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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Fire on a hydrogen compressor of a refinery

Event

Event ID
1073
Quality
Description

A hydrogen leakage caught fire in the hydrogen compressor area of the continuous reforming unit. The reforming unit and the hydrocracking unit were immediately stopped. The hydrogen flow was cut off, a protective combustion was carried out and the fire was completely extinguished after approximately 20 minutes, with no casualties.

Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
fire
Macro-region
Asia
Country
China
Date
Component involved
compressor / booster / pump
Failure mode
rupture & ignition
Initiating cause
unknown
Root causes
Unknown
Date entry in HIAD
01/07/2024

Facility

Application
Petrochemical industry
Sub-application
Steam methane reforming
Hydrogen supply chain stage
All components affected

hydrogen compressor

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

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS
The reformer shut down had an 800,000 tonne/year capacity.
The benzene unit, also shut down, a capacity of 100,000 tonne/year.

Emergency & Consequences

Number of fatalities
0
Number of injured persons
0
Post-event summary

The shutdown of the reformer and the benzene units reduced temporary the company’s gasoline outputs. It affected also the quality of naphtha supplied to ethylene plant and the quantity of hydrogenation materials for about two weeks.

In-depth data

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

References

Sources categories
News
Reference & weblink