Technological aspects of Russian hydrogen energy development

Abstract

Russian hydrogen industry exists more than 100 years and is one of the biggest in the world. In 2021 Russia produced more than 5 mln tons of hydrogen (the 5th place in the world after China, US, EU-27, India), more than 1 mln tons of hydrogen were exported as hydrogen-contained production (ammonia, methanol, fertilizers).Following the global trends in the growth of production and use of hydrogen as an energy carrier, which plays the role of an important tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, decarbonization of energy, as well as the use of hydrogen in the transport sector and industry, the analysis of the current state and prospects for the development of hydrogen energy in Russia is carried out, the technologies of low-carbon hydrogen production at electric power, oil- and gas processing, logistics and technologies of transportation and storage of hydrogen, the world's leading and promising Russian developments are analyzed, the feasibility of their application in Russia is assessed.The main technology for hydrogen production in Russia remains SMR: by using this technology more than 95 % of hydrogen is produced. At the same time, electrolyzers are present in many industries (oil refineries, power generation, hydrometeorology, microelectronics, food industry etc.). Russian nuclear power plant giant Rosatom is seriously studying the possibility of producing hydrogen in nuclear power plants by using high-temperature technologies.There are no main hydrogen pipelines in Russia (only internal technological pipelines) because big industrial plants that use hydrogen construct their hydrogen facilities on-site. Smaller amounts of hydrogen are delivered to the customers in a compressed state and stored in steel cylinders or reservoirs. Currently, Russian companies and organizations process development in hydrogen transportation and storage in compressed (up to 700 bars, including polymer reservoirs), liquid and bound states.In addition to traditional hydrogen consumers (hydrocarbon refineries, chemical plants) and metallurgy (7 furnaces for iron production) Russian companies and organizations develop hydrogen energy storage units, and there are pilot projects in the commercial and heavy vehicles, buses, river boats).