Accelerating green hydrogen development and refining business operations to drive new momentum for green growth

The refining and chemical industry is key to China's pursuit of carbon neutrality. Although the industry's energy consumption and raw material needs cannot be entirely met through electrification, green hydrogen—produced directly using renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power—serves as an alternative. With no greenhouse gases emitted during its production, green hydrogen is regarded as an important path for advancing green transformation within the sector. In accordance with its hydrogen-electricity integration strategy and green hydrogen initiatives for carbon reduction, Sinopec has been actively expanding wind and photovoltaic power generation by utilizing its refining and chemical bases. The Company has launched large-scale projects encompassing renewable energy generation, hydrogen production, storage, and utilization, aimed at promoting large-scale green development within the refining and chemical industry. Additionally, Sinopec has intensified its focus on green hydrogen applications in refining and chemicals, building new momentum to support its green development, ultimately achieving its carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

Launching the world's largest green hydrogen coupled coal chemical project

In February 2023, Sinopec officially launched the Ordos Wind-Solar Integrated Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project in Inner Mongolia, the world's largest of its kind, which leverages the abundant solar and wind resources in Ordos to generate electricity for direct green hydrogen production. The project is designed with an annual production capacity of 30,000 tonnes of green hydrogen and 240,000 tonnes of green oxygen.

This project is Sinopec's first full-process green hydrogen production and utilization initiative, integrating both wind and photovoltaic power generation. The generated green hydrogen and green oxygen will be transported via pipeline to the adjacent Zhongtian Hechuang Ordos Coal Deep Processing Demonstration Project. Also, this project will partially replace coal-to-hydrogen production capacity, effectively promoting the integration of the traditional synthetic materials chemical industry with the hydrogen energy industry. This aims to support the clean and efficient use of coal, diversify chemical raw material sources, establish a new industrial model and development pathway for hydrogen and renewable energy utilization, and expand green hydrogen applications. Once operational, it is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.43 million tonnes annually.

Achieving a major breakthrough in large-scale industrial application of green hydrogen

In August 2023, Sinopec successfully completed and commissioned the Xinjiang Kuqa Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project, the largest photovoltaic power generation and direct green hydrogen production project in China. This is the first project in the country to utilize green hydrogen as a substitute for natural gas in oil refining processes, supporting low-carbon development in modern oil production, and marking a major breakthrough in large-scale industrial application of green hydrogen in China. The project integrates key production and utilization processes, including wind and photovoltaic power generation, green electricity transmission, hydrogen production through green electrolysis, hydrogen storage and transportation, and green hydrogen refining, and boasts an annual water-electrolytic hydrogen production capacity of 20,000 tonnes, a hydrogen storage capacity of 210,000 standard cubic meters, and a hydrogen transportation capacity of 28,000 standard cubic meters per hour.

Leading the way in deep decarbonization for the refining and chemical industry

The green hydrogen produced by the Xinjiang Kuqa Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project will fully replace natural gas used in Tahe Refining and Chemical's refining processes and serve as a raw material for hydrogenation reactions. This hydrogen will also be incorporated into the final oil products, making the entire refining process greener. Through this initiative, Sinopec has successfully set a new benchmark for deep decarbonization in China's refining and chemical industry, providing a compelling demonstration for large-scale green hydrogen utilization to achieve carbon emission reduction targets for refining and chemical enterprises. According to estimates, the project can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 485,000 tonnes annually.

Making a breakthrough in tackling technical challenges in the green hydrogen industry

To address the challenges of flexible hydrogen production under fluctuating new energy, Sinopec has independently developed an integrated configuration optimization software for green electricity-based hydrogen production, which synchronizes electronic control equipment with hydrogen production equipment, enabling dynamic load adjustments in response to power supply variations and greatly improving adaptability to fluctuating photovoltaic energy. In addition, Sinopec has successively achieved several innovative breakthroughs, including a 10,000-tonne water electrolysis hydrogen production process, green hydrogen storage and transportation technologies, and complete engineering solutions. These advancements have been successfully applied in industrial settings, with over 10 patents and proprietary technologies filed.

Achieving the locanization of all major equipment and core materials

This includes photovoltaic modules, electrolyzers, hydrogen storage tanks, and hydrogen transportation pipelines used in the Xinjiang Kuqa Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project, which has significantly promoted the development of China's hydrogen energy equipment industry. Since the project's launch, domestic production capacity for alkaline electrolyzers has expanded from under 0.5 gigawatts in 2021 to about 5 gigawatts today, with the number of manufacturers increasing from less than 10 to nearly 100. Therefore, this project is of great significance in accelerating the development of the country's green hydrogen industry chain.