Event
- Event ID
- 541
- Quality
- Description
- A road tanker was being loaded with liquid hydrogen from a 15,000 gallon storage tank, when fire broke out after 1 inch rupture disc failed, ignition source was a loose connection in down stream piping. The ignition was not immediate after rupture.
- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- Fire (No additional details provided)
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- 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 opening of a burst disc.
IGNITION SOURE was a loose connection in the vent pipe (the report is unclear, probably a spark was attributed to this loose cconnection).
The report does not explicitely states that the disc failed before the set nominal pressure, but it can be assumed so, ebcause the tank was stil being filled. The ROOT CAUSE is neertheless unknown.
Facility
- Application
- Hydrogen Transport And Distribution
- Sub-application
- LH2 tanker
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- Hydrogen Transfer (No additional details provided)
- All components affected
- burst disc
- Location type
- Unknown
- Operational condition
- Pre-event occurrences
- The tank was being loaded.
The storage quantity given here represents to total quantity in the stationary storage from which the tanker was being loaded.
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Environmental damage
- 0
Lesson Learnt
- Lesson Learnt
- No , because the report does not provide the details required for a conclusion on the causes.
Case 1: the burst disc opened at the set nominal pressure: the tank had been overfilled, ROOT CAUSE = wrong operation.
Case 2: the burst failed prematurely ROOT CAUSE = disc material/component failure or installation failure
Event Nature
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Presumed ignition source
- Mechanical sparks
References
- Reference & weblink
This event was reported in HIAD 1.0 and referenced as from NFPA, 06663.
JRC assessment
- Sources categories
- News
