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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Explosion in a metal treatment unit

Event

Event ID
536
Quality
Description

A faulty relay allowed hydrogen gas to enter an annealing furnace before startup. The mixture exploded at furnace ignition.

Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
Macro-region
North America
Country
United States
Date
Component involved
reactor / oven / furnace / test chamber
Failure mode
internal explosion
Initiating cause
malfunctioning (electrical/electronic component)
Root causes
Unknown
Date entry in HIAD
28/01/2026

Facility

Application
Steel and metals industry
Sub-application
metal annealing
Hydrogen supply chain stage
Location type
Confined
Location
unknown
Operational condition

Emergency & Consequences

Number of fatalities
0
Number of injured persons
0
Currency
US$
Property loss (onsite)
75.000

In-depth data

Probable IGNITION SOURCE
Explosion type

References

Sources categories
Zalosh
Reference & weblink

Table II - Industrial Incidetns of Appendix A of Zalosh and Short
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HYDROGEN FIRE AND EXPLOSION INCIDENTS
Quarterly Report No. 2 for Period December 1, 1977 - February 28, 1978
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6566131
(accessed September 2020)