An aerial drone photo taken on June 2, 2026 shows a photovoltaic-aquaculture farm at a mining subsidence area in Binhu Town, Tengzhou City, east China’s Shandong Province. Shandong Province has seen the development in its photovoltaic power sector with complementary modes in light of local conditions over recent years. These innovative modes blaze a path for “three wins” for clean energy exploration, ecological environment protection, and economic benefits. (Photo: Xinhua)
China has successfully developed a hydrogen-coal co-firing technology that for the first time could achieve a 50-percent green hydrogen blending ratio and 100-percent pure hydrogen combustion.
This marks a major breakthrough in China’s clean low-carbon hydrogen-coal co-firing technology, according to a report by the China Central Television (CCTV) News, citing developments learned from China Energy Group.
The technology employs a fully self-developed hydrogen-coal mixed low-nitrogen burner and incorporates a comprehensive safety protection system covering the entire process from hydrogen transportation to furnace combustion, according to the CCTV News report. The system enables hydrogen and pulverized coal to be fully mixed and combusted within the boiler, and a hydrogen blending ratio of 50-0percent by heat value was materialized on the experimental platform.
“This also means that when green hydrogen is used, coal consumption and carbon emissions can be reduced by up to 50 percent, while effectively controlling nitrogen oxide (NOx) generation,” the CCTV News report said.
Since China has the world’s largest installed coal-fired power capacity, the low-carbon transformation of thermal coal holds significant practical importance for achieving the country’s “dual carbon” goals, industry analysts said. The country aims to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
The achievement validates a promising technological pathway for significantly reducing carbon emission from future coal-fired power units, and it is of great significance for advancing the green and low-carbon transformation of China’s coal power industry and promoting the integrated development of coal power with new energy sources, according to the news report.
China’s hydrogen energy industry is moving from the trial exploration stage into a new phase of orderly development and innovation-driven breakthroughs, according to the China Hydrogen Energy Development Report released by China’s National Energy Administration last year.
