Event
- Event ID
- 1137
- Quality
- Description
- A leak occurred when transferring hydrogen from a trailer to the customer storage. The driver had just completed the pre-fill procedures and was starting to apply pressure to the fill hose, when he heard a leak coming from it. The driver immediately isolated the hose by shutting off the trailer manifold valve. The hose leaked for approximately 1 to 2 seconds. The driver terminated the fill process by using another hose and returned to his home facility.
The leaking transfer hose was inspected and a small leak was detected at the crimped fitting. The hose was purchased new in 2004, last tested in 8/2007 and was due again for test 8/2008. - 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?
- Hose (Trailer)
- How was it involved?
- Leak & Formation Of A Flammable H2-Air Mixture
- Initiating cause
- Material Degradation (Generic)
- Root causes
- Root CAUSE analysis
- The INITIATING CAUSE was the leak of the flexible hose.
The ROOT CAUSE is unknown, the hose was regularly tested, unexpected ageing is the most plausible explanation.
Facility
- Application
- Hydrogen Transport And Distribution
- Sub-application
- CGH2 tube trailer
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- Hydrogen Transfer (No additional details provided)
- All components affected
- Hose
- Location type
- Open
- Location description
- Industrial Area
- Operational condition
- Pre-event occurrences
- The driver had just completed the pre-fill procedures and was starting to apply pressure to the fill hose
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Environmental damage
- 0
- Currency
- US$
- Property loss (onsite)
- 0
- Property loss (offsite)
- 0
Lesson Learnt
- Lesson Learnt
Considering the small leak and very limited amount of hydrogen released, this incident is almost a near miss. According to the report, the failed component, a hose, had been regular inspected and tested, and the operator (the trailer driver) acted promptly and according to the procedure. A good example of how consequence of a leak can be controlled.
Event Nature
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Released amount
- 0.3
- Actual pressure (MPa)
- 18
- Design pressure (MPa)
- 18
- Presumed ignition source
- No ignition
References
- Reference & weblink
Incident I-2008070440 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
- Sources categories
- PHMSA
