Production

World's longest hydrogen pipeline, covering 700km, set for construction work this year at a cost of $845m

The Chinese record-breaker could facilitate renewable H2 exports from a port near Beijing, developers claim

Executives from Tangshan Haitai New Energy Technology and China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation shaking hands on their pipeline deal.
Executives from Tangshan Haitai New Energy Technology and China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation shaking hands on their pipeline deal.Photo: Tangshan Haitai/CNPC
Deputy Editor
Work is set to commence this year in China on what would be the world’s longest hydrogen pipeline, which would cost 6.1 billion yuan ($845m) and could potentially facilitate renewable H2 exports from the country.

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The 737km Zhangjiakou Kangbao-Caofeidian pipeline will run from a green hydrogen project in the city of Zhangjiakou to the port of Caofeidian (about 250km southeast of Beijing) via the cities of Chengde and Tangshan, all of which are in Hebei province.

The project is being developed by Tangshan Haitai New Energy Technology (THNET), an offshoot of Chinese solar company Haitai Solar — in co-operation with China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation (CPPEC), a subsidiary of state-owned oil giant China National Petroleum Corporation that is itself building a smaller-scale hydrogen pipeline in the north of the country.

THNET and CPPEC last week signed a non-binding co-operation agreement to carry out design and consulting services for construction of the pipeline.

The project was signed off by the provincial government of Hebei in December, and construction is scheduled to begin in June 2024, for completion in June 2027.

“This pipeline will help solve the problem of wind power and photovoltaic [solar] consumption in the Bashang area [in Inner Mongolia], and effectively promote the development of downstream industries such as hydrogen fuel-cell heavy trucks, green hydrogen chemicals, green hydrogen metallurgy, and green ammonia and green methanol exports, helping energy conservation and emission reduction and dual-use industries,” according to a press release published on Chinese-language site Sohu.

However, there are few details about the hydrogen project associated with the pipeline — nor how a solar company is raising funds to invest billions of yuan in a hydrogen pipeline project.

The pipeline will operate at a pressure of 63 bar, higher than the 40-bar standard in China, which will allow it to carry more H2 at any given time.
State-owned oil refiner Sinopec is developing a 400km hydrogen pipeline from Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, to its Yanshan Petrochemical complex in Beijing, as part of a wider Chinese plan to develop a H2 network of up to 6,000km in length.
(Copyright)
ChinaPipelinesGreen H2AsiaPetroChina
Published 29 February 2024, 08:21Updated 29 February 2024, 08:21