Current Status of Hydrogen Production in China

Hydrogen energy is an efficient and clean secondary energy that plays an irreplaceable role in realizing " carbon neutral". With the continuous expansion of hydrogen production scale and the reduction in hydrogen production cost, hydrogen energy will become a competitive alternative energy, which can further promote the transformation of China's energy structure, reduce carbon emissions. and improve China's energy security and resilience. China is the world' s largest producer of hydrogen, and there are three main industrial hydrogen production routes in China: fossil fuel reforming, industrial by-product hydrogen and the electrolysis of water. Other new hydrogen production technologies, such as hydrogen production from solar photolysis, hydrogen production from biomass, hydrogen production from thermochemical circulation, etc., have attracted extensive attention and investigations. In addition, hydrogen production system is complex, which is difficult for modeling and optimization. Accordingly, artificial intelligence ( AI) shows unique advantages in the prediction. evaluation and optimization for hydrogen production system, which is promising and attractive. Based on the recent progress, this article summarizes several critical hydrogen production technologies into four main categories, and further proposes some perspectives for the future development of hydrogen supply structure in China. Finally, this article also reviewes the latest application of artificial intelligence in hydrogen production system to provide new insights for the development of hydrogen production technology in China.