Recently, the first set of 1.5 tons/day hydrogen liquefaction equipment with independent intellectual property was developed, manufactured and exported overseas by Sinoscience Fullcryo, has been successfully debugged at the site of foreign users, which marking that China has mastered the core technology of hydrogen liquefaction, breaking the pattern of liquid hydrogen equipment being monopolized by foreign countries in the past, and realizing a magnificent transformation from being restricted to independent research and debut in the international market.

1.5 tons/day hydrogen liquefaction plant

Zhongke Fuhai commissioning team

Commissioning site

In order to comply with the relevant foreign norms, Zhongke Fuhai studied and mastered the relevant international norms and standards thoroughly and systematically as early as the research & manufacturing of this 1.5t/d hydrogen liquefaction plant for export; and strictly in accordance with the requirements of the CE certification while goring through the following processes: carried out the research and development of the core equipment, the design and selection of the equipment, the special design of the parts and components, the welding process, and the design of the electrical explosion-proof design, etc. At the end of 2021, the device completed integration and passed the relevant directives check, including: PED, ATEX, EMC, LVD and MD, and finally successfully obtained the CE certification of the product, which fully meets the needs of the overseas customers. In early 2022, the device was transported to the overseas site, and the user carried out the landing of hydrogen liquefaction equipment in place and the connection of pipelines. On April 8, 2023, the team of Sinoscience Fullcryo went to the site for commissioning, and it was completed on May 16, with the test results meeting the contract requirements. Facing the tight schedule, heavy task and poor site conditions, the technicians of Zhongke Fuhai have been working continuously to solve on-site problems, optimize the control and operation parameters according to the local conditions, to ensure a stable startup and operation of the equipment, and optimize the control system iteratively from the program and operation process to meet the precise control of each process parameter, and finally meet the customer's commissioning requirements. It has laid a solid foundation for developing overseas markets.

Recently, the 1.5t/day hydrogen liquefaction plant in Fuyang city, Anhui Province completed performance tests, continuously and stably produced qualified liquid hydrogen products, and passed the on-site technical appraisal by experts. The measured parahydrogen concentration reached 98.6%, and the liquefaction rate reached 1590kg/day; the adiabatic efficiency of the turbine expander reached 81.4%; the power consumption of hydrogen liquefaction for the whole hydrogen liquefaction plant was 12.1kWh/kg liquid hydrogen, and the comprehensive unit energy consumption was 15.1kWh/kg liquid hydrogen (including liquid nitrogen pre-cooling energy consumption), which reaches the low energy consumption level of international hydrogen liquefaction plants at the same scale. This export hydrogen liquefaction plant also adopts a turbine-inverse Brayton helium refrigeration cycle to obtain a cooling capacity of 20K. The normal temperature hydrogen is gradually cooled to a low temperature and liquefied. During the cooling process, the hydrogen will also pass through different temperature levels of ortho-parahydrogen converter to realize the conversion of hydrogen, and finally obtain liquid hydrogen products with qualified parahydrogen content. The main equipments of the hydrogen liquefaction plant include: compressor, oil filter, 20K cold box, control system, liquid hydrogen storage tank, transmission pipeline from cold box to liquid hydrogen storage tank, helium buffer tank and so on. The 20K cold box is a vacuum insulate cold box, which contains multi-stage heat exchangers, turbo expanders, internal adsorbers, ortho-para convertor, cryogenic valves, measuring elements and other components.

Relying on the transformation of the core technology achievements of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sinoscience Fullcryo has the ability to research, develop and manufacture large-scale hydrogen liquefaction equipment, and owns a full set of independent intellectual property rights, which can provide an integration hydrogen energy solution (production-purification-liquefaction--storage--transportation--application) directly to the end users. Its self-developed core 1.5-30 tons/day large-scale hydrogen liquefaction equipment series products have been partially realized industrial applications. Sinoscience Fullcryo has actively laid out the green power and green hydrogen industry chain, and signed projects in Xinjiang and Zhangjiakou for using green power to produce green hydrogen, and using renewable energy to produce hydrogen. With the booming development of the hydrogen energy industry, as a practitioner of the development of green & low-carbon industry, Sinoscience Fullcryo adheres to the principle of "providing independently controllable, green & efficient, safe and reliable cryogenic and gases products", and strives to realize the large-scale application of hydrogen energy and carbon neutralization to improve efficiency and reduce costs, and ultimately realize the long-term development of cryogenic to green.

Author: Beijing Sinoscience Fullcryo Technology Co.,Ltd.