On the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia, a project to rewrite China's energy map is quietly underway.

The green and low-carbon project jointly developed by Aerospace Changzheng Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. and Inner Mongolia Baofeng Coal based New Materials Co., Ltd. is constructing China's first outdoor electrolytic hydrogen production unit cluster.

This seemingly simple change from indoors to outdoors is a double breakthrough in the safety and economy of large-scale coupling of green hydrogen in the chemical industry.

In the past, the core equipment of electrolytic hydrogen production units in chemical projects, the electrolytic cell, had to be installed in Class A factories with special requirements such as cleanliness, explosion prevention, and insulation.

This traditional layout not only occupies a large amount of land and increases construction costs, but also increases the risk of explosion caused by hydrogen leakage and accumulation in enclosed spaces. Nowadays, this industry tradition has been completely broken by aerospace engineering companies.

Empowering Aerospace Technology

Based on nearly 20 years of experience in chemical engineering design, Aerospace Engineering Company has innovatively proposed an outdoor layout mode for electrolytic cell clusters.

Outdoor special electrolyzer is the core patent equipment of this model. The head of the company's green hydrogen business said, "Not all electrolytic cells can operate reliably outdoors. Outdoor specialty electrolytic cells should have targeted solutions to cope with harsh and complex environments such as severe cold, humid heat, rain, snow, and sandstorms

Traditional electrolytic cells are difficult to adapt to outdoor working conditions, which will lead to decreased reliability, soaring energy consumption, and a series of engineering and technical problems.

Starting from 2023, the Green Hydrogen Technology team will introduce core technologies and strict standards for extreme environments in the aerospace field into the research and manufacturing process of green hydrogen equipment.

In response to harsh weather conditions such as severe winters, sandstorms in spring and autumn, and large temperature differences between day and night in major chemical industrial parks such as Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang in China, the team has specially designed environmental adaptability to ensure that the equipment can maintain stable electrolysis efficiency even in low-temperature environments.

Triple advantages highlighted

This innovation brings three significant advantages. In terms of safety, the open outdoor space significantly reduces the risk of explosion caused by hydrogen leakage and accumulation, achieving intrinsic safety from the design source.

Economically, this model improves the utilization rate of chemical land and directly reduces investment in land and construction projects. At the same time, eliminating the construction process of Class A factories can shorten the construction period and help owners achieve project production faster.

The outdoor layout technology of electrolytic cell clusters is a systematic project. In addition to the technological innovation of the electrolytic cell itself, the Aerospace and Baofeng Green Hydrogen Technology teams have conducted in-depth research on important engineering technologies such as the entire process system and integrated thermal management.

In this collaborative project, an engineering system consisting of 11 4000 ton space furnaces and electrolytic cell clusters was constructed to achieve efficient coupling between chemical production and green hydrogen preparation.

industry prospects

This technology has been applied for the first time in the Baofeng project in Inner Mongolia. Aerospace engineering companies will continue to focus on differentiated integrated green hydrogen engineering solutions, exploring larger scale and more environmentally adaptable green hydrogen equipment and engineering technologies.

The successful implementation of this project not only provides a replicable model for the large-scale application of green hydrogen in China's chemical industry, but also offers a new technological path for global energy transformation.

With the transformation and upgrading of China's energy and chemical industry towards cleanliness, efficiency, and safety, outdoor electrolytic hydrogen production technology is expected to be promoted and applied in more regions and industries.

Moving from the aerospace field to the forefront of the energy revolution, this technological breakthrough not only changes the geographical location of hydrogen production, but also changes the energy landscape in China and even the world.

The cluster of electrolytic hydrogen production units arranged outdoors is depicting the future of green energy on the Gobi Desert.Editor/Yang Meiling