Industrial by-product hydrogen is one of the main sources of hydrogen in China, and there is broad room for industry development in the future.

Under the current background of continuous optimization of the domestic energy structure, hydrogen energy, as a relatively widely used clean energy, has continued to increase its market demand in the context of the continuous advancement of dual-carbon goals and the continuous strengthening of environmental protection supervision. The domestic hydrogen energy market demand has reached 34.63 million tons in 2021. At the same time, its market demand will maintain a continuous growth trend in the next ten years. It is expected that by 2031, the domestic hydrogen energy market demand will grow to 38.91 million tons.

Against the backdrop of continued growth in domestic hydrogen energy demand, how to produce hydrogen has become a key factor affecting the development of the hydrogen energy industry. According to different principles, domestic hydrogen production methods can be divided into three major categories. The first type of hydrogen production method refers to using coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels as raw materials to produce hydrogen through conversion; the second type of method is the industrial by-product hydrogen method, which refers to using hydrogen-rich industrial tail gas as raw material, through Hydrogen is extracted by pressure swing adsorption and other methods; the third type of method is the electrolysis of water through photovoltaic, wind power and other renewable energy sources to produce hydrogen. Among them, currently fossil fuel hydrogen production and industrial by-product hydrogen are the most mature and widely used hydrogen production methods in China.

Industrial by-product hydrogen has the characteristics of rich production technologies and wide coverage of production areas. Specifically, in terms of production technology, industrial by-product hydrogen methods mainly include three categories: chlor-alkali by-product hydrogen production, coke oven gas hydrogen production, and light hydrocarbon cracking hydrogen production including propane dehydrogenation and ethane cracking by-product hydrogen. ; In terms of origin, domestic industrial by-product hydrogen production is widely distributed in coking plant concentration areas in North China and East China; chlor-alkali plant distribution areas such as Xinjiang, Shanghai, Shandong, and Inner Mongolia; and propane dehydrogenation project concentration areas in East China and coastal areas.

Currently, driven by the rapid development of domestic coke, propane, and chlor-alkali industries, the output of industrial by-product hydrogen continues to increase, and the market scale continues to expand. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, domestic coke production in 2021 will be 464 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 2.2%; caustic soda production will be 39 million tons, a cumulative increase of 5.2%. In this context, according to the “China Industrial By-Product Hydrogen Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center Shows that domestic industrial by-product hydrogen production in 2021 will be approximately 6.956 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 31.7%; the market size is approximately 56.25 billion yuan, and it is expected that its market size will exceed 100 billion yuan by 2025, reaching 128.32 billion yuan Yuan.

Industrial analysis personnel said that corresponding to the industrial by-product hydrogen production method, the current domestic industrial by-product hydrogen market participants mainly include Jiao There are four major categories: furnace gas by-products, chlor-alkali by-products, propane dehydrogenation by-products and ethane cracking by-products. The main companies include Binhua Group, Juzhengyuan Co., Ltd., Meijin Energy, etc. In the future, against the background of the continuous increase in the penetration rate of the domestic hydrogen energy market and the continuous upgrading of industrial by-product hydrogen technology, industrial by-product hydrogen will still be one of the main sources of hydrogen in the early and mid-term development of my country’s hydrogen energy industry, and the industry has broad room for development.