Sinopec has opened two of China’s first methanol-to-hydrogen integrated refuelling stations in the city of Dalian.

The service station will produce 1,000kg/d of hydrogen at extremely high purity from methanol, which the Chinese oil company notes has a much lower storage and transportation cost compared with pure hydrogen.

The methanol-to-hydrogen refuelling stations have a 20pc lower total cost of hydrogen production, storage and transportation than conventional hydrogen refuelling stations, Sinopec claims.

The firm has a further six methanol-to-hydrogen refuelling stations under construction. Sinopec operated more than 70 hydrogen refuelling stations as of end-2021, serving more than 2,000 hydrogen vehicles.

1,000kg/d – Methanol-to-hydrogen production capacity

“The launch of the service station has showed that distributed methanol-to-hydrogen is the right roadmap for the sustainable development of China's hydrogen fuelling stations; it is a leapfrog development that offers a safe, reliable, green, intelligent, integrated and efficient solution that will contribute to the scaled application of hydrogen energy at lower cost,” says Yang Junze, executive director of Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales.

China already accounts for 60pc of global methanol production, primarily from coal. Methanol can be produced using low-carbon hydrogen as a feedstock in combination with natural gas or CO₂, although Sinopec has not clarified whether the methanol-to-hydrogen stations will use green, blue or grey methanol.

Sinopec plans to build a megaton-scale CCS facility by 2025 at the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park, which houses coal and refinery byproduct gasification plants for the generation of syngas feedstock for hydrogen, fertilisers, methanol and other liquid hydrocarbon products. The Chinese firm has also partnered with local manufacturer Longi on a 1,000t/yr green methanol plant in Lanzhou.

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Author: Polly Martin