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BakerRisk recently surveyed industry organizations on steps they have taken or plan to take to help mitigate workplace hazards during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since organizations have not previously experienced or planned for operating under these circumstances; this survey was intended to help industry openly share actions taken in response. Running from May 21st – June 8th, this survey received a range of responses from R&D facilities and corporate offices to large O&G/Petrochem/Chem facilities with over 1,000 employees. We appreciate the numerous responses and comments to the survey, the results of which demonstrated a strong commitment to timely implementation of preventive actions to protect employees, contractors, and visitors.
In previous articles in this series, BakerRisk discussed the hydrogen economy and high-level hazards. Additionally, best practices and general guidance for performing a PHA on hydrogen processing facilities to accurately assess all the risks and consequences associated with hydrogen were also covered. This article will focus on the materials and potential damage mechanisms and hazards associated with the operation of equipment exposed to hydrogen, including pressure vessels, pipelines, piping, and other equipment handling hydrogen.
Hydrogen has been used in petroleum refining, fertilizer production, chemical synthesis and many more applications for centuries. Throughout hydrogen’s use, releases have resulted in numerous explosion and fire incidents. Hydrogen is becoming more prevalent as a low carbon energy solution since it can be used both as an energy carrier as well as a replacement for raw materials. As hydrogen is adopted across more industries and applications, continued emphasis on preventing release and escalation is essential.
Test programs, such as those discussed above, have provided significant validation of the current methodologies used to analyze hydrogen hazards. Despite the enormous amount of work done by BakerRisk, the ERC, and others to understand the hazards associated with hydrogen, there is still more work to be done.
As the biofuels industry continues to expand in support of global decarbonization mandates and objectives, facility owners and developers are being challenged to balance production efficiency, operational reliability, and personnel safety.
The promise of hydrogen as the simplest of molecules and perhaps the most challenging and perplexing of energy carriers has the clean energy world diving into hydrogen applications across all major energy categories.
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