Skip to main content
Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Fire from a CHG2 trailer during filling

Event

Event ID
1150
Quality
Description

The incident occurred at the site of a gas production company.
During the filling of a compressed hydrogen trailer, an end plug thermal pressure relief device (TPRD) had an unplanned activation. The released hydrogen vented through a leak in the vent manifold of the TPRD venting system, which appeared to be improperly assembled.
The ignition of the hydrogen caused significant damage to the trailer and damage to the another trailer which was being filled alongside the affected trailer.

Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
fire
Macro-region
North America
Country
United States
Date
Component involved
TPRD
Failure mode
rupture & ignition
Initiating cause
material degradation (generic)
Root CAUSE analysis

The INITIATING CAUSE was the unexpected activation of a thermal pressure relief device. The reason for this failure is not reported.
The hydrogen released by the PRD would have been vented without further consequence, if the venting system would not have failed at the manifold.
Therefore, the ROOT CAUSES were a combination of a material failure and a wrong installation of the venting system manifold.

Root causes
Date entry in HIAD
01/02/2025

Facility

Application
Hydrogen transport and distribution
Sub-application
CGH2 tube trailer
Hydrogen supply chain stage
All components affected

TPRD, vent manifold

Process temperature range [C]
ambient temperature (-50°C to +50°C)
Process pressure range [MPa]
high pressure (above 50 MPa)
Location type
Open
Location
industrial area
Operational condition
Pre-event occurrences

Two other trailers experienced TPRD failures in a similar fashion before, but on separate occurrences and no resulting fire or damage.

Description of the facility/unit/process/substances

DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIT
The trailer consisted of 50 tubes of type 3, with a composite external shell and a metallic liner.
Specification According to the manufacturer:
nominal pressure 520 bar / 7,500 psig
Cylinder Water Volume 315 litres / 11.1 scf
Total Water Volume 15,750 liters / 555 scf
Hydrogen Capacity 501 kgs / 211,690 scf
(source: https://bayotech.us/bulk-hydrogen-transport-trailers/).
According to PHMSA, the quantity were lower:
Capacity 780 gas-pound (350 kg)
Quantity (300 kg)

Emergency & Consequences

Number of fatalities
0
Number of injured persons
0
Currency
US$
Property loss (onsite)
950.000
Post-event summary

Significant damage to the trailer and damage to the another trailer which was being filled alongside the affected trailer.

Lesson Learnt

Corrective Measures

Recommended actions: 1. Recall all valves and end-plug TRPDs related to the production lot(s) that have failed to prevent reoccurrence.
2. Valve manufacturer needs to implement a verifiable quality control program for all future valves.
3. Vent manifolding should be pressure tested by the trailer manufacturer before shipping to customers, to identify and fix possible vent manifold leaks.

In-depth data

Release type
gas
Involved substances (% vol)
H2 100%
Release temperature [°C]
25
Release pressure [MPa]
52
Probable IGNITION SOURCE

References

Sources categories
PHMSA
Reference & weblink

Incident I-2024010030 of the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration PHMSA:
https://portal.phmsa.dot.gov/analytics/saw.dll?Portalpages&PortalPath=%…
(accessed September 2024)