Spontaneous ignition of hydrogen leaks: A review of postulated mechanisms

Astbury, G.R.; Hawksworth, Stuart

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2007.04.005

Cited by 170 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Frequently, hydrogen's low minimum ignition energy and potential catalytic activity are involved in attempting to describe how these accidents occurred. In the course of preparing the final manuscript, an interesting review on this subject was presented in September 2005 by Astbury and Hawksworth (2005). The present combustion laboratory had such a fire incident in the early 1980s when a pressure relief burst disk in a hydrogen gas supply system ruptured as a result of a regulator failure on a 1-A compressed hydrogen bottle (supply pressure > 40 atm).…”

Section: Spontaneous Ignition Of Hydrogen and Natural Gas 667mentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous Ignition of Pressurized Releases of Hydrogen and Natural Gas Into Air

Dryer

Chaos

Zhao

et al. 2007

Combustion Science and Technology

178

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This paper demonstrates the ''spontaneous ignition'' (autoignition=inflammation and sustained diffusive combustion) from sudden compressed hydrogen releases that is not well documented in the present literature, for which little fundamental explanation, discussion or research foundation exists, and which is apparently not encompassed in recent formulations of safety codes and standards for piping, storage, and use of high pressure compressed gas systems handling hydrogen. Accidental or intended, rapid failure of a pressure boundary separating sufficiently compressed hydrogen from air can result in multi-dimensional transient flows involving shock formation, reflection, and interactions such that reactant mixtures are rapidly formed and achieve chemical ignition, inflammation, and transition to turbulent jet diffusive combustion, fed by the continuing discharge of hydrogen. Both experiments and simple transient shock theory along with chemical kinetic ignition calculations are used to support interpretation of observations and qualitatively identify controlling gas properties and geometrical parameters. Although the phenomenon is demonstrated for pressurized hydrogen burst disk failures with different internal flow geometries, similar phenomena apparently do not necessarily occur for sudden boundary failures potential for producing ignition and continuing combustion. Much more experimental and computational work is required to quantitatively determine the envelope of parameter combinations that mitigate or enhance spontaneous ignition characteristics of compressed hydrogen as a result of sudden release, particularly if hydrogen is to become a major energy carrier interfaced with consumer use. Similar considerations for compressed methane, for mixtures of light hydrocarbons and methane (simulating natural gas), and for larger carbon number hydrocarbons show similar autoignition phenomena may occur with highly compressed methane or natural gas, but are unlikely with higher carbon number cases, unless the compressed source and=or surrounding air is sufficiently pre-heated above ambient temperature. Spontaneous ignition of compressed hydrocarbon gases is also generally less likely, given the much lower turbulent blow-off velocity of hydrocarbons in comparison to that for hydrogen.

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Section: Spontaneous Ignition Of Hydrogen and Natural Gas 667mentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous Ignition of Pressurized Releases of Hydrogen and Natural Gas Into Air

Dryer

Chaos

Zhao

et al. 2007

Combustion Science and Technology

178

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“…[1][2][3] It is expected that hydrogen can become a major energy supply in many applications, including transportation, central and distributed electric power, portable power, and combined heat and power for buildings and industrial processes. 2,3 Since hydrogen gas is extremely reactive with oxygen, and has a low ignition energy, it is prone to spontaneous flammable ignition. It is therefore critically important that robust and fast hydrogen gas detection technologies be available to ensure safe handling.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Moisture Insensitive PMMA Coated Pt-AlGaN/GaN Diode Hydrogen Sensor and Its Thermal Stability

Baik

Jung

Ren

et al. 2018

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) encapsulated Pt-AlGaN/GaN Schottky diodes show highly sensitive (100 ppm, 0.01% by volume) room temperature detection of hydrogen and are insensitive to the presence of water in the sensing ambient. These diodes show no physical degradation or loss of sensitivity when repeatedly cycled (50 x, 1 min hold at each temperature) between 25-100 • C. There is complete selectivity for hydrogen sensing over other gases, including CO, CO 2 , NO 2 , O 2 and CH 4 . The PMMA encapsulation provides an effective and robust barrier to moisture, greatly increasing the range of environments in which the sensors can be used.

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“…Due to hydrogen's low electroconductivity, the flow of gaseous hydrogen (GH 2 ) can generate electrostatic charge and ignite the hydrogen/air mixture. Other mechanisms for spontaneous ignition of hydrogen are described in [30].…”

Section: Hazardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A sustained combustion requires both a source of ignition and additional conditions that allow the combustion process to continue. The initial source of ignition can be a piloted ignition (where a spark or other flame ignites the gas) or non-piloted, spontaneous ignition (mechanisms for spontaneous ignition of hydrogen sources are discussed in [30]). The processes that permit sustained flame have been investigated by many research teams, but this research has not resulted in a model that is suitably predictive for QRA.…”

Section: Ignitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early-stage quantitative risk assessment to support development of codes and standard requirements for indoor fueling of hydrogen vehicles.

Groth¹,

LaChance²,

2012

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Sandia National Laboratories is developing the technical basis for assessing the risk of hydrogen infrastructure for use in the development of relevant codes and standards. The development of codes and standards is an important step in ensuring the safe design and operation of the hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure. Codes and standards organizations are increasingly using risk-informed processes to establish code requirements.Sandia has used Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) approaches to risk-inform safety codes and standards for hydrogen infrastructures. QRA has been applied successfully for decades in 3 many industries, including nuclear power, aviation, and offshore oil. However, the hydrogen industry is a relatively new application area for QRA, and several gaps must be filled before QRA can be widely applied to reduce conservatisms that influence the safety requirements for hydrogen installations.This report documents an early-stage QRA for a generic, code-compliant indoor hydrogen fueling facility. The goals of conducting this activity were threefold: to provide initial insights into the safety of such facilities; to recommend risk-informed changes to indoor fueling requirements in safety codes and standards; and to evaluate the quality of existing models and data available for use in hydrogen installation QRA. The report provides several recommendations for code changes that will improve indoor fueling safety. Furthermore, the report provides insight into gaps in the QRA process that must be addressed to provide greater confidence in the QRA results.4

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Spontaneous ignition of hydrogen leaks: A review of postulated mechanisms

Cited by 170 publications

References 17 publications

Spontaneous Ignition of Pressurized Releases of Hydrogen and Natural Gas Into Air

Spontaneous Ignition of Pressurized Releases of Hydrogen and Natural Gas Into Air

Moisture Insensitive PMMA Coated Pt-AlGaN/GaN Diode Hydrogen Sensor and Its Thermal Stability

Early-stage quantitative risk assessment to support development of codes and standard requirements for indoor fueling of hydrogen vehicles.

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