In the next five years, under the constraints of the "double carbon" goal, steel, as the manufacturing industry with the largest carbon emissions in the industrial system, will face great pressure for green transformation in the future. Taking low-carbon, energy conservation and emission reduction as the main goals, adjusting the energy structure, reducing fossil energy consumption and increasing the proportion of clean energy use are the basic ways for China to achieve the goals of "carbon peak" in 2030 and "carbon neutrality" in 2060, The vigorous development and use of hydrogen as a green energy has not only attracted more and more attention, but also become a concerted action of global carbon emission reduction.



1、 Hydrogen production equipment is inseparable from stainless steel



The utilization of hydrogen energy needs to start with hydrogen production. Since hydrogen rarely exists in the form of simple substance in nature, it needs to be produced through industrial process, and all hydrogen production equipment needs to use stainless steel.



According to relevant information, Europe will invest more than 750 billion euros in carbon dioxide neutralization in 2025. From now to 2040, green hydrogen energy (which basically depends on zero emission energy, i.e. wind energy, solar energy (000591) and water energy electrolysis) will increase from 8.5 million tons to 30 million tons. A large number of stainless steel and nickel alloy are used in the production, transportation, storage and use of hydrogen. The electrolytic cell producing green hydrogen needs to use a large number of stainless steel and some nickel alloys, such as bipolar plates and other components. Long distance and high-capacity transportation and storage of hydrogen, such as port terminal system, trailer and hydrogen refueling station. These facilities and tools contain some stainless steel and even nickel alloy parts.

2、 Demand of stainless steel in hydrogen energy field

As can be seen from the above chart, stainless steel is required from hydrogen production equipment to the utilization of hydrogen energy. Hydrogen needs to be stored after liquefaction and transported by trucks, ships, trailers and pipelines. Hydrogen stations need to use stainless steel, and hydrogen may be needed as energy in the future. Hydrogen will also be used as the power source for boiler power plants, thermal power plants, automobiles, buses, trucks, trains, ships, forklifts and other transportation vehicles. Most components of electrolytic generator and fuel cell are made of stainless steel.



Long distance and high-capacity transportation and storage of hydrogen, such as port terminal system, trailer and hydrogen refueling station. These facilities and tools contain some stainless steel and even nickel alloy parts. In the process of using hydrogen, there are fixed power components, cogeneration devices, and more stainless steel and nickel alloys. In the future, fuel cells will be more used in buses, trucks, trains, ships and forklifts, and more bipolar plates, stainless steel and nickel alloy components will be used. At present, Europe has used 30000 tons of stainless steel plates and 2400 tons of nickel alloy in these links. It is conservatively estimated that 800000 tons of stainless steel and 30000 tons of nickel alloy will be used by 2040. At present, 300 series is dominant, but the proportion of 400 series will gradually increase to 40%. Due to cost reasons, some special grades of stainless steel will replace nickel alloy. By 2040, the European stainless steel market adopting new hydrogen energy technology will increase by 20%, which is only the case in Europe. Looking at the world, stainless steel and nickel alloy will play a more important role in the development and application of hydrogen energy.



3、 Conditions for large-scale application of hydrogen energy



For hydrogen energy, the first choice in its application field is fuel cell. The breakthrough of hydrogen fuel cell technology drives the market demand for hydrogen. However, the main bottleneck of the application of "hydrogen energy" is the storage and cost economy of hydrogen energy. If the bottleneck is solved, it can be popularized and applied on a large scale.