Explosion of a Hydrogen Tank in a Steel Manufacturing Plant
The 10 m3 hydrogen storage tank at the hydrogen station belonging to the oxygen plant exploded during production operation. The hydrogen storage tank was installed and used by the plant in 1995, with a design pressure of 1,5 MPa, a volume of 10 m^3, a minimum wall thickness of 12 mm, a total length of 4576 mm (height) and an inner diameter of 1800 mm. After the explosion, there were no metal components left, except for the cement prefabricated foundation of the tank base. The main body of the hydrogen storage tank ruptured into 10 pieces, with most of the debris flying away from the site and all debris scattered separately within a 300m radius from the centre of the explosion; 46 pieces of debris were collected.
Event Date
February 28, 2003
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Cause Comments
The results of this test determined that the electrolytic cell was misconnected between positive and negative electrodes during inspection and maintenance (replacement) works. It is suspected that the electrician inverted the electrodes when replacing the cables. This led to an interchange in the hydrogen and oxygen production system.
Facility Information
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Components Involved
water electrolysis, hydrogen storage tank
Storage/Process Medium
Storage/Process Quantity
10
Storage/Process Units
Design Pressure
1
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Operational Condition
Pre-event Summary
Maintenance was executed on the electrolyzer before the incident
Currency
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Unknown
Event Nature
Emergency Action
unknown
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
References
Report available at the site of the kns.csnki.net:
https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFD&dbname=CJFD200…
(last retrieved 20.02.2023)