Alcohol and Hydrogen Technology completed its first round of financing of US$100 million
With the reform and development brought about by China's "2030 carbon peak, 2060 carbon neutrality" dual carbon strategy gradually entering the deep water area, the requirements for the development of a low-carbon and environmentally friendly economy have promoted the entire industry to continue to move forward and change to a more in-depth and breadth-oriented field, and this is especially true for the travel industry, which is one of the lifelines of national economic development.
As a major energy consumer, how to achieve carbon reduction in industries including automobiles is undoubtedly an important issue. Obviously, electrification is the most direct way for most companies to think of reducing carbon emissions, but whether it is from the perspective of the overall energy structure or China's unique energy distribution characteristics, it is not the best solution to simply and crudely turn to electrification. Therefore, how to achieve energy diversification has become one of the most important changes facing the mobility industry. Green and low-carbon fuels, including methanol and hydrogen fuel, have entered the public's field of vision, and methanol fuel, which is low-carbon, efficient, clean and renewable, has gradually been favored by the policy side and the market side. The successful completion of the first round of financing is the best proof of this trend.
On January 29, Alcohol and Hydrogen Technology, a subsidiary of Yuanyuan New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group, announced the completion of the first round of financing, with a financing amount of 100 million US dollars. This round of financing will be mainly used for continuous R&D investment and ecological construction of green methanol transportation capacity to further enhance the core competitiveness of the company. The completion of the first round of financing marks that the ecological strategy of "1.2.3.3" of alcohol and hydrogen technology has completed the construction of the structure of the capital market from 0 to 1, and the upstream and downstream strategic cooperation industry alliance of alcohol and hydrogen ecology has been initially formed.
At the time of energy diversification, why is methanol fuel favored?
As a low-carbon, oxygenated fuel, methanol has the characteristics of efficient combustion, clean emission and renewable, and is globally recognized as an ideal new clean renewable energy.
As the world's second largest economy and an industrial power, China's energy demand far exceeds that of ordinary countries, but China's energy resources as a whole show the characteristics of rich coal, less gas, and poor oil, according to relevant data, China's dependence on crude oil in 2023 will exceed 72%. With the turbulence of the international situation and the prominence of market regionalization, the high proportion of oil imports seriously threatens China's energy security.
In addition, in the national power generation structure, "thermal power" accounts for as much as 70%. At present, pure electric vehicles account for eighty percent of new energy vehicles, and it is difficult to achieve real zero carbon emissions in the entire cycle from production to use, which also causes certain difficulties for China to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality.
Therefore, in order to ensure energy security and achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, energy diversification must be put on the agenda and needs to be strengthened. As China, which accounts for 60% of the world's production capacity and is the world's largest methanol producer and consumer, the development of methanol economy is fully in line with China's energy resource endowment, in line with China's adherence to the guidelines of establishing first and then breaking down, energy conservation and emission reduction, and promoting green and low-carbon energy transformation in a steady and orderly manner.
According to relevant data, in 2023, China's total methanol production capacity will be about 106.3 million tons, and more than 6.3 million tons of new methanol plants will be put into operation, with an annual production capacity growth rate of about 6.3%. In addition, unlike the methanol production method that generally uses natural gas as raw material in the world, China's methanol production is mainly made from coal, and by the end of 2023, China's coal-to-methanol production capacity accounts for 73.49% of the country.
At the same time, hydrogen production from renewable energy can also be synthesized into green methanol energy that meets the "carbon neutrality" attribute by effectively capturing carbon dioxide. Taking the 100,000-ton green and low-carbon methanol plant in Anyang, Henan Province, which was put into operation in February 2023 and invested by Geely Holding Group, as an example, the by-product hydrogen in coke oven gas and carbon dioxide captured in industrial exhaust gas are used to synthesize green methanol, which can absorb 1.375 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of green methanol produced.
The "three-step" preparation of methanol by alcohol and hydrogen technology is moving from coal-to-methanol in the past, to the current carbon dioxide hydrogenation to methanol, to the green methanol based on wind power and photovoltaic in the future. For example, the Alxa green methanol energy base that it participated in the construction can use 1.3 billion kilowatts of wind and photovoltaic resources, with an annual output of 200 million to 300 million tons of green methanol.
As a result, methanol is an "inexhaustible" and "inexpensive" clean fuel. For China, which is striving to achieve a dual-carbon strategy and energy diversification, methanol will undoubtedly become one of the most effective helpers.
The trillion-level value is highlighted, and alcohol and hydrogen technology has created a green ecological industrial chain with Chinese characteristics
As an excellent alternative fuel, the performance of methanol has been proven in theory, and how to better combine it with practical applications to make this trillion-dollar industry develop is inseparable from the efforts of every industry participant.
For example, Geely Holding Group, adhering to the belief of "using green methanol to solve the world's energy and carbon peaking and carbon neutrality problems", has been exploring methanol energy preparation, methanol energy transmission and distribution system, and methanol vehicle application for nearly 20 years, and is committed to full-link closed-loop carbon neutrality solutions. Alcohol and hydrogen technology, which has just completed its first round of financing, will undoubtedly become one of the powerful leaders in building a green ecological industrial chain with Chinese characteristics.
This route is the best carrier for the use of hydrogen energy, and it is also another new energy vehicle technology route that does not rely on subsidies and truly realizes commercial application, which is of great significance to the new energy in China's automotive field.
With the rapid growth of electric vehicle ownership, the load problem of the power grid and the substantial increase in charging costs will become an increasingly serious social and economic problem. In the long run, methanol fuel as liquid electricity, liquid hydrogen, methanol vehicles will become the long-term mainstream route for the development of new energy vehicles.
To this end, the remote new energy commercial vehicle group lays out the ecological platform alcohol and hydrogen technology, focuses on the "1.2.3.3" ecological strategy, takes vehicle promotion as the core, focuses on the two-wheel drive of capital and product market, and develops the trinity of green alcohol preparation, methanol filling and alcohol-electric vehicles, and takes three steps of green methanol energy development, so as to create a green ecological industrial chain with Chinese characteristics with trillion-level value.
In the field of commercial vehicles, commercial vehicles are the best carrier for methanol applications. Although the number of commercial vehicles is far less than that of passenger cars, it consumes more than half of the gasoline and diesel used in vehicles, emits 56% of carbon dioxide from all vehicles, and 80% of all PMs from all vehicles. It is estimated that if half of the country's trucks use 300 million tons of green methanol, it will reduce crude oil imports by more than 200 million tons per year, which is equivalent to five Daqing oilfields.
Starting from the use scenarios of commercial vehicles, Yuanyuan New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group has developed a methanol AMT power chain to achieve full coverage of 1.8L-15L methanol engine displacement and 100-600 horsepower, and actively explores the combination of methanol and electric drive, and has successively launched a variety of power types such as alcohol-hydrogen electric power chain and future-oriented alcohol-hydrogen electric power chain. The long-range commercial vehicle equipped with alcohol-hydrogen electric power can cover all use scenarios in China, from Mohe to Turpan, from the plains to the plateau. In December 2023, the long-range Xinghan H alcohol-hydrogen electric tractor successfully completed the challenge of the cold region of Heihe with only one tank of green methanol. According to the on-site certification of China Automotive Research Institute, the total consumption of methanol for 1341 kilometers is about 953 liters, and the average alcohol consumption is about 71.1L/100km, and the cost of 100 kilometers is only 142.2 yuan according to the recent alcohol price, which fully verifies that the alcohol and hydrogen technology route is the optimal solution for new energy technology in cold areas.
At present, alcohol and hydrogen technology has promoted methanol commercial vehicles in many provinces across the country and achieved large-scale operation, promoting the green transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure. At the same time, the successful application of alcohol and hydrogen technology in the green methanol ecology has also set up a Chinese model with important reference value for the global automotive industry to use synthetic fuels.
Write at the end
At a time when advocating and promoting carbon neutrality has become the common understanding of most countries in the world, China, which has not yet achieved carbon peak, still needs to do a good job of balancing development and carbon reduction, and in the face of this challenge, Chinese enterprises are sparing no effort.
Nearly 20 years ago, in 2005, when Geely started to explore the methanol fuel and methanol automobile industry, I believe that not many people inside and outside the industry could predict the current development of the methanol industry, and not many people could foresee that the methanol industry could be so consistent with China's goal of building energy diversification and achieving the dual carbon strategy.
However, Geely, as a company that has built a methanol automotive industry chain from scratch, has overcome a number of key technologies as a "pioneer", and actively engaged in new technologies for green methanol preparation, which has effectively promoted the development of the methanol industry and has become a "leader" in the methanol automotive industry chain.
From a "pioneer" to a "leader", it is only a new starting point for alcohol and hydrogen technology to win the recognition of the capital market, and it will continue to play a leading role in this new track of building a green ecological industrial chain with Chinese characteristics, providing an effective Chinese sample for energy conservation, emission reduction and green development of the global automotive industry, and demonstrating China's responsibility and responsibility to the world.
