China's first methanol-to-hydrogen and hydrogen refuelling station begins operations

Sinopec's hydrogen production plant has the advantages of covering a small area, having a short construction time, and having a green, environmentally-friendly production process. The new service station can save costs on hydrogen production, storage and transportation by more than 20% compared to traditional hydrogen refuelling stations, and it will become a pilot model to lead the development of China's hydrogen energy industry.

China produces the most methanol in the world, accounting for 60% of the global total. The storage and transportation cost of methanol is also much lower than hydrogen, making methanol-to-hydrogen an ideal hydrogen production technology.

Sinopec's solution has tackled the bottlenecks of low transport capacities, high costs and long loading times. Additionally, the service station's methanol-to-hydrogen and hydrogen refuelling devices have an hourly production capacity of 500 m³, yet only occupies 64 m² of the floor area while conventional equipment of the same production capacity would take up 500 m² of land.

Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales Co., Ltd has built two integrated fuelling stations in Dalian's free trade area, with six more now under construction. With industry-leading hydrogen production efficiency, automation and intelligent capabilities, Sinopec's solution is sustainable and green – producing zero solid waste, wastewater and tail gas, while conserving more energy and consuming less methanol.

"The launch of the service station has showed that distributed methanol-to-hydrogen is the right roadmap for the sustainable development of China's hydrogen fuelling stations, it is a leapfrog development that offers a safe, reliable, green, intelligent, integrated and efficient solution that will contribute to the scaled application of hydrogen energy at lower cost," said Yang Junze, Executive Director of Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales.

As part of Sinopec's commitment to becoming China's number one hydrogen energy enterprise, it has built nine hydrogen fuel cell supply centres across China and built the largest number of hydrogen fuelling stations in the world.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalhydrogenreview.com/hydrogen/23022023/chinas-first-methanol-to-hydrogen-and-hydrogen-refuelling-station-begins-operations/