Quantitative Consequence Analysis of Selected Accident Scenarios at a Refuelling Station for Hydrogen Vehicles

Abstract

Abstract

The implementation of hydrogen economy and energy systems in any nation will require introduction of a large number of hydrogen refueling stations for hydrogen based automobiles. These will be expected to store a significant inventory of hydrogen on site, either as a compressed gas with pressure of about 750 bar or as a cryogenic liquid at 20 K. Not only does the handling of compressed gases and cryogenic liquids present a host of physical hazards, the high flammability of hydrogen compounds the safety issues many fold. In this work, probable accident scenarios at a typical hydrogen refueling station, like compressed hydrogen leakage and liquid spills followed by their ignition and explosions have been analyzed. Liquid hydrogen spill has been considered to lead to a pool fire while gaseous hydrogen leakage has been assumed to cause a jet fire and the consequences of such accident conditions have been studied through phenomenological models implemented through in-house codes. Such an analysis is expected to be useful when carrying out preliminary safety assessment of hydrogen refueling stations and for the purpose of designing accident prevention and mitigation schemes at any such facility handling a moderately large inventory of hydrogen at a time.