Since its founding on 7 July 2021, and with the support of the Government of China and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Hydrogen Energy Centre (IHEC) has been supporting the development of hydrogen energy, including through the world’s largest demonstration project of hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which will be led by IHEC and Beijing Sinohytec, as more than 850 hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles.
The buses traveled over 3.2 million kilometers and burned approximately 200 tons of green hydrogen, saving an estimated 2,000 tons of carbon.
Another IHEC flagship program, created in collaboration with the Shuimu Mingtuo Group and Hualu, is the International Hydrogen Energy Metallurgy and Chemical Demonstration Zone, the world’s first comprehensive demonstration project on green hydrogen production and its applications in the metallurgical and chemical industries. The zone’s construction in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, is scheduled to begin at the end of 2022, with official activities beginning in 2025.
ThyssenKrupp Technology (Shanghai), the General Electric Power Planning and Design Institute, and Aerospace Changzheng Chemical Engineering collaborated closely on the feasibility study report. Green ammonia research and engineering design are being developed in close collaboration with Rhine Technology (Shanghai), TUV (Germany), and Hualu Engineering Technology.
The demonstration zone aims to promote the development of a green and low-carbon chemical industry chain, as well as achieve total carbon neutrality in the metallurgical and chemical industries. The annual capacity of green hydrogen is estimated to reach 300,000 tons, resulting from the construction of the country’s greatest 5-million-kilowatt wind power production and 1.5 million-kilowatt photovoltaic power generation. The first direct reduced iron plant in China will be developed with green hydrogen as a reducing agent. At the same time, the project will have an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons of green ammonia synthesis employing green hydrogen and air-captured nitrogen as raw materials.
