Skip to main content
Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Fire on a hydrogen compressor

Event

Event ID
92
Quality
Description
The event occurred during the disconnection of the hydrogen compressor for maintenance.
Two deaths and three injured workers were the consequences.
The cause(s) of the event are unknown
.
Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
Fire (No additional details provided)
Macro-region
South America
Country
Venezuela
Date
Main component involved?
Compressor / Booster / Pump
How was it involved?
Explosion (H2-Air Mixture)
Initiating cause
Unknown
Root causes
Unknown (No additional details provided)

Facility

Application
Petrochemical Industry
Sub-application
Generic refinery process
Hydrogen supply chain stage
Hydrogen Compression (No additional details provided)
All components affected
hydrogen compressor
Location type
Unknown
Location description
Industrial Area
Operational condition
Pre-event occurrences
The disconnection of the hydrogen compressor was done to allow maintenance.

Emergency & Consequences

Number of injured persons
3
Number of fatalities
2
Emergency action
The system was borught in a safe condition by venting tank content through a remote operation. How the leak was ' noticed' was not reported.

Event Nature

Release type
gas
Involved substances (% vol)
H2 100%
Presumed ignition source
Not reported

References

Reference & weblink

Event description in French database ARIA<br />
https://www.aria.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/accident/31548/<br />
(accessed September 2020)

JRC assessment