What are the key factors if the domestic waste production green hydrogen project wants to quickly occupy the market?
In the context of global energy transformation, hydrogen energy, as a clean and efficient energy source, has gradually become an important part of the global energy system. Our country is the world's largest hydrogen producer. At present, the main source of green hydrogen in my country is hydrogen production from renewable sources such as photovoltaics and wind power. At the same time, the reporter noticed that there are still some projects that are digging deep into the potential of domestic garbage, straw and other biomass to prepare green hydrogen.
Against the background of accelerating the construction of "waste-free cities" in various places and the gradual decline of national subsidies for waste incineration power generation, if domestic waste hydrogen production projects can be successfully implemented, they will have significant social and environmental benefits. So, what are the key factors that affect the promotion of such projects? At present, what measures have companies taken to reduce costs and what is the effect? Where does the produced hydrogen go? Focusing on these issues, the reporter interviewed the heads of relevant companies.
Domestic waste hydrogen production raw materials are sufficient and free, and it is expected to get rid of dependence on government subsidies.
According to statistics, in 2022, my country's hydrogen production will be approximately 35.33 million tons, accounting for more than 1/3 of the world's total hydrogen production. Among them, green hydrogen accounts for only about 1%. Industry insiders judged that "growth prospects are broad."
Recently, my country has released a series of important signals to promote the development of hydrogen energy. Four major energy conservation and carbon reduction action plans, including the "Special Action Plan for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction in the Cement Industry" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, all involve hydrogen hydrogen-related content; the "Medium and Long-term Plan for the Development of Jiangsu Province's Hydrogen Energy Industry (2024-2035)" released not long ago clearly states that Jiangsu will strive to build Jiangsu into a high-quality development demonstration zone for the domestic hydrogen energy industry; the Shenyang City Government also recently released a hydrogen energy industry development plan, proposing to build Shenyang into a "northern hydrogen capital".
It can be seen that many industries and localities will increase their efforts to use hydrogen energy as an important starting point to seize future scientific and technological development highs and promote industrial low-carbon transformation. It is reported that as of the end of 2023, my country has 337 green hydrogen projects, basically achieving national coverage.
Among them, hydrogen production from domestic waste, as a new direction in recent years, has been "bet" by enterprises. One of the important reasons is that my country produces a large annual amount of various organic solid waste and faces huge processing pressure. According to statistics, in 2022, the national urban garbage removal volume will reach 244 million tons, and the county garbage removal volume will reach 67 million tons.
As the investor and builder of the first domestic waste hydrogen production project located in Nanhai District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, Deng Lizhong, vice president of Zhongpeng Future Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Zhongpeng Future), told reporters: "At present, my country's domestic waste mainly relies on incineration for treatment, but there are problems such as low energy conversion rate. In addition, environmental pollution problems in landfills are also prominent. Some landfills were originally built around the city. As the city's development expanded, some of them were already inside the city. As far as landfill waste is concerned, it can be utilized as resources depending on its calorific value, composition, etc. Hydrogen production is a preferred option. In recent years, the production of green hydrogen from organic solid waste has attracted attention from academia and industry. Large-scale, low-cost, low-carbon emission hydrogen production using municipal domestic waste as raw material is a prerequisite for the commercialization and industrialization of the organic solid waste hydrogen production route. The amount of new garbage generated in Foshan City is about 15,000 tons every day, and we process 500 tons every day, accounting for 1/30 of that. We cooperate with Hanlan Environment Co., Ltd., which has the qualification of garbage collection and transportation franchise, and they transport domestic waste to our production base. Our domestic waste hydrogen production project has good comprehensive benefits."
Chengkang Materials Technology Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Chengkang Materials) is also planning to implement an integrated project of hydrogen production, carbon production and hydrogenation through the collaborative disposal of sludge and kitchen. The relevant person in charge told reporters: "From the perspective of chemical composition, municipal domestic waste contains a large amount of hydrocarbons, which have characteristics similar to fossil fuels. In our eyes, urban domestic waste is a very valuable resource. Domestic waste disposal methods represented by pyrolysis gasification and anaerobic biogas production and hydrogen production have higher resource utilization rates and are also more low-carbon and environmentally friendly. At the same time, domestic waste raw materials come from a wide range of sources and can be obtained free of charge. Coupled with the disposal fees given by the government, the cost of making green hydrogen from domestic waste has certain advantages. Therefore, hydrogen production from domestic waste is a very potential green hydrogen production method. It can be used as an effective supplement to the production of green hydrogen from renewable energy such as wind power and photovoltaic power generation, and has broad application prospects."
The key to the smooth implementation of domestic waste hydrogen production project-economic benefits
The relevant person in charge of Chengkang Materials told reporters: "Affected by factors such as domestic waste composition, project scale, and subsidy intensity, economics is still the main problem faced by domestic waste production green hydrogen projects." So, compared with mainstream hydrogen production processes, is hydrogen production from domestic waste competitive?
In 2022, among my country's hydrogen production, coal will account for 62%, natural gas will account for 19%, industrial by-product hydrogen will account for 18%, and electrolyzed water will only account for 1%. Electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen is the mainstream production process of green hydrogen.
Deng Lizhong told reporters: "The cost of preparing green hydrogen from Zhongpeng's future domestic waste hydrogen production technology and process route is close to the cost of producing grey hydrogen from coal and natural gas at the current small production scale (processing 500 tons of domestic waste per day). It is far lower than the current cost of electrolyzing water to produce green hydrogen, and has obvious cost advantages in the field of green hydrogen preparation. Using domestic waste as raw material to produce hydrogen, the cost of coal-like raw material obtained through the carbonization process is much lower than the cost of coal powder in the coal hydrogen production process route. When the same production scale as the coal hydrogen production project is reached, domestic waste will produce green hydrogen. The cost will be lower than the current cost of producing grey hydrogen from mainstream coal." It is reported that after this project is put into operation, it will produce an annual output of 73 million standard cubic meters (6518 tons) of green hydrogen (electronic grade high-purity hydrogen), about 100,000 tons of liquid carbon dioxide (food grade), as well as solid sulfur and some metals, glass, sand and gravel aggregate and other products. After the project is completed and put into operation, it will achieve an annual output value of 230 million yuan."
The relevant person in charge of Chengkang Materials said: "The domestic waste hydrogen production project our company is planning is expected to generate good comprehensive benefits. This project disposes of 300 tons of sludge and 200 tons of kitchen waste per day. In addition to its own use, the remaining 70% of the daily biogas is used for catalytic cracking to produce hydrogen to produce carbon nanomaterials. A daily production of 700 kilograms of green hydrogen, 1.8 tons of carbon nanopowders, and 5 tons of biological oil and 150 tons of biomass fuel rods. The total investment of the project is about 430 million yuan, the annual operating income is about 548 million yuan (including disposal fee income), the net profit after tax is 75.8 million yuan, the estimated income tax is 25.2 million yuan, and the annual carbon dioxide emission reduction is 350,000 tons. The entire project has rich product lines, namely green hydrogen, carbon nano, bio-oil, bio-fuel rods, etc., with good comprehensive benefits. Through product cost allocation, the terminal filling price of hydrogen is also relatively competitive."
Local hydrogen consumption and on-site consumption are currently the preferred hydrogen use methods, which can solve the problem of hydrogen energy storage and transportation
For a long time, the development of my country's hydrogen energy industry has faced serious mismatch problems between supply and demand. Storage connecting the upstream hydrogen production link with the downstream hydrogen consumption link has become a prominent bottleneck restricting the large-scale commercial application of hydrogen energy. At present, if hydrogen energy supply is guaranteed through hydrogen transmission from other places, the cost far exceeds the economic benefits brought by hydrogen energy. Therefore, using domestic waste to generate hydrogen and consume it locally can solve the problem to a certain extent.
There are obvious regional differences in my country's hydrogen energy development map. According to the analysis made by the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance, in 2023, my country's policies to support hydrogen energy development will continue to increase, and Guangdong Province will lead the country in the number of relevant policies issued. Nanhai District of Foshan City dared to be the first and laid out the hydrogen energy industry earlier. Since 2009, it has formed a good first-mover advantage. In May 2023, Nanhai District of Foshan City was awarded the title of "Capital of China's Hydrogen Energy Industry". More than 150 hydrogen energy companies and institutions have gathered, covering the entire upstream, middle and downstream hydrogen energy industry chain, forming an investment scale of over 60 billion yuan. "China's hydrogen energy looks at Foshan, and Foshan's hydrogen energy looks at the South China Sea." This is the industry's recognition of the status of Nanhai District in the hydrogen energy industry of Foshan City.
Deng Lizhong, who is optimistic about the South China Sea market, said: "Hydrogen storage and transportation is difficult and costly, so on-site production and on-site consumption are currently the preferred methods of hydrogen use. Now we must also evaluate the amount of organic solid waste generated in various places to expand projects. Whether the demand for green energy such as hydrogen can basically match. At present, demand in Guangdong, Shandong, Sichuan, Hubei and other places is relatively large. Specifically in Foshan, there is a large local demand for hydrogen, and high-temperature industries such as ceramics, non-ferrous metals, and aluminum profiles use a large amount of hydrogen. Hydrogen pipelines are connected directly to our production base and do not need to be transported to other places. We produce about 20 tons of green hydrogen every day, which is far from meeting the local demand for green hydrogen in Foshan. In addition, our technology can transform waste into green methanol, methane, aviation kerosene and other products based on demand. These are all new energy products with large market demand."
