China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) officially launched China's first methanol-to-hydrogen and hydrogen refueling service station in Dalian, China. An upgrade from the previous fueling station offering oil, gas, hydrogen, electric charging services, the integrated complex can produce 1,000 kilograms of hydrogen a day, with a purity of 99.999 percent.

Sinopec's hydrogen production plant has the advantages of covering a small area, having a short construction time, and having a green, environmentally friendly production process. The new Service Station can save costs on hydrogen production, storage and transportation by more than 20 percent compared to traditional hydrogen refueling stations, and it will become a pilot model to lead the development of China's hydrogen energy industry.

China produces the most methanol in the world, accounting for 60 percent of the global total. The storage and transportation cost of methanol is also much lower than hydrogen, making methanol-to-hydrogen an ideal hydrogen production technology.

Sinopec's solution has tackled the bottlenecks of low transport capacities, high costs and long loading times. In addition, the Service Station's methanol-to-hydrogen and hydrogen refueling devices has an hourly production capacity of 500 standard cubic meters, yet only occupies 64 square meters of the floor area while conventional equipment of the same production capacity would take up 500 square meters of land.

Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales Co., Ltd has built two integrated fueling stations in Dalian's free trade area, with six more now under construction. With industry-leading hydrogen production efficiency, automation and intelligent capabilities, Sinopec's solution is sustainable and green – producing zero solid waste, waste water and tail gas while conserving more energy and consuming less methanol.

"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 fueling 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," said Yang Junze, Executive Director of Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales.

As part of Sinopec's commitment to becoming China's No.1 hydrogen energy enterprise, it has built nine hydrogen fuel cell supply centers across China and built the largest number of hydrogen fueling stations in the world.