Event
- Event ID
- 941
- Quality
- Description
A small hydrogen leak occurred at the connection between the hose and the tube trailer, which was being loaded at an industrial gas company. Alerted by the noise, the driver of the vehicle gave the alert.
Firefighters from the petrochemical platform to which the plant belongs stopped the leak by closing the manual valves on the tank.
The tank, initially at 200 bar, lost only 10 bar in 3h30. Therefore, the site's sensors did not activate because of the small size of the leak.- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Unignited Hydrogen Release
- Nature of the consequences
- leak no ignition
- Macro-region
- Europe
- Country
- France
- Date
- Component involved
- joint/connection (hose)
- Failure mode
- rupture, no ignition
- Initiating cause
- unknown
- Root causes
- Unknown
- Date entry in HIAD
- 01/01/2018
Facility
- Application
- Hydrogen transport and distribution
- Sub-application
- CGH2 tube trailer
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
unclear if liquid or compressed tanker
- Process temperature range [C]
- ambient temperature (-50°C to +50°C)
- Process pressure range [MPa]
- medium to high pressure (10 to 50 MPa)
- Location type
- Open
- Location
- industrial area
- Operational condition
- Pre-event occurrences
The near miss occurred during hydrogen tank truck loading
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Post-event summary
10 bar lost in a 220 bar tank in 3 hours 30 minutes
- Emergency action
Firefighters from the nearby petrochemical platform stopped the leak by closing the manual valves on the tank.
Lesson Learnt
- Lesson Learnt
The lack on details on tank, the loading operation and the position of the hydrogen detectors does not allow for a specific lesson learnt. The fact that the detector did not spotted the leak because too small, demonstrates the importance of a careful placement of the detection system.
Under other circumstances (confined space), a small, undetected leak can be the source of a potentially great hazard.
In-depth data
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Release temperature [°C]
- 25
- Release pressure [MPa]
- 20
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
References
- Sources categories
- ARIA
- Reference & weblink
Event description in the French database ARIA
https://www.aria.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/accident/42107/
(accessed October 2020)
