Recently, the Qilu Liquid Hydrogen Project-equipped with core complete sets of equipment and engineering technical services provided by GUOFUHEE has achieved a major milestone: the successful commissioning and batch production of 10 tons per day of liquid hydrogen. This marks the launch of China’s first 10-ton-class liquid hydrogen production facility featuring fully independently developed, domestically owned intellectual property. It represents the culmination of years of technical breakthroughs and engineering practice by the Guofu team, laying a solid foundation for advancing large-scale liquid hydrogen industrialization in China and providing strong support for the high-quality development of the hydrogen energy sector.

Looking back at the project’s development journey, GUOFUHEE has advanced steadily, step by step. In May 2023, the core complete set of equipment was successfully rolled off the production line, overcoming multiple technical challenges in the field of liquid hydrogen. By May 2024, core equipment had been installed and the full process had been commissioned on-site at the Qilu Hydrogen Energy base in Zibo, Shandong. The project then successfully passed the review and validation of a panel of authoritative domestic experts in the liquid hydrogen field. Now, after multiple rounds of optimization and stability testing, the facility has officially reached mass production readiness, steadily delivering on its promise of technological implementation and industrial empowerment.

As a highlight of the project’s core technology, the mass production of liquid hydrogen demonstrates significant performance advantages: the comprehensive energy consumption for hydrogen liquefaction is less than 12 kW·h/kg-LH₂, the measured para-hydrogen content in the product hydrogen exceeds 98.5%, and the purity reaches above 7N-all indicators that meet or exceed international advanced standards. These achievements effectively drive down the production cost of liquid hydrogen. The product quality complies with all relevant standards, providing a reliable guarantee for diverse downstream applications such as fuel cell transportation vehicles and electronic-grade gases for the semiconductor industry.

The equipment utilizes GUOFUHEE’s independently developed multi-stage pre-cooling hydrogen expansion refrigeration technology. Its core components-the 20K hydrogen liquefaction cold box and hydrogen expander-boast fully independent intellectual property rights. The equipment features a compact structure, high heat exchange efficiency, and stable operation, making it highly suitable for scaled application scenarios. Compared to LNG projects, liquid hydrogen engineering offers even more pronounced economies of scale. Drawing on the experience of the U.S. liquid hydrogen industry, the cost of liquid hydrogen is expected to decline significantly as the scale of liquefaction increases by orders of magnitude. The mass production at the Qilu Liquid Hydrogen Project strengthens confidence in the expansion and efficiency enhancement of China’s liquid hydrogen industry and lays the groundwork for subsequent hundred-ton-class liquid hydrogen projects.

As an important technical pathway under China’s “West Hydrogen East Transmission” strategy, ultra-large-scale liquid hydrogen plants not only facilitate the scaling and marketization of long-distance waterway and overland hydrogen transport but also provide an efficient and viable solution for peak shaving and energy storage in hydrogen pipeline networks. This drives the scaled extension of high-quality, low-cost hydrogen into civilian applications.

Over the next decade, China will enter a phase of innovation-driven cultivation, focusing on nurturing and expanding emerging industries and future-oriented sectors. The Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Developmentcalls for building emerging pillar industries and accelerating the clustered development of strategic emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, aerospace, and low-altitude economy-sectors poised to generate trillion-yuan or even larger-scale markets.

As the highest-quality carrier of new energy, liquid hydrogen will not only greatly advance the development of aerospace, low-altitude economy, and the construction of a strong transportation nation, but will also play a critical role in emerging economic growth areas such as quantum technology, superconductivity, and nuclear fusion energy. GUOFUHEE is seizing the high ground in the liquid hydrogen industry, aligning with the national “dual carbon” goals, and continuing to optimize technologies and control costs to facilitate the commercialization of green hydrogen liquefaction, storage, transportation, and refueling. Through these efforts, GUOFUHEE aims to better serve China’s high-tech industries and industrial regeneration, creating greater value for society.