Event
- Event ID
- 911
- Quality
- Description
A hydrogen leak occurred at a plant's hydrogen fill station. After having transferred the load to the plant station storage system, a tube trailer pulled away and caught a hydrogen fill line. The driver of the trailer did not properly stow the line after filling and failed to verify that it was clear of the trailer before leaving.
The hydrogen fill line caught on the trailer and subsequently pulled on the distribution manifold which was regulating the distribution of the refuelling station stationary storage tubes. The force exercised by this pull bent the manifold and hydrogen began leaking from a threaded connection and from the hydrogen fill line. The escaping hydrogen did not ignited.
The fire department and the service technician of the hydrogen delivery company stopped the leak at the stationary ground tube storage system by closing the individual valves on each hydrogen storage tube.- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- leak no ignition
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- Component involved
- hose (trailer)
- Failure mode
- rupture, no ignition
- Initiating cause
- impact, rollover, crash
- Root CAUSE analysis
The INITIATING CAUSE was the damage to the pressure control manifold under the force of the flexible line pulled away by the trailer.
The ROOT CAUSE was mainly a negligence of the trailer driver. In absence of a connection breakaway, the accidental scenario of the trailer leaving with the fill line still attached should be given more attention.- Root causes
- Date entry in HIAD
- 30/12/2024
Facility
- Application
- Hydrogen transport and distribution
- Sub-application
- CGH2 tube trailer
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
filling line, manifold
- 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 filling operation had terminated and the trailer was ready to drive away.
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Post-event summary
The manifold and the filling line were damaged.
The damaged hydrogen stationary storage unit was replaced it with a hydrogen tube trailer with concrete barriers installed to provide protection.- Emergency action
6:45 PM The truck trailer driver reported hearing a "pop and hissing sound", stopped the trailer-truck movement, and then promptly left the truck to report the incident.
The local fire department was contacted and the building was evacuated.
8:00 PM The fire department arrived, together with the hydrogen delivery company service technician. The hydrogen leak at the plant's hydrogen ground storage system was stopped by closing the individual valves on each hydrogen storage tube.
10:00 PM, The all clear was given.
Hydrogen operations were restored to the plant the next day
Lesson Learnt
- Lesson Learnt
(i) Trailer drivers need to be trained on delivery procedures and emphasize made aware of the consequence of mishaps related to connections and disconnections.
(ii) The procedures for hydrogen delivery, including the preparatory and the end-of-operations steps, must be site-specific.
(iii) Verification of the proper execution of the actions must be part of the procedure prior to departure, possibly by means of a checklist, to verify that the conditions enabling a safe trailer movement are in place.
In-depth data
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Release temperature [°C]
- 25
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
References
- Sources categories
- H2TOOLS
- Reference & weblink
Event description in the US database H2Tools/Lesson Learned
https://h2tools.org/lessons/hydrogen-delivery-truck-causes-hydrogen-lea…
(accessed October 2024)