China commissions giant salt cavern for hydrogen storage with 1,000,000 m³ and aims for cleaner transport, industry, and energy underground.

Written by Fabio Lucas Carvalho

Published on 27/04/2026 at 18:33

Be the first to react!

The salt cavern entered operation in Pingdingshan, Henan province, with an underground structure created to store large volumes of hydrogen and test the viability of a system capable of supporting heavy transport, industrial use, and blending with natural gas.

China has put into operation, in Pingdingshan, in the central province of Henan, its first salt cavern hydrogen storage project with a capacity in the range of 1,000,000 cubic meters. The underground facility began operating on Saturday and was created to store large quantities of hydrogen underground, in an attempt to address one of the main challenges linked to the use of this fuel.

The project uses natural salt formations, exploited to create hollow underground spaces by dissolving the salt rock. These cavities offer sealing and structural stability, characteristics considered essential for keeping hydrogen stored for long periods.

The salt cavern plays a central role because it seeks to bring hydrogen production and consumption closer together in the same energy chain. The proposal is to store the fuel when available and release it according to demand, especially in industrial and transport applications.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Structure can store up to 1.5 million cubic meters of hydrogen

Engineers designed the facility to form a cavern with a water-soluble volume exceeding 30,000 cubic meters. The system is expected to store up to 1.5 million standard cubic meters of hydrogen, equivalent to approximately 53 million cubic feet.

The figures place the project at a demonstration scale, with the objective of validating performance before larger installations. Liang Wuxing, deputy chief economist of China Pingmei Shenma, stated that these goals allow for guiding future expansions.

Hydrogen is injected into the salt cavern via two compressors. The system operates at a pressure of 15 megapascals, about 2,175 pounds per square inch, and a flow rate of 2,000 standard cubic meters per hour, about 70,600 cubic feet per hour.

Project tests long-term underground sealing

One of the main objectives of the project is to prove whether salt caverns can safely store hydrogen for prolonged periods. The technical concern exists because hydrogen molecules are small and can escape through inadequately sealed materials.

Yang Chunhe, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, stated at the commissioning ceremony that hydrogen storage in salt caverns is a key technology to break through the bottleneck of large-scale storage and transport. He also declared that the project verified the long-term sealing capability and engineering feasibility of storage in layered salt rocks.

Technical validation is important for expanding hydrogen-related infrastructure. With reliable storage, energy producers can store surplus hydrogen generated by renewable sources and use this volume when demand increases.

Local resources and Chinese research sustain the facility

The site was developed with high-quality salt rock resources belonging to a salt chemical and gas storage company linked to China Pingmei Shenma. Research and development were led by the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Major energy companies also participated in the design and construction of the structure. The combination of local resources, specialized research, and industrial participation provided the foundation for the salt cavern project now in operation in Henan.

The facility represents a practical step to test the underground use of natural salt deposits as a solution for large volumes. The structure was conceived to support the advancement of an energy system with a greater presence of hydrogen in different sectors.

Heavy transport, natural gas, and industry are targeted

With the system already in operation, engineers began to analyze application routes to expand the use of hydrogen. Among the planned approaches are mixing with natural gas in pipelines, supplying heavy trucks, and use in industrial boilers.

These applications were chosen because they involve sectors where electrification faces obstacles. The use of hydrogen in these areas can help reduce carbon emissions in industrial and transport activities that are more difficult to convert to electricity.

The Pingdingshan salt cavern now serves as an engineering demonstration for this advancement. The hydrogen storage project combines a capacity of up to 1.5 million standard cubic meters, high-pressure underground operation, and a focus on uses that can expand hydrogen’s presence in the Chinese economy.

With information from Interesting Engineering

China commissions giant salt cavern for hydrogen storage with 1,000,000 m³ and aims for cleaner transport, industry, and energy underground.

The salt cavern entered operation in Pingdingshan, Henan province, with an underground structure created to store large volumes of hydrogen and test the viability of a system capable of supporting heavy transport, industrial use, and blending with natural gas.

Structure can store up to 1.5 million cubic meters of hydrogen

Project tests long-term underground sealing

Local resources and Chinese research sustain the facility

Heavy transport, natural gas, and industry are targeted

The Soviet Union spent 22 years drilling into the Earth’s crust and reached a depth of 12,262 meters — they found water where it was thought impossible, hydrogen bubbling from the rock, granite that is 2.7 billion years old, and temperatures of 180 degrees that melted the drill bits.

Norway is drilling 27 kilometers of rock 392 meters below the bottom of a fjord to build the world’s largest and deepest underwater road tunnel — when completed, a 21-hour journey will be reduced to 10.

Chinese engineers begin filling a 217-meter dam at an altitude of 3,000 meters and prepare a 2,240 MW hydroelectric power plant to integrate hydropower, solar, and wind energy in the upper Jinsha.

A German architect built a cylindrical house in 1994 that rotates to follow the sun throughout the day, generates 5 times more energy than it consumes, and was the world’s first energy-positive house.

An astronaut spent 340 days in space while his twin brother stayed on Earth, and NASA found a “rejuvenating” effect, genes, microbiome, cognition, and immune system that revealed the biological cost of living outside the planet.

After 14 years of construction and a diplomatic crisis that nearly led to a military confrontation over control of the Nile, Ethiopia inaugurated the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa — the dam is 170 meters high, holds 74 billion cubic meters of water, and generates 5,150 megawatts.

Underwater welders earn US$2,500 per day — but work hundreds of meters deep, without seeing the sun for weeks, in one of the most dangerous professions in the energy sector.

After a single course of antibiotics, science confirms that the gut can remain altered for years.

Astrobotic surprises the world by testing an engine that sustains rotating detonations for 300 seconds and exceeds 4,000 pounds of thrust to reduce weight and expand the capacity of future lunar spacecraft.

A piece of metal from space went through the roof and two floors of a house in Florida, and weeks later NASA confirmed where it came from.

While in Brazil a house can take 18 months to be completed, a British company bets on steel modules produced in an industrial environment and assembled on-site in just a few days.

China commissions giant salt cavern for hydrogen storage with 1,000,000 m³ and aims for cleaner transport, industry, and energy underground.

The salt cavern entered operation in Pingdingshan, Henan province, with an underground structure created to store large volumes of hydrogen and test the viability of a system capable of supporting heavy transport, industrial use, and blending with natural gas.

Structure can store up to 1.5 million cubic meters of hydrogen

Project tests long-term underground sealing

Local resources and Chinese research sustain the facility

Heavy transport, natural gas, and industry are targeted

The Soviet Union spent 22 years drilling into the Earth’s crust and reached a depth of 12,262 meters — they found water where it was thought impossible, hydrogen bubbling from the rock, granite that is 2.7 billion years old, and temperatures of 180 degrees that melted the drill bits.

Norway is drilling 27 kilometers of rock 392 meters below the bottom of a fjord to build the world’s largest and deepest underwater road tunnel — when completed, a 21-hour journey will be reduced to 10.

Chinese engineers begin filling a 217-meter dam at an altitude of 3,000 meters and prepare a 2,240 MW hydroelectric power plant to integrate hydropower, solar, and wind energy in the upper Jinsha.

A German architect built a cylindrical house in 1994 that rotates to follow the sun throughout the day, generates 5 times more energy than it consumes, and was the world’s first energy-positive house.

An astronaut spent 340 days in space while his twin brother stayed on Earth, and NASA found a “rejuvenating” effect, genes, microbiome, cognition, and immune system that revealed the biological cost of living outside the planet.

After 14 years of construction and a diplomatic crisis that nearly led to a military confrontation over control of the Nile, Ethiopia inaugurated the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa — the dam is 170 meters high, holds 74 billion cubic meters of water, and generates 5,150 megawatts.

After a single course of antibiotics, science confirms that the gut can remain altered for years.

Astrobotic surprises the world by testing an engine that sustains rotating detonations for 300 seconds and exceeds 4,000 pounds of thrust to reduce weight and expand the capacity of future lunar spacecraft.

Solar energy has become the target of prohibitions in American cities because residents swear that panels are harmful, while experts try to contain rumors that threaten to delay projects, investments, and the energy transition in several communities across the country.

Workers were building a metro line when they found over 300,000 artifacts that transformed stations into an underground museum under a 2,300-year-old city in Greece.

Antiviral nanospikes create an antiviral surface that destroys 96% of viruses in 6 hours without chemicals and targets hospitals, transportation, and daily-use screens.

Underwater welders earn US$2,500 per day — but work hundreds of meters deep, without seeing the sun for weeks, in one of the most dangerous professions in the energy sector.

After a single course of antibiotics, science confirms that the gut can remain altered for years.

Astrobotic surprises the world by testing an engine that sustains rotating detonations for 300 seconds and exceeds 4,000 pounds of thrust to reduce weight and expand the capacity of future lunar spacecraft.

A piece of metal from space went through the roof and two floors of a house in Florida, and weeks later NASA confirmed where it came from.

While in Brazil a house can take 18 months to be completed, a British company bets on steel modules produced in an industrial environment and assembled on-site in just a few days.