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)