Safety studies of a hydrogen refuelling station: Determination of the occurrence frequency of the accidental scenarios

At present, the hydrogen vehicles technology appears to have future Prospective for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, the development of such a technology requires appropriate infrastructures for production, Storage and refuelling stages in a refuelling station. This one presents safety challenges due to the hydrogen chemicophysical characteristics. So, to avoid hazards, it is necessary to implement safety practices that, if early adopted in the development of a fuelling station project, can allow very low impact, safety being incorporated in the project itself. However, a drawback is the not sufficient experience and the scarcity of the relevant data collection. To deepen studies about the risk in the above mentioned field, in this paper, for the moment, safety analyses of a high-pressure storage equipment in hydrogen gas refuelling station have been carried out by the integrated use of FMEA, HAZOP and FTA techniques. The work is intended to assess if the refuelling station design taken into consideration is safe enough, at least from the occurrence frequency point of view, as well to constitute a basis for further more refined studies which also consider the consequences aspects, allowing the plant risk assessment. (C) 2009 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.