Recently, People’s Daily published an in-depth feature titled “A Hydrogen Breeze Gently Arrives, Promising Future Ahead,” focusing on the latest progress of China’s hydrogen energy industry as it transitions from technology demonstration to large-scale commercialization.
The article is dense with policy signals: the 2025 Energy Law establishes hydrogen’s legal status; the 15th Five-Year Plan sets a target of 2 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen production by 2030; a new round of comprehensive hydrogen energy application pilots has been launched; and green hydrogen projects are now included in the China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) mechanism. Notable milestones include the State Power Investment Corporation’s D’an green ammonia project exporting 3,750 tonnes of green ammonia to South Korea; the China Iron & Steel Research Institute Group’s pure hydrogen shaft furnace operating stably for over 8,000 hours; and cumulative sales of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles reaching nearly 40,000 units by the end of 2025.
Yet the most thought-provoking statement in the entire article comes at the very end: the key to breaking through lies in “the entire industry shifting from ‘point-by-point competition’ to ‘chain-by-chain collaboration.'”
This sentence captures the essence of the shifting landscape — the era of isolated breakthroughs is giving way to the era of full-chain collaboration. And this is a path that Dondel has been walking for nearly a decade.
It All Started with a Hydrogen Pump That Others Said Couldn’t Be Made
The story takes us back to 2017. That year, Yantai Dondel Industrial Co., Ltd. was founded in Yantai. At the time, China’s fuel cell systems faced an awkward dilemma: the core components — air compressors and hydrogen circulation pumps — were entirely dependent on imports.
It was not that domestic products were unwanted — there simply were no domestic alternatives available.
Imported equipment was prohibitively expensive, with the cost of a single system pressing companies to the breaking point. Even more frustrating was the after-sales situation. These imported products were not specifically designed for fuel cell systems — they were merely “usable.” When problems arose in fuel cell applications, foreign manufacturers’ attitude was unambiguous: “Our products were never designed for your use case in the first place. If they break, we provide no after-sales support.”
Without alternatives, there is no bargaining power; without bargaining power, one can only accept the rules set by others. Domestic fuel cell companies had no choice but to swallow this bitter pill.
It was against this backdrop that Dondel began its journey.
In 2017, Dondel developed China’s first fuel cell air compressor. In 2018, it produced the country’s first hydrogen circulation pump for fuel cells, filling a domestic gap and overcoming the technical challenge of stable cold-start at minus 40°C.
From that moment on, China’s fuel cell industry had a choice — a choice specifically designed for this application, a choice with someone to hold accountable when things went wrong.
Subsequently, this hydrogen circulation pump maintained the No. 1 domestic market share for consecutive years, with vehicles equipped with Dondel’s pumps accumulating over 370 million kilometers of operational validation mileage. It has served landmark applications including China’s first snow-waxing vehicle at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the world’s first commercial hydrogen fuel cell tram. The product has even been exported to Australia, the United States, and other countries, successfully powering hydrogen forklifts and hydrogen-powered drones.
The situation of being held back by foreign dependence had been completely transformed.
This was Dondel’s starting point — born from a single, resolute determination: “We can no longer be held back.”
Ten Years: From One Pump to an Entire Industrial Chain
Starting from just two products, Dondel spent nearly a decade building comprehensive equipment and engineering service capabilities that span the entire hydrogen energy value chain — from production, storage, and transportation to refueling and end-use.
Continuous breakthroughs in core equipment. On the hydrogen production side, the DZ22-1000 diaphragm compressor unit is tailored for water electrolysis scenarios. On the refueling side, 45 MPa and 90 MPa high-pressure diaphragm compressors have been successively launched. In the storage and transportation sector, Dondel partnered with Xi’an Jiaotong University to develop an ionic liquid sealed compressor with discharge pressures exceeding 100 MPa and a single-unit throughput of 50,000 Nm³/h. Meanwhile, Dondel’s liquid-driven compressors have been exported to the United States, entering the international high-end market.
The product line continues to expand. The hydrogen co-rail system is highly integrated, combining the functions of ejector and circulation pump. The natural gas hydrogen blending equipment provides solutions for the transition from traditional energy to hydrogen energy. The PowerMax Super Hydrogen Station explores a new model of hydrogen-electricity coupling — one device, one integrated energy station. More importantly, Dondel’s various compressors are no longer confined to the hydrogen energy sector; they have expanded into specialty gases, semiconductors, industrial chemicals, oil and gas, aerospace, and a broader range of gas compression and industrial applications.
From equipment supplier to engineering service provider. As the hydrogen industry moves toward “chain-by-chain collaboration,” our clients’ needs have shifted from single equipment purchases to integrated solutions. In response, Dondel began offering EPC engineering services for hydrogen refueling stations, covering the entire process from feasibility planning and design/manufacturing to project management, commissioning, and operations & maintenance.
Benchmark projects validate full-chain capabilities. Dondel’s technologies and solutions have been deployed in multiple demonstration projects: Hainan’s largest integrated energy supply station, Heilongjiang’s first green hydrogen production base in the eastern region, Weifang Port’s first hydrogen refueling station in Shandong, Xinjiang’s first integrated energy station, Ningbo Zhoushan Port’s first hydrogen-integrated comprehensive energy station, and the first electrolysis-based hydrogen production and refueling station in Southwest China, among others. From south to north, from the coast to the interior, Dondel’s full-chain equipment continues to be tested under diverse climatic conditions and application scenarios.
Smart manufacturing capabilities reinforce the foundation. In June 2026, Dondel was recognized as an Advanced Intelligent Factory by Shandong Province. In August 2026, it was approved as a Yantai Municipal Technology Innovation Center. The company has filed over 1,000 patent applications, been certified as a national-level “Little Giant” enterprise under the Specialized, Refined, Differential, and Innovative (SRDI) program, and ranks among the world’s top 20 hydrogen energy technology companies.
From a single core component that was once subject to foreign dominance, to comprehensive equipment and engineering service capabilities spanning the entire value chain, Dondel has spent a decade forging a path from isolated breakthroughs to full-chain collaboration — the Dondel Way.
In Closing
People’s Daily chose the phrase “gently arrives” in its report — the wind is coming, but someone must be ready to catch it.
The 2017 determination that “we can no longer be held back” propelled Dondel to start with a single pump and, over nearly a decade, lay out a complete industrial chain.
The wind is here. The full chain is ready.
