the chemical industry is certain, and the future replacement of green hydrogen is expected to activate large-scale demand for green hydrogen applications. Not only can it reduce emissions in the chemical industry, but it is also expected to reduce the price of green hydrogen ammonia and alcohol, further reducing the cost of hydrogen in other scenarios.
Zhong Baoshen, chairman and general manager of Longji Green Energy, said that the core challenge in the development of hydrogen energy is the consumption at the terminal. Only when it is clear who the real consumers are, and a demand is formed, can the investment and technological progress in the front end be driven, and the cost can be ultimately reduced. "At present, the efficiency of our electrolytic cell continues to improve, the cost of hydrogen production is rapidly declining, and the conversion rate has also been greatly improved. We plan to carry out a hydrogen ammonia methanol project in Lianyungang, hoping to apply these scientific research achievements to reduce the price of green methanol, so that green hydrogen and green methanol can be used in the downstream at an affordable price."
Water resource constraints still need to be cracked
In recent years, Ningxia has achieved self-sufficiency in green electricity, and its local green hydrogen production capacity ranks among the top in the country. At the same time, the coal-to-oil capacity accounts for more than 50% of the national total, and the coal-to-olefin capacity accounts for more than 20% of the national total, with great potential for the coupling of green hydrogen and coal chemical industry. It is expected that the宁东 base modern coal chemical industry can achieve 15% green hydrogen substitution, which can effectively reduce carbon emissions. If the captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen are mixed, more than 1 million tons of green alcohol can be produced every year. In addition, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Xinjiang and other places are also promoting the coupling of green hydrogen and chemical industry.
These industrial bases, while rich in new energy power, are also located in areas where freshwater is scarce. Electrolytic water splitting for hydrogen production requires water as an indispensable resource, and industry estimates that to supply 100 million tons of green hydrogen, more than 2 billion tons of water will be consumed.
Jiang Yaodong, a former vice president of China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), said: "It is expected that by 2060, China's annual hydrogen demand will reach 13 million tons, consuming about 230 million tons of water for hydrogen production. Seawater accounts for 97% of the total water on Earth, making it a strategic alternative to alleviate resource constraints. China's deep-sea wind energy resources have a technical可开发 capacity of more than 120 million kilowatts, and the ocean is the largest potential hydrogen source. If the further matching of offshore wind power and hydrogen production demand, the advantage of clean energy is expected to be transformed into the advantage of the industry."
Recently, China's first hydrogen production project from seawater through factory-based research, located in Qingdao, Shandong, successfully completed 1,000 hours of stable operation, officially entering a new stage of large-scale green hydrogen production. It is reported that the hydrogen produced by this project is connected to the pipeline network of Qingdao Refinery and Chemical, and is not only used for fueling hydrogen vehicles but also for the production of refined oil and chemical products in the factory.
Jiang Yadong suggested designating coastal deep-sea waters as marine green hydrogen production reserve areas, promoting the integrated development of offshore wind power and direct seawater hydrogen production, and realizing the local conversion of clean energy. A mechanism for balancing hydrogen production and transportation should be established to guide the consumption of green hydrogen. Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, which are rich in wind and solar resources, should be developed as land-based strategic reserve areas, implementing orderly development under the constraint of ecological carrying capacity, prioritizing the construction of hydrogen transportation infrastructure, and forming an industrial pattern of coordinated development between sea and land and hierarchical development.
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