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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Explosion on a hydrogen tank at a food oil manufacturer

Event

Event ID
1230
Quality
Description

A hydrogen explosion occurred at a company producing soyabean oils. The exact location and causes are unknown, the only fact being reported was that the hydrogen involved a hydrogen tank conversion process, and that the tank was outside the company buildings. It is unclear if the tank was a hydrogen storage tank, or a reactor for hydrogenation of oil.
One fatality.

Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
Macro-region
Asia
Country
United States
Date
Component involved
unknown
Failure mode
rupture & ignition
Initiating cause
unknown
Root causes
Unknown
Date entry in HIAD
31/10/2025

Facility

Application
Chemical industry
Sub-application
Food production
Hydrogen supply chain stage
All components affected

tank

Location type
Unknown
Location
populated area
Operational condition
UNKNOWN
Description of the facility/unit/process/substances

Part of the processes managed in the affected plant were bleaching, hydrogenation, deodorisation and refinery of soybean oil. The hydrogenation process consisted in mixing unsaturated oil and hydrogen at temperature ranging between 140C to 250 C, in presence of a metal catalyst. Liquid vegetable oils contain fatty acids with double bonds between carbon atoms. Hydrogen breaks the double bonds and attach to the carbons, converting the unsaturated fat into saturated or less unsaturated fat.

Emergency & Consequences

Number of fatalities
1
Number of injured persons
0

In-depth data

Release type
gas
Involved substances (% vol)
H2 100%
Probable IGNITION SOURCE
Explosion type

References

Sources categories
News
Reference & weblink

Hydrogen Insight news of 22 September 2025
https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/innovation/only-15-of-hydrogen-related-…
(Accessed January 2025)