Hynertech Co., Ltd has announced it is to build two new production bases for LOHC in Hubei Province

The company’s first product base for the material, in Yichang, will be put into testing operation in January 2018.

Construction started on that facility in November 2017, after the company signed an investment agreement with the Yidu Government for a one million tonnes per annum (tpa) liquid hydrogen storage materials project, to set up the very first such production base in China.

Dr. CHENG Hansong, Managing Director of Hynertech and Professor of the China University of Geosciences, explained that hydrogen energy has yet to become widely deployed in energy storage and mobile sectors because hydrogen is difficult to store and transport under normal conditions. “Storing hydrogen in organic solution can solve this worldwide problem. It is non-flammable, virtually non-volatile, and is safer than petrol,” Dr. CHENG added.

Liquid hydrogen storage solutions is something of a hot topic in China. In September 2017, an event titled ‘Inaugural International Workshop on Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) Technologies and Their Applications’ was held in Wuhan with speakers invited from China, Canada, Germany, and South Korea. At the event, delegates were invited to a tour of Hynertech’s demo site for energy storage and enjoyed a test ride of LOHC-based fuel cell buses.

At the site, a storage tank of 10m3 can store 600kg of hydrogen, capable of refuelling up to 25 buses per day, with the refuelling time similar to that of typical diesel bus refuelling.