Quantitative risk analysis of a hazardous jet fire event for hydrogen transport in natural gas transmission pipelines

H. A.J. Froeling*, M. Dröge, G. F. Nane, A. J.M. Van Wijk

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)
170 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

With the advent of large-scale application of hydrogen, transportation becomes crucial. Reusing the existing natural gas transmission system could serve as catalyst for the future hydrogen economy. However, a risk analysis of hydrogen transmission in existing pipelines is essential for the deployment of the new energy carrier. This paper focuses on the individual risk (IR) associated with a hazardous hydrogen jet fire and compares it with the natural gas case. The risk analysis adopts a detailed flame model and state of the art computational software, to provide an enhanced physical description of flame characteristics. This analysis concludes that hydrogen jet fires yield lower lethality levels, that decrease faster with distance than natural gas jet fires. Consequently, for large pipelines, hydrogen transmission is accompanied by significant lower IR. Howbeit, ignition effects increasingly dominate the IR for decreasing pipeline diameters and cause hydrogen transmission to yield increased IR in the vicinity of the pipeline when compared to natural gas.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10411-10422
Number of pages12
JournalInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Volume46
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Gaseous hydrogen transmission through natural gas pipelines
  • Jet fire
  • Lethality
  • Quantitative (individual) risk analysis
  • Solid flame model
  • Thermal radiation

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