Despite its promise as a clean energy source, hydrogen requires careful management of safety challenges throughout its value chain. While hydrogen fuel cells are inherently safe, potential risks can arise during the molecule’s production, transportation, refuelling and maintenance – especially where human interaction is involved.
These risks need to be addressed by specialists for gas safety management. The key is to recognise these challenges and implement comprehensive measures to ensure the safe installation, maintenance and operation of hydrogen-related equipment.
Sensing the invisible
One such challenge to consider is hydrogen’s tiny molecular size, which allows it to escape even the tightest confines, including permeating through solid steel. Since hydrogen has a lower density compared to air, it can disperse rapidly when released, potentially forming dangerous gas pockets in elevated areas.
Furthermore, hydrogen is highly reactive; it ignites easily with as little as 0.02 millijoule of energy and has a broad explosive range of 4-77 Vol. %. Nearly invisible in daylight and emitting minimal radiant heat, these fires are normally difficult to detect. Unlike hydrocarbon fires, hydrogen fires produce only water vapour emissions and are odourless, further complicating detection by humans. These characteristics underscore the need for advanced hydrogen detection technologies and expertise.
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