China's First Factory-Scale Seawater Hydrogen Production Project Achieves 1000 Hours of Stable Operation

Amid the global energy transition and the push for "dual-carbon" goals, hydrogen energy, as a clean and efficient future energy carrier, has become a crucial direction for energy industry upgrading. Seawater hydrogen production, with its unique advantage of unlimited resources, unlocks a new track for green hydrogen production. In Qingdao, China's first factory-scale seawater hydrogen production project successfully completed 1000 hours of stable operation, officially entering a new stage of large-scale green hydrogen production. How does this breakthrough address the bottleneck of hydrogen production resources and outline a new vision for green energy? Let's take a look at the reporter's on-site report.

At the Sinopec Qingdao Refining & Chemical Hydrogen Energy "Production-Research-Processing" Demonstration Park, there is the hydrogen production unit of China's first factory-scale seawater hydrogen production project. This project went into operation at the end of 2024 and has already completed several research and development tasks related to green hydrogen production. It is worth mentioning that the "factory-scale seawater hydrogen production" model adopted by this project closely links the source of raw materials and the destination of products with the factory's daily production.

Reducing Dependence on Freshwater Resources and Achieving Efficient Utilization of Seawater Resources.

What is Seawater Hydrogen Production? Hydrogen energy is a clean and efficient energy carrier. Traditional water electrolysis for hydrogen production is highly dependent on clean freshwater resources. Seawater-based hydrogen production, however, directly uses seawater as a raw material to produce hydrogen, its biggest advantage being that it eliminates dependence on freshwater resources.

Technical Breakthroughs in Seawater Hydrogen Production Overcome Multiple Challenges.

How does seawater hydrogen production work? Seawater contains approximately 3% salt and various impurities, which can easily corrode and even damage electrolysis equipment. To overcome these challenges, engineers utilized a portion of the green electricity generated by a floating photovoltaic power station within the demonstration park as power for water electrolysis. Through the use of seawater-resistant electrolyzers that suppress chlorine production and a series of specialized equipment, they overcame key technologies such as the seawater pretreatment system, achieving direct seawater electrolysis to produce hydrogen at a rate of 20 cubic meters per hour.

The Promising Future of Seawater Hydrogen Production: Green Energy Supports High-Quality Development.

Having solved the technical challenges, where will the hydrogen produced from seawater be used? Actually, its applications are all around us. The "hydrogen-powered shared bicycles" here are equipped with solid-state hydrogen storage tanks, each holding 80 grams of hydrogen, allowing the vehicle to travel approximately 100 kilometers.

At Qingdao Port, hydrogen-powered electric tugboats and related port lifting equipment are also in use, effectively reducing carbon emissions during operation. Besides daily life, the hydrogen produced by this project can also be integrated into the plant's refining pipeline system, providing cleaner feedstock for oil refining production.

It is predicted that by 2030, China's installed capacity for renewable energy-based hydrogen production is expected to exceed 100 million kilowatts. In the future, seawater hydrogen production technology will continue to advance towards larger-scale, greener, and more industrialized development, contributing to the high-quality development of various industries.