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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Release from a LH2 tanker

Event

Event ID
1127
Quality
Description
A LH2 tanker was preparing to unload, when the pressure in the tank rose to about 165 psi (11.3 bar) and caused the burst disc to rupture. The whole tank content was vented to atmosphere.
Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Unignited Hydrogen Release
Nature of the consequences
Leak No Ignition (No additional details provided)
Macro-region
North America
Country
United States
Date
Main component involved?
Prd (Burst Disc)
How was it involved?
Correct Activation
Initiating cause
Over-Pressurisation (Over-Filling)
Root causes
Root CAUSE analysis
The INITIAL CAUSE was the correct opening of the burst disc due to overpressure.
The source attributed the ROOT CAUSE to overfilling.

Facility

Application
Hydrogen Transport And Distribution
Sub-application
LH2 tanker
Hydrogen supply chain stage
Hydrogen Transport (No additional details provided)
All components affected
burst disc
Location type
Open
Operational condition

Emergency & Consequences

Number of injured persons
0
Number of fatalities
0
Environmental damage
0
Currency
US$
Property loss (onsite)
750
Property loss (offsite)
0
Post-event summary
Almost the full LH2 trailer content was lost

Event Nature

Release type
gas
Involved substances (% vol)
H2 100%
Released amount
4055.11248
Actual pressure (MPa)
1.2
Design pressure (MPa)
<1.0
Presumed ignition source
No ignition

References

Reference & weblink

Incident E-2014010004 of the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration PHMSA: <br />
https://portal.phmsa.dot.gov/analytics/saw.dll?Portalpages&PortalPath=%… />
(accessed September 2024)

JRC assessment