焦炉煤气变身高纯氢 山西孝义年产2万吨构建氢能全产业链Coke oven gas transformed into high-purity hydrogen: Xiaoyi, Shanxi to produce 20,000 tons annually and build a complete hydrogen energy industry chain

On November 4th, in the old city of Xiaoyi, a melodious and clear 'Bowan Opera' caught the attention of many tourists. Guided by the Shanxi Daily Media Group and jointly hosted by Shanxi Evening News along with local governments, the 'Tracing the Pulse of Mountains and Rivers' national mainstream media editors and chiefs traveled to Xiaoyi City to carry out a cultural and tourism high-quality development reporting activity called 'Millennia of Xiaoyi · Moving Towards the New'.

Xiaoyi not only has over 1,530 years of historical depth from its old city, the spiritual heritage of 'Being Filial and Righteous' from Zhongyang Tower, and the vibrant folk cultural threads of the three intangible heritage arts: shadow puppetry, puppets, and Bowan Opera; it also shows a progressive posture grounded in its coal and coking foundation while exploring the new frontier of hydrogen energy. The purification of coke oven gas to produce hydrogen, the commercial implementation of hydrogen-powered heavy trucks, and the continuous improvement of the vehicle manufacturing chain outline a clear trajectory for a resource-based city breaking new ground.

On the day of the event, the field study team visited the old town of Xiaoyi, Linshui Village in Gaoyang Town, a noodle town, Pengfei Group's Pengwan Hydrogen Port Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park, Pengfei Intelligent Automobile Manufacturing Industrial Park, and other locations to experience firsthand the revitalization of Xiaoyi's old town and the city's new pulse driven by the hydrogen energy industry. At the Pengwan Hydrogen Port Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park in the Xiaoyi Economic Development Zone, high-purity hydrogen is continuously produced, powering heavy trucks, buses, and shared bicycles to run zero-carbon.

The precursor of this 'hydrogen' was the most troublesome coke oven gas in coking plants. In the past, most of this waste gas was either burned off or directly discharged. In Xiaoyi, relying on the technological and resource advantages of the coal coking industry, coke oven gas is 'turned from waste into treasure' — surplus gas is desulfurized, decarbonized, and purified to produce high-purity hydrogen, and the remaining gas can be used to make methanol, LNG, and synthetic ammonia, fully utilizing the by-products of coking. Adjacent to the hydrogen production workshop is the country's first dry-quenching residual heat power generation coupled water electrolysis green hydrogen device, which forms a 'blue-green complement' with the 'blue hydrogen' produced from coke oven gas, following a technological path of 'starting with gray hydrogen and followed by green hydrogen'.

Pengfei Group has built a complete hydrogen energy industry chain of 'production–station–transport–vehicle–use,' applied to hydrogen energy heavy trucks, hydrogen buses, hydrogen shared bicycles, etc., creating a diversified hydrogen transportation matrix covering mainline logistics, passenger transport, and short-distance travel. The person in charge of Pengfei's hydrogen production plant stated that developing hydrogen energy is not about starting from scratch apart from traditional industries, but rather about deeply tapping into and upgrading the existing industrial foundation.

Currently, the industrial park can produce 20,000 tons of high-purity hydrogen annually, with a purity of 99.9999%, and an additional 1,000 tons of green hydrogen. Xiaoyi has put into operation 1,561 hydrogen-powered vehicles, covering heavy trucks, medium buses, large buses, city buses, loaders, and two-wheelers. Hydrogen-powered heavy trucks have taken the lead nationwide in running fully commercial operation demonstration scenarios. Starting from Xiaoyi, with a single refueling on the way, they can reach Tianjin Port, thereby restoring the road coal transport route to Tianjin Port that had been suspended for seven years. Each hydrogen-powered heavy truck can reduce carbon emissions by 12 kilograms per 100 kilometers. In the hydrogen energy industrial park, journalists have climbed aboard hydrogen-powered buses for a ride, and some have also ridden hydrogen-powered shared bicycles. Each of these shared bicycles stores only 50 grams of hydrogen but has a range of over 50 kilometers. Xiaoyi has also launched intercity hydrogen buses to Jiexiu, allowing residents of both cities to experience a "zero-carbon twin-city journey."

The hydrogen energy confidence of Xiaoyi relies on Lüliang's plan to 'build a hydrogen capital worth hundreds of billions.' Lüliang has a coking capacity of nearly 40 million tons, producing 8 billion cubic meters of by-product coke oven gas, in which hydrogen accounts for about 55%, making it a stable and massive 'treasure trove' of industrial by-product hydrogen. Relying on this advantage, Lüliang has reduced the cost of producing high-purity hydrogen to about 8 yuan per kilogram, making hydrogen energy competitive in commercial scenarios such as heavy trucks and mines. Today, Lüliang's total hydrogen production capacity reaches 135,000 tons, ranking first in the province. In March 2025, Lüliang successfully joined the national fuel cell vehicle demonstration city cluster, becoming the only city in Shanxi to join, with central government reward funds that year accounting for 8.5% of the national total, ranking third among 39 demonstration cities nationwide and first among prefecture-level cities. Lüliang also sets up no less than 100 million yuan in annual special funds for hydrogen energy and plans to exceed a hydrogen production capacity of 500,000 tons by 2030. As the leading city in Shanxi's hydrogen energy industry chain, Pengfei was selected in 2025 as part of the first batch of hydrogen energy pilot projects by the National Energy Administration.

Pengfei Zhichuang Automobile Manufacturing Industrial Park is a testament to the downstream extension of the hydrogen energy industry chain. The industrial park covers five production lines for hydrogen energy parts manufacturing and vehicle assembly, achieving an integrated 'core components—vehicle manufacturing' process. It was completed and put into operation in March 2025, with a manufacturing capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year. In September of the same year, six new models of the Pengfei Zhizi brand hydrogen energy heavy-duty trucks were launched. To date, 2,500 hydrogen energy heavy-duty trucks have been successfully delivered, making it one of the automotive companies with the highest sales of hydrogen energy heavy-duty trucks in China. Pengfei has also co-established laboratories with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tongji University, independently developing the world’s first 250kW hydrogen fuel engine. The world’s first type-60 hydrogen energy loader has also been put into operation here, capable of continuous operation for 12 hours and adaptable to scenarios such as mines and factory sites.

[Source: Shanxi Evening News]

[Editor: Xiao Neng]