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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Fire on a hydrogen gasholder

Event

Event ID
1078
Quality
Description
[NOTE of HIAD Validator: One source speak of a hydrogen gasometer, Spanish news speak in general of gas, others of natural gas or coal gas; considering the main product of the factory, it was chosen for this last version, but is rather doubtful]

This incident occurred at a coal gas storage (gasometer) system of a producer of foundry coke. The gasholder was a variable capacity tank, rising in height depending on the amount of gas stored, with a maximum capacity of 24,000 m3.
Company sources said that the fire was caused as a result of a spark and a gas leak that was being repaired by the operators.
The alarm went off at about 10:30 when the emergency services received notice of a fire at the gas tank. The fire fighters worked to avoid an explosion. At 11:30, the real possibility of an explosion forced the emergency management to evacuate all people living and working within a radius of 500 metres.
The initial fire slightly affected two operators who later re-joined the company.
Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
Fire (No additional details provided)
Macro-region
Europe
Country
Spain
Date
Main component involved?
Gasometer/Gasholder
How was it involved?
Leak & Formation Of A Flammable H2-Air Mixture
Initiating cause
Wrong Operation
Root causes
Unknown (No additional details provided)

Facility

Application
Chemical Industry
Sub-application
foundry coke production
Hydrogen supply chain stage
Hydrogen Storage (No additional details provided)
All components affected
gasometer
Location type
Open
Location description
Industrial Area
Operational condition
Pre-event occurrences
According to the company the storage system was checked every day. It ws in the process of being checked when the leak was detected.

Emergency & Consequences

Number of injured persons
2
Number of fatalities
0

Event Nature

Release type
gas mixture (coke oven gas)
Involved substances (% vol)
H2 51%,
CH4 34%,
CO - 10%,
C2H4 - 5%
Presumed ignition source
Mechanical sparks

References

Reference & weblink

El Mundo News of 18 November 2011<br />
https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/11/18/paisvasco/1321599247.html<br />
(accessed August 2023)

PSI Database ENSAD<br />
https://www.psi.ch/en/ta/ensad<br />
(not online since 2024)<br />

Primary source lost (HINT)

JRC assessment