Recently, the Yantai Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology released the list of recognized Yantai Municipal Technology Innovation Centers for 2026. Yantai Dondel Industrial Co., Ltd. has been successfully selected. A total of 12 entities across the city have obtained the accreditation, among which Dondel Industrial is a representative focusing on core hydrogen‑energy equipment.
What is the Yantai Municipal Technology Innovation Center?
As a key component of Yantai’s science and technology innovation platform system, the Technology Innovation Center is positioned at the mid‑to‑lower reaches of the innovation chain. It connects basic research carried out by universities and research institutes upstream, and supports industrial‑scale application by enterprises downstream. Its core mission is to transform “lab‑developed technologies” into “factory‑manufactured products”, bridging the gap between scientific research and industrialization.
Accreditation means that the enterprise has met the municipal standards for science and technology innovation platforms in terms of R&D capacity, talent pool, hardware facilities, and industry‑university‑research cooperation foundations.
Why was Dondel selected?
Founded in 2017, Yantai Dondel Industrial Co., Ltd. started with hydrogen circulation pumps and air compressors, and has gradually expanded its product portfolio to include diaphragm compressors, ionic‑liquid‑sealed compressors, and liquid‑driven compressors, building a complete industrial chain covering hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilization.
Dondel’s business originated from hydrogen circulation pumps for hydrogen fuel cells.
At that time, domestic hydrogen‑energy equipment was largely undeveloped. This equipment is tasked with precisely controlling the cyclic flow of hydrogen within fuel cell stacks, requiring extremely high sealing precision. Low‑temperature startup performance and operational reliability represented formidable technical challenges. Before its mass production, there were no mature domestic solutions, and the product was fully reliant on imports.
Starting from scratch, Dondel overcame technical obstacles step by step. It not only developed the product, but also achieved stable startup under extreme‑cold conditions of ‑40 ℃, filling the domestic technical gap. For many consecutive years, it has maintained the No. 1 domestic market share. Vehicles equipped with Dondel hydrogen circulation pumps have accumulated more than 370 million kilometers of road‑test mileage. Boasting such outstanding reliability, Dondel hydrogen circulation pumps were deployed on China’s first ski‑wax truck for the Beijing Winter Olympics and the world’s first commercial hydrogen fuel‑cell tram. The products are also exported overseas, applied to hydrogen‑powered drones in Australia and fuel‑cell forklifts in the United States.
In 2019, Dondel launched diaphragm compressors for hydrogen refueling stations and hydrogen production & filling stations. In 2022, it brought to market the domestic diaphragm compressor with the highest flow rate and pressure rating. The company took the lead in making breakthroughs on 90 MPa high‑pressure diaphragm compressors, achieving over 95 % domestic localization rate for complete units. The core equipment for hydrogen refueling stations is no longer subject to foreign technological restraints. Later, the world’s first ionic‑liquid‑sealed compressor and the PowerMax Super Hydrogen Power Station were successively launched. A stream of innovative equipment keeps emerging to fuel the rapid development of the hydrogen‑energy industry.
From filling domestic gaps and breaking foreign monopolies to pursuing continuous innovation, Dondel has long‑term accumulated strengths against every accreditation criterion for Yantai Municipal Technology Innovation Center: R&D capability, talent team, hardware infrastructure, and industry‑university‑research collaboration.
Rather than tailoring its operations to meet the standards, Dondel is an enterprise engaged in fundamental technology development, which the standards are designed to identify.
Next‑step work for the Technology Innovation Center
Yantai Dondel Industrial Co., Ltd. will continue to tackle key technical bottlenecks of core hydrogen‑energy equipment, making iterative progress on higher‑efficiency compressors and more‑reliable hydrogen circulation pumps. Meanwhile, it will undertake collaborative innovation tasks linking industry, universities and research institutes. By cooperating with universities and research institutions, Dondel will transfer laboratory achievements to production lines and participate in formulating and refining more industry standards.
Obtaining accreditation as a Yantai Municipal Technology Innovation Center is both recognition and a new starting point for Dondel.
Going forward, Yantai Dondel Hydrogen Technology Co.,Ltd. will further deepen its efforts in hydrogen‑energy equipment, consolidate R&D work and translate research achievements into practical outputs. The company will grow from an equipment manufacturer into a genuine innovation platform linking scientific research and industrial sectors.
