Skip to main content
Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Explosion in a metal treatment unit

Event

Event ID
536
Quality
Description
A faulty relay allowed hydrogen gas to enter an annealing furnace before startup. The mixture exploded at furnace ignition.

[Zalosh and Short, 1978]
Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
Macro-region
North America
Country
United States
Date
Main component involved?
Reactor / Oven / Furnace / Test Chamber
How was it involved?
Interrnal Explosion
Initiating cause
Malfunctioning (Electrical/Electronic Component)
Root causes
Unknown (No additional details provided)

Facility

Application
Steel And Metals Industry
Sub-application
metal annealing
Hydrogen supply chain stage
Location type
Confined
Location description
Unknown
Operational condition

Emergency & Consequences

Number of injured persons
0
Number of fatalities
0
Currency
US$
Property loss (onsite)
75000

Event Nature

Ignition delay
Open flame

References

Reference & weblink

Table II - Industrial Incidetns of Appendix A of Zalosh and Short<br />
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HYDROGEN FIRE AND EXPLOSION INCIDENTS<br />
Quarterly Report No. 2 for Period December 1, 1977 - February 28, 1978<br />
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6566131<br />
(accessed September 2020)

JRC assessment