E3S Web of Conferences 118, 03042 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/201911803042 ICAEER 2019 Comparison of Hydrogen Specification in National Standards for China Yanmei Yang*, Geng Wang, Lan Zhang, Sinan Zhang and Ling Lin China National Institute of Standardization, Beijing, China Abstract. Hydrogen specifications for different scenarios are various. Based on national standards for China, a comparison of hydrogen specification standards is discussed in this paper, including specification standards for industrial hydrogen, pure hydrogen, high pure hydrogen, ultrapure hydrogen, hydrogen for electronic industry and hydrogen for PEM FCVs. Hydrogen purity for electronic industry is greater than that for industrial hydrogen, pure hydrogen and hydrogen for PEM FCVs. Specifications of general contaminants in hydrogen for electronic industry, including H2O, O2, N2, CO, CO2 and total hydrocarbons, are stricter than that in hydrogen for PEM FCVs. Hydrogen purity for PEM FCVs is less than that for electronic industry and pure hydrogen. However, contaminants in hydrogen for PEM FCVs are strict. Contaminants in hydrogen for PEM FCVs should include not only H2O, O2, N2, CO, CO2, Ar and total hydrocarbons, but also helium, total sulfur compounds, formaldehyde, formic acid, ammonia, halogenated compounds and particulates. 1 Introduction In session 2, national standards for hydrogen specification are listed. Hydrogen has garnered more and more interest in recent In session 3, a comparison of hydrogen specification years for its near-zero emission and abundant source. As in national standards is discussed, including hydrogen is summarized by hydrogen council, hydrogen can play purity, total non-hydrogen gases and contaminants. major roles in enabling large-scale renewable energy In session 4, main conclusions are summarized. integration and power generation, distributing energy across sectors and regions, acting as a buffer to increase energy system resilience, decarbonizing transportation, 2 National standards for hydrogen specification decarbonizing industrial energy use, decarbonizing As is shown in Table 1, there are five national standards building heat and power, and providing clean feedstock for hydrogen specification in China. GB/T 3634.1-2006 for industry. Across the seven roles, hydrogen could specify the specification and requirements of testing, account for 18% -20 % of total energy consumption by packing, storage, transportation and safety of industrial 2050, reducing annual CO emission by roughly 60 Gt 2 hydrogen. It is developed for petroleum, food, fine compared to today’s technologies[1]. chemicals, glass and artificial gems manufacturing, Hydrogen economy is developing rapidly in China. metal smelting, cutting and welding industries. GB/T By the end of 2018, more than 25 cities have announced 3634.2-2011 specify the specification and requirements to support the deployment of hydrogen industry. The of testing, packing, storage, transportation and safety of cumulative sales number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles pure hydrogen, high pure hydrogen and ultrapure reached 3428. About 23 hydrogen fuelling stations are in hydrogen. It is developed for electronic, petrochemical, operation. More than 40 hydrogen fuelling stations are in metal smelting industries, and scientific research. GB/T construction and planning [2,3]. 16942-2009 specify the the specification and Hydrogen is a secondary energy, which can be requirements of testing, packing, storage, transportation produced by coal gasification, steam reforming of and safety of gaseous hydrogen for electronic industries. natural gas, industrial gas purification, water electrolysis It is used as reducing gas, carrier gas for epitaxy process [4], etc. Hydrogen specifications for different scenarios and gas for plasma etch. GB/T 34537-2017 specify the are various. According to national standards for China, a specification and requirements of hydrogen and comparison of hydrogen specification standards is compressed natural gas (HCNG) blends for vehicles. In discussed in this paper, including standards for industrial this standard, it is specified that hydrogen used for hydrogen, pure hydrogen, high pure hydrogen, ultrapure HCNG blending should comply with GB/T 3634.1. hydrogen, hydrogen for electronic industry and hydrogen GB/T 34537-2017 will not be discussed in this paper. for proton exchange membrane fuel cell vehicles (PEM GB/T 37244-2018 is now the only hydrogen fuel FCVs). Organization of this paper is as follows: specification for proton exchange membrane fuel cell * Corresponding author: [email protected] © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). E3S Web of Conferences 118, 03042 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/201911803042 ICAEER 2019 vehicles. Hydrogen fuel purity, contaminants and testing Grade Ⅰ ≥ 99.9999 GB/T 16942- methods for contaminants are specified in this standard. Grade Ⅱ ≥ 99.9997 2009* Grade Ⅲ ≥ 99.9995 Table 1. National standards for hydrogen specification GB/T 37244- Hydrogen fuel for ≥ 99.97 2018 PEM FCVs No. Standard Number Name of Standard * Grades of hydrogen for electronic industry are marked as Hydrogen―Part 1: Grade Ⅰ, Grade Ⅱ and Grade Ⅲ. 1 GB/T 3634.1-2006 Industrial hydrogen Hydrogen - Part 2: Pure 3.2 Contaminants in hydrogen hydrogen, high pure 2 GB/T 3634.2-2011 hydrogen and ultra-pure hydrogen 3.2.1 Total non-hydrogen gases Hydrogen for electronic 3 GB/T 16942-2009 industry Total non-hydrogen gases include water, hydrocarbons, Hydrogen and compressed oxygen (O2), helium (He), nitrogen (N2), argon (Ar), 4 GB/T 34537-2017 natural gas (HCNG) blended carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), total as vehicle fuel sulfur compounds, formaldehyde (HCHO), formic acid Fuel specification for proton (HCOOH), ammonia (NH ), total halogenated 5 GB/T 37244-2018 exchange membrane fuel 3 cell vehicles—Hydrogen compounds, particulates, etc. Table 3 lists the specification of total non-hydrogen gases in hydrogen. For industrial hydrogen and pure hydrogen there is no 3 Comparison of national standards for specific limitation of non-hydrogen gases. For high pure hydrogen specification hydrogen, ultrapure hydrogen and hydrogen fuel for PEM FCVs, content of total non-hydrogen gases should not exceed content of total gases except hydrogen. 3.1 Hydrogen purity Content of non-hydrogen gases in hydrogen for electronic industry is less than others. As is specified in Table 2 shows the specification of hydrogen purity for GB/T 16942-2009, content of non-hydrogen gases different scenarios. As is specified in GB/T 3634.1, should be less than or equal to 1.0 μmol/mol, 2.8 industrial hydrogen is classified into three grades, μmol/mol and 4.5 μmol/mol separately for Grade Ⅰ, excellent grade (hydrogen purity ≥ 99.95%), first grade Grade Ⅱ and Grade Ⅲ hydrogen. (hydrogen purity ≥ 99.50%) and qualified grade (hydrogen purity ≥ 99.00%). According to GB/T Table 3. Specification of total non-hydrogen gases in hydrogen 3634.2-2011, hydrogen is classified into three grades, Total non- including pure hydrogen (hydrogen purity ≥ 99.99%), hydrogen high pure hydrogen (hydrogen purity ≥ 99.999%) and Standard No. Grade gases ultrapure hydrogen (hydrogen purity ≥ 99.9999%). As （μmol/mol） Excellent grade / is specified in GB/T 16942-2009, hydrogen for GB/T 3634.1- First grade / electronic industry is marked as three grades, involving 2006 Qualified grade / Grade Ⅰ (hydrogen purity 99.9999%), Grade Ⅱ ≥ Pure hydrogen / (hydrogen purity ≥ 99.9997%) and Grade Ⅲ (hydrogen GB/T 3634.2- High pure hydrogen ≤ 10 2011 purity ≥ 99.9995%). Hydrogen fuel for PEM FCVs is Ultrapure hydrogen ≤ 1 specified in GB/T 37244-2018. Hydrogen purity should Grade Ⅰ ≤ 1.0 GB/T 16942- not be less than 99.97%, which is greater than that of Grade Ⅱ ≤ 2.8 2009 industrial hydrogen but less than that of pure hydrogen Grade Ⅲ ≤ 4.5 and hydrogen for electronic industry. Hydrogen for GB/T 37244- Hydrogen fuel for ≤ 300 electronic industry specify the strictest hydrogen purity. 2018 PEM FCVs Table 2. Specification of hydrogen purity in national standards 3.2 Contaminants Hydrogen Standard No. Grade purity Table 4-1 and Table 4-2 show the specification of (%) contaminants in hydrogen. Industrial hydrogen specify Excellent grade ≥ 99.95 four kinds of contaminants, including H O, O , N , and GB/T 3634.1- 2 2 2 First grade ≥ 99.50 2006 Ar. Pure, high pure and ultrapure hydrogen specify seven Qualified grade ≥ 99.00 kinds of contaminants, including H2O, O2, N2, Ar, CO, Pure hydrogen ≥ 99.99 CO2, and CH4. Hydrogen for electronic industry also specify seven kinds of contaminants, including H O, O , GB/T 3634.2- High pure 2 2 ≥ 99.999 N , CO, CO , hydrocarbons, and particulates. Though 2011 hydrogen 2 2 Ultrapure ≥ 99.9999 the hydrogen purity of hydrogen for PEM FCVs is less hydrogen than that of pure hydrogen and hydrogen for electronic 2 E3S Web of Conferences 118, 03042 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/201911803042 ICAEER 2019 industry, specifications of contaminants in hydrogen for formaldehyde (HCHO), formic acid (HCOOH), PEM FCVs are strict, including H2O, O2, N2, He, Ar, CO, ammonia (NH3), total halogenated compounds, and CO2, hydrocarbons, total sulfur compounds, particulates. Table 4-1. Specification of contaminants in hydrogen Total Carbon Carbon Water Oxygen Nitrogen Argon Helium hydro- monoxide dioxide carbons Standard （H2O） （O2） (N2) (Ar) (He) Grade