Time: 2025-10-13 13:53 Click:
Recently, TrendBank conducted research on companies involved in solid-state hydrogen storage and visited RefineTek (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. to discuss the company’s current products, recent progress, and the development of the solid-state hydrogen storage industry.
RefineTek (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as “RefineTek Ningbo”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Suzhou RefineTek Co., Ltd., is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the R&D and production of solid-state hydrogen storage alloy materials. The company is committed to providing integrated solutions for the specialty gas and hydrogen energy industries, covering hydrogen separation and purification, solid-state hydrogen storage applications, and static hydrogen compression. It has been certified under the GB/T19001-2016 / ISO9001:2015 quality management system.
With solid-state hydrogen storage alloy technology as its foundation, the company has built a complete R&D and production system that covers material composition design, vacuum melting, heat treatment, performance characterization, hydrogen absorption/desorption testing, and device platform validation. RefineTek Ningbo has established an in-depth industry–academia–research collaboration with Central South University, owns a professional R&D center and production workshop, and is equipped with vacuum induction melting furnaces, heat treatment furnaces, P-C-T testers, customized gas chromatographs, and other high-precision instruments. It also possesses large-scale alloy manufacturing and automated hydrogen storage tank filling & activation capabilities, ensuring consistency and reliability of its products.
In terms of solid-state hydrogen storage materials, RefineTek Ningbo mainly focuses on Ti-Mn (titanium–manganese) based alloys and has developed multiple product lines (such as the RFHS series) with a hydrogen storage capacity of 1.5–1.8 wt%. Different models can be selected depending on hydrogen charging pressure and hydrogen release conditions. The hydrogen absorption/desorption cycle life exceeds 3,000 cycles, and the current production capacity exceeds 1,000 kg/day.
Based on these materials, the company has launched a series of solid-state hydrogen storage products, including:
- RF-SSHST series — solid-state hydrogen storage cylinders suitable for small mobile applications such as two-wheelers, forklifts, robots, sightseeing vehicles, and emergency power generation equipment.
- RF-SSHSM series — modular hydrogen storage systems covering 2 kg, 15 kg, and up to 100 kg levels, widely applicable to hydrogen-powered sanitation vehicles, ships, forklifts, engineering vehicles, cold-chain trucks, zero-carbon park CHP systems, data centers, renewable energy hydrogen production & storage (solar/wind), and long-duration energy storage for grid peak shaving.
RefineTek Ningbo stated that it possesses independent large-scale alloy production capacity and automated solid-state hydrogen tank filling & activation lines. It can custom-develop alloys with different performance characteristics based on application scenarios (region, climate, operating conditions). The company’s hydrogen storage tanks comply with Chinese, European, and American standards and can be paired with a variety of high-quality industry valves (e.g., integrated or separate valve designs). The company places great emphasis on technology R&D: it has independently developed more than 10 grades of solid-state hydrogen storage alloys adapted to various application scenarios, and has built high-precision testing and evaluation equipment for materials and modules. Product safety, stability, and hydrogen storage performance continue to improve.
In addition, the company offers methanol–water catalytic reforming hydrogen production equipment (RF-MR series), featuring fast start-up, low energy consumption, and a high degree of automation. Its hydrogen production capacity ranges from 25–200 Nm³/h with a purity of up to 99.999% mol, meeting the demand for industrial high-purity hydrogen. Applications include powder metallurgy reduction furnaces, copper powder reduction furnaces, bright annealing furnaces for stainless steel, hydrogen power supply for telecommunication base stations, float glass furnaces, and hydrogen combustion. (Example: 50 Nm³/h methanol–water reforming hydrogen production equipment.)
From an economic and circular economy perspective, RefineTek Ningbo revealed that:
- A 100 g solid-state hydrogen storage cylinder is priced at USD 300~500.
- Both the cylinder body and the internal hydrogen storage alloy can be recycled.
- The recycling value of the alloy materials accounts for about 30% of the sale price.
This gives solid-state hydrogen storage a significant advantage in circular economy throughout its life cycle. Although the prices of raw materials such as titanium and zirconium have fluctuated in recent years, their impact on end-product pricing remains limited because solid-state hydrogen alloys have not yet achieved mass-scale commercial deployment. The company pointed out that cost reduction through mass production will be critical in the future. Notably, RefineTek Ningbo is exploring the use of tailings from mining operations as a raw material source for hydrogen storage alloy production. This approach could significantly lower the cost of high-purity raw materials and provide strong support for the large-scale and low-cost adoption of solid-state hydrogen storage technology.
