Event
- Event ID
- 263
- Quality
- Description
- The rupture disc installed on a liquid hydrogen tank failed, in a plant producing organic chemicals, during the weekly shut down. The hydrogen ignited at the exit of the exhaust chimney. The fire and the gas release were stopped by simply closing a valve.
- 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
- France
- Date
- Main component involved?
- Prd (Burst Disc)
- How was it involved?
- Premature Activation
- Initiating cause
- Unknown
- Root causes
- Unknown (No additional details provided)
- Root CAUSE analysis
- The INITIATING CAUSE was the activation of a rupture disc.
It is not known if this was a pre-mature activation (disc failure) or a safety-event triggered by overpressure.
The ROOT CAUSE is unknown.
Facility
- Application
- Chemical Industry
- Sub-application
- Inorganic chemicals products
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- Hydrogen Storage (No additional details provided)
- All components affected
- burst disc
- Location type
- Confined
- Location description
- Industrial Area
- Operational condition
- Pre-event occurrences
- The incident occurred during the week end, when the plant was shutdown.
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Environmental damage
- 0
- Property loss (onsite)
- negligible
- Post-event summary
- Only damge was he loss of hydrogen
- Emergency action
- The resulting fire was allowed to “burn off” the hydrogen remaining in the trailer.
The videos show intervention of fire brigades with water jets.
The airport was shutdown for approximately 1 hour, some flights were diverted mid-air, and the roadways in the area closed.
The DOT report specifies that the day after the hydrogen trailer company perofmrned a control release of the hydrogen stil in teh trailer, for a total of 25000 pounds. (approximately 1100 kg, much more than the value provided by PHMSA). It probably relates to th total capacity of two trailers. The measures was needed to be able to take away the damaged trailers.
Event Nature
- Release type
- Liquid
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Presumed ignition source
- Not reported
- Deflagration
- N
- High pressure explosion
- N
- High voltage explosion
- N
References
- Reference & weblink
Event description in the French database ARIA<br />
<br />
https://www.aria.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/accident/2915/ <br />
(accessed December 2020)<br />
JRC assessment
- Sources categories
- ARIA
