Water hydrogen machine with methanol as raw material has quietly opened the prelude of industrializa

On July 3, the reporter learned that the foreign academician of Australian national academy of engineering, Dr. Liu ke, President of the clean energy research institute of southern university of science and technology, and several experts and academicians entered the Chinese science center of international Eurasian academy of sciences in dongguan, "greater bay area water and hydrogen science academy". The newly opened "greater bay area water and hydrogen science institute" is located in the "guangdong hejime energy technology co., LTD." located in zhangmutou town, dongguan.

Liu ke bent down to take a closer look at hejiede's "hydrogen-water machine," a machine that USES methanol and water to produce hydrogen through catalytic reforming and then power generation through fuel cells.So a few years ago, the name was still "alcohol hydrogen machine", and the name "water hydrogen machine" was registered after the whole series of "water hydrogen" trademarks in 2016, the reasons for which will be discussed later.

Liu ke developed hydrogen fuel cells in the United States more than a decade ago.He is the former chief scientist of GE global research and development center. He worked in UTC and other famous multinational companies. He was the vice President of Topsoe, an international famous catalyst company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.After returning to China, he successively served as deputy director and chief technology officer of Beijing low-carbon clean energy research institute and deputy director of shenhua research institute. Now he is working in shenzhen southern university of science and technology.In 2013 the 30th international Pittsburgh coal conversion annual innovation awards, led the world's first set of on-board gasoline hydrogen production device used to drive the fuel cell car research and development and demonstration, has three consecutive years (2002-2004), let the international hydrogen association and the American chemical society (AIChE) organized the hydrogen and fuel cell as the chairman of the summit presided over the first commercial trace elements of minerals ore (micro) separation device, the first 100% methanol diesel engine combustion several large-scale projects such as research and development.In the face of "hydrogen-water machine" (he prefers to call it "hydrogen-alcohol machine"), liu ke can be said to be an expert, because he personally participated in and witnessed the United States and other developed countries spent a huge amount of money on hydrogen energy through the road, the success and failure of the experience and lessons.

He looked at the size of the computer case, the "car battery" for electric cars;Looked at the power supply system that supplies power to the communication base station;Looked at the power generation module that can be combined into a power station;In particular, I saw the methanol production of hydrogen on the vehicle and the power supply system for the electric vehicle through the hydrogen fuel cell, and asked about the relevant technical indicators in detail...

Liu ke told reporters that when he worked at UTC more than a decade ago, UTC, nissan and shell worked together to develop the world's first fuel cell vehicle powered by online conversion of gasoline into hydrogen.As systems director for the project, he led a team of engineers from the three multinational companies in a multimillion-dollar effort to build the world's first "fuel cell vehicle for hydrogen from gasoline."The car is filled with gasoline, which reacts with oxygen in the air and water vapor released by the fuel cell to make hydrogen, which is then used to propel the fuel cell.The success of the program was big news in the American industry in 2003.He said, gasoline is much harder to convert to hydrogen online than methanol is to convert to hydrogen online. Why?There is sulfur in gasoline.In addition, gasoline conversion temperature is 850 degrees Celsius, methanol more than 300 degrees Celsius, and methanol has no sulfur.Methanol is much cleaner than gasoline.Gasoline online conversion to hydrogen production technology, we have more than a decade ago, methanol online conversion to hydrogen production there is no reason not to do;But why didn't methanol be used at that time?Because the "shale gas revolution" didn't happen, natural gas was too expensive and methanol cost too much.In hejime company, liu ke saw a complete series of products of his long-advocated methanol hydrogen generation technology route.

This, he said, would be the "most plausible" direction for hydrogen applications.Liu ke tightly held the hand of "water and hydrogen machine" r & d person xiang hua!This is probably methanol hydrogen generation technology route development process, worth recording a grip!Reporter asked liu ke, China and even the world popular large-scale hydrogen production, through the hydrogen station or other pipelines, the hydrogen will be compressed into high-pressure car hydrogen storage tank of the technical route prospects?

Liu ke has been thinking about this problem for a long time, he said, one is the hydrogen station, is after 700 kilograms of compressed gas.Because hydrogen has the lowest energy density by volume in the world, it can only be increased by compression.But remember what 700 kilograms of compression is?The pressure of the car tyre is only 5-6kg.Industrial production of coal to oil needs hydrogen, hydrogen tanks need more than ten centimeters thick steel plate.For the hydrogen storage tank, the steel is too heavy, so carbon fiber is used.But carbon fiber is now more expensive, and the process of compressing hydrogen itself consumes a lot of energy, the use of high cost is the global industry consensus.In addition, hydrogen is the world's most explosive gas (4% to 73%).Below 4% is safe, above 73% only fires and does not explode, and between 4% and 73% even if it encounters Mars.So in cities where a lot of cars are parked in enclosed Spaces like underground parking garages, bottled hydrogen is not suitable as a widely used energy source for the public.In the open space, hydrogen leakage is not a problem, once the leakage into the sky.They did an experiment in the United States. A hydrogen fuel cell car was parked there, and it took a super strong rifle to get through the hydrogen bottle with a single shot at a long distance.But in confined space, hydrogen is the gas that explodes most widely and spreads fastest.Once one of the hydrogen cans in the garage leaked up to 4%, a dozen spark cars exploded. If there were many hydrogen tank cars in the garage, the whole building would be destroyed.Some say the tank is safe, but there is always a connection between the hydrogen tank and the fuel cell, and any leak in that connection could be fatal.The recent explosion of a hydrogen storage tank in South Korea and a hydrogen refueling station in Norway are among the causes.Hydrogen, the smallest molecule, is the most leaky gas.Most refinery fires over the years have also been caused by hydrogen leaks.Therefore, liu ke suggested that legislation should not allow hydrogen tank cars to be parked in underground garages.The difficulty that builds hydrogen station again.Liu ke is the project manager of the department of energy's hydrogenation station in the United States. When the hydrogenation station was designed in the United States, it was required to have a safe distance, which required no residential buildings within a certain range.They made an estimate in shenzhen that if a refueling station for 300 cars a day was built in shenzhen, according to today's safety standards, the refueling station would need about 8 mu of land. In shenzhen, 100 million yuan for one mu of land and 800 million yuan for a refueling station, the land price would not be over in a lifetime.If you build a refueling station in the suburbs half an hour away, and the refueling station goes back and forth for an hour, no one will buy the car.

The development of hydrogen and fuel cell technology in the United States, which has burned tens of billions of dollars since the 1990s, has not solved these problems.Therefore, China is now in the hot phase of hydrogen energy. On the one hand, it is burning money everywhere, and on the other hand, it has not fully understood the whole systematic engineering of hydrogen energy, which is likely to lead to deviation in the strategic direction of industrial development.

The reporter asked liu ke, since you think methanol is the best raw material for hydrogen production, is the cost and source of methanol reliable?

Liu ke said methanol is the world's best hydrogen production material, thanks to the world's "shale gas revolution."Ten years ago, natural gas in the United States peaked at $17 per million British thermal units.And the whole world panicked and said what if the world didn't have natural gas?As a result of the "shale revolution", in 2010 the world suddenly found more gas than it could use in 200 years. The price of natural gas in America fell from $17 per million btu to $1.50 per million btu.It was "a shale revolution" that brought the price down from $140 to around $35, and more recently to between $50 and $65.

Natural gas is the best source of methanol, which is cheaper than coal, meaning the world still has 200 years of methanol.Converting natural gas into methanol locally costs only 750 yuan per ton.In addition, from the point of transportation, solid (such as coal), gas are not desirable.Liquid fuels are always the first choice of transportation energy for human beings, because liquid fuels, such as gasoline or methanol, can be transported by pipeline on land, cost is very low across the sea (about 1% of the price), and can be stored in storage tanks for a long time.

Here, Dr. Xiang hua interjects excitedly: "academician liu talked about these two points, which is an important reason why I changed my name to 'hydrogen-water machine', which is to clearly distinguish the technical route of hydrogen tank."Xiang hua at that time proposed to cooperate with academician liu ke's team to further improve the application of methanol online hydrogen production and fuel cell technology in various fields.

Recently, relevant ministries and commissions of the state issued a paper regarding methanol as the main direction of clean energy.

Water hydrogen machine with methanol as raw material has quietly opened the prelude of industrialization.

With the support of academician liu ke and the experts and academicians of the international Eurasian academy of sciences, the first ray of dawn of hydrogen energy industrialization in China will rise from here.