Is hydrogen energy expected to become a breakthrough for carbon reduction in cement industry? Conch and Jidong have been planned ahead of schedule!

Recently, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology issued the Medium and Long-term Development Plan for Hydrogen Energy Industry in Sichuan Province (2025-2035). Among them, it

is proposed to accelerate alternative applications in the industrial field. Promote the implementation of clean low-carbon hydrogen substitution projects in iron and steel, refining, coal chemical industry, cement , non-ferrous metals, semiconductor manufacturing, medicine and other industries, and promote the green and low-carbon development of high energy-consuming industries. In the province's chemical, steel, cement and other industrial agglomeration areas, clean low-carbon hydrogen substitution demonstration projects will be carried out, and the application of hydrogen energy in standby power supply, distributed generation and other fields will be explored in high energy consumption industrial parks, large data centers and other scenarios.

Hydrogen energy, as the most potential clean energy in the 21st century, is an important direction of industrial energy transformation, and also becomes one of the hotspots in the research of carbon emission reduction in the cement industry. In December

2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Industrial Green Development", which mentioned that the application of alternative energy such as hydrogen energy, biofuels and waste-derived fuels in steel, cement, chemical and other industries should be encouraged. In March

2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the Medium and Long-term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035), formally raising hydrogen energy to the strategic position of national energy. Many large energy enterprises and listed companies began to speed up the layout of the hydrogen energy industry chain.

In this context, Conch Cement and Jidong Cement have planned the layout of hydrogen energy industry ahead of schedule. On April 21,

2023, Conch Cement said on the interactive platform for investors: Focusing on the target task of double carbon, the company pays close attention to the forward-looking technical research of hydrogen energy production, storage and transportation, and is currently carrying out the preliminary work of hydrogen energy project pilot.

At the signing ceremony of the new energy project of Basu Conch, Chen Yi, secretary and general manager of Basu Conch, Xizang Autonomous, said that he would use the existing industrial scenarios to develop the first hydrogen energy utilization project in the cement industry in the Xizang, with an estimated investment of about 900 million yuan.

In addition, in March 2022, Jidong Cement signed a strategic cooperation contract with China Chemical Construction and Investment Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Chemical Engineering Group, and China Wuhuan Company. The three parties will steadily promote energy consumption substitution and industrial transformation and upgrading, enhance the utilization rate of solid waste resources, and carry out all-round cooperation in the fields of hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilization, as well as in the construction of hydrogen energy industry demonstration parks.

With the increasingly severe situation of energy saving and carbon reduction in the industrial field, cement enterprises need to strengthen energy saving and actively seek alternative energy sources. Actively exploring the use of hydrogen energy is not only to meet the urgent needs of the current energy situation, but also one of the feasible means to reduce carbon emissions and coal consumption.

However, the application of hydrogen energy in the cement industry still faces some challenges, the main challenge is the high production cost of hydrogen, followed by hydrogen preparation, storage and transportation technologies are still in the exploration and development stage. However, the application of hydrogen energy in the cement industry may become a breakthrough point for the cement industry to achieve energy saving and carbon reduction in the future, and its application prospects should not be underestimated. The latest development of hydrogen energy technology is also the focus of attention of the cement industry.