China’s first domestically developed 300-kilowatt hydrogen internal combustion engine (H2-ICE) generator has officially entered commercial operation, marking a major milestone in clean hydrogen power technology.
Source: China Science Daily
China’s first domestically developed 300-kilowatt hydrogen internal combustion engine (H2-ICE) generator has officially entered commercial operation, marking a major milestone in clean hydrogen power technology. The announcement was made by Hydrogen Cheng Green Power New Energy (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., according to the Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology.
Jointly developed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Yuchai Power, and Hydrogen Cheng Green Power, the generator stands out for its ability to run directly on industrial by-product hydrogen—hydrogen-rich tail gas released during manufacturing processes. Unlike traditional systems that require expensive purification before power generation, this unit employs proprietary technology to utilize the tail gas on-site, reducing purification costs by up to 40% and preventing the hydrogen from being flared off. The system achieves a power generation efficiency exceeding 42%.
In a pilot project located in an industrial park in Hubei, the unit has generated 8 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually from 500,000 standard cubic meters of waste hydrogen—enough to power approximately 7,000 households—and simultaneously supplies heat to 200,000 square meters of building space.
With an annual runtime of 6,000 hours, each 300-kilowatt generator can consume around 1.4 million standard cubic meters of hydrogen and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1,362 tonnes—the equivalent of carbon absorbed by approximately 74,000 mature trees. According to estimates, China’s chemical industrial parks could theoretically reclaim up to 4.5 million tonnes of by-product hydrogen each year. If just 10% of that were used for hydrogen internal combustion generation, annual carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced by as much as 5 million tonnes, highlighting the vast decarbonization potential of this technology.
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