On April 10, 2023, Sinopec announced that the West-East Hydrogen Transmission Pipeline Demonstration Project has been included in the "Implementation Plan for the Construction of a National Oil and Gas Network", which marks that my country's long-distance hydrogen transmission pipeline has entered a new stage of development.

The west-to-east hydrogen transmission starts in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and ends at Yanshan Petrochemical in Beijing. The pipeline is more than 400 kilometers long. It is China's first cross-provincial, large-scale, and long-distance pure hydrogen transmission pipeline. After the pipeline is completed, it will be used to replace the existing fossil energy hydrogen production and transportation hydrogen in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and vigorously alleviate the problem of the mismatch between supply and demand of green hydrogen in my country. It will be a strategic demonstration for the future construction of China's cross-regional hydrogen transmission pipeline network Play a leading role in helping China's energy transformation and upgrading.

The West-East Hydrogen Pipeline is planned to pass through 9 counties in 3 provinces (cities) including Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Beijing. The capacity of the first phase of the pipeline is 100,000 tons/year, and a long-term improvement potential of 500,000 tons/year is reserved. At the same time, ports will be reserved in many places along the route to facilitate access to potential hydrogen sources. In the future, Sinopec can rely on the West-East Hydrogen Transmission Pipeline to build branch lines and hydrogen refueling mother stations to help the efficient construction of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Hydrogen Energy Corridor and help the realization of the dual carbon goals of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Provide demonstration solutions for the cross-provincial and municipal application of green hydrogen in the western region of my country. Green hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced by renewable energy such as wind energy and light energy, and is regarded as one of the most promising clean energy sources. Inner Mongolia is rich in scenery and resources, and has unique advantages in developing green hydrogen. However, how to transport green hydrogen from Inner Mongolia and even western my country to regions with strong demand in the eastern market has always been a bottleneck restricting the development of the green hydrogen industry.

At present, long-tube trailers are still the mainstream method of long-distance hydrogen transportation in my country, but this method has high cost and low efficiency, which is also one of the main reasons for the high cost of terminal hydrogen use, which greatly restricts the development of the industrial chain. Hydrogen pipelines can realize large-scale, long-distance hydrogen transportation, and take into account the economy. Sinopec has laid out the Ordos wind-solar integration green hydrogen demonstration project in Inner Mongolia, and plans to build a large-scale green electricity production green hydrogen project in Ulanqab City, through the establishment of wind power generation-green electricity hydrogen production-hydrogen pipeline transmission-refining and chemical engineering The integrated hydrogen industry development model of transportation hydrogen realizes the demonstration layout of the whole industrial chain of hydrogen energy industry production, storage, transportation and use.

Help solve the problem of "abandoning wind and light". Wind power and photovoltaic power generation have the characteristics of intermittent, fluctuating, and random nature. Due to the lag in power grid construction and consumption mechanism, "abandoning wind and solar energy" has occurred. Hydrogen energy storage can make up for the shortcomings of other energy storage forms, and convert a large amount of abandoned wind and light into hydrogen for energy storage. With the construction and commissioning of the "West-to-East Hydrogen Transmission" pipeline, surrounding power generation companies can use "abandoned wind and light" to generate hydrogen and transport it out through pipelines, forming an important component of source-grid-load hydrogen storage.

Sinopec took the lead in forming the core technology system of hydrogen pipelines, and completed the preparation of standards to fill the gap in the industry. Studies have shown that in the process of high-pressure gaseous transportation, hydrogen will gradually invade and infiltrate the steel, causing hydrogen embrittlement such as the decline in the mechanical properties of the steel and hydrogen-induced cracks. There are obvious differences in process design and safety control between hydrogen pipelines and oil and gas pipelines due to the difference in medium flow and combustion and explosion characteristics.

Sinopec's key research team carried out systematic research and development of hydrogen energy pipeline transportation technology. Through systematic testing and application research on pipes, it has mastered the comprehensive evaluation and application technology of different steel grade pipes and welded joint performance in hydrogen environment, and initially formed long-distance hydrogen transportation. Core technology systems such as pipeline pressurized transportation, safe discharge, pipe material evaluation, welding installation and safety protection.

At the same time, Sinopec completed the compilation of the enterprise standard "Technical Specifications for Hydrogen Transmission Pipeline Engineering", which filled the gap in domestic standards in this field. The groundwork has been laid for the implementation.

Sinopec has mature hydrogen pipeline operation experience. At present, the total mileage of hydrogen pipelines around the world has exceeded 5,000km. Among them, the United States has built hydrogen pipelines exceeding 2,500km, while the construction of hydrogen pipelines in China is still in its infancy. Sinopec has already built the Jinling-Yangtze Hydrogen Pipeline, the Baling-Changling Hydrogen Pipeline, and the Jiyuan-Luoyang Hydrogen Pipeline, and the longest period of operation is about 16 years.

It is reported that the West-to-East Hydrogen Transmission Pipeline Demonstration Project has made positive progress in routing site selection, technical research, and engineering construction plans. The preparation of the feasibility study report has basically been completed, and the work of the project is being accelerated.Editor/Ma Xue