(Yicai Global) Sept. 23 -- China Petroleum and Chemical has begun its pilot production of highly pure hydrogen in Shanghai to tap into the emerging field of commercial vehicles' low-emission fuel. 

The company, also known as Sinopec, will use its independently developed technology to produce hydrogen that is 99.999 percent pure -- which is higher than the national standard -- at Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical's plant, the Paper reported. 

China has enthusiastically embraced hydrogen energy in recent years with forward-looking policy support to promote the use of one of the cleanest energy sources that still lacks much of the needed infrastructure. 

The Beijing-based firm said that the facility requires little investment as the fuel is a by-product of oil refining. It didn't reveal the scale of output nor the investment but said that the capacity could be increased in tandem with the reducing costs of operating such vehicles.

Sinopec produced about 14 percent of domestically made hydrogen last year at more than 3 million tons.

Editor: Emmi Laine