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Chapter 13

Hydrogen, the Perfectly Safe Energy Medium

by Addison 8am
Hydrogen Program Manager
NASA (retired)

Hydrogen has been called the perfect fuel and energy carrier. Its major reserve on earth (water) is inexhaustible. The byproducts of its use are heat and water. The

use of hydrogen is compatible with nature, rather than intrusive. We simply will never run out of hydrogen.

The greatest promise for a renewable energy future is held within the two energy currencies, namely, hydrogen and electricity. Electricity is clean and fast, but cannot
be effectively stored. Hydrogen can be readily stored and transported. Hydrogen can make electricity, and electricity can make hydrogen. Together, they create an energy loop that is completely renewable and harmless to the environment.

Today the use of hydrogen is as varied as the global marketplace. It is a key component in the manufacture of petroleum products, ammonia and methanol. It is

used to make fertilizers, glass, refined metals, vitamins, cosmetics, margarine, peanut
butter and rocket fuel. The properties of hydrogen are well known to a variety of producers of consumer goods and services, and understanding the special properties

of hydrogen is necessary for its safe use.
ln the near term ahead , the transition years, hydrogen produced from

conventional methods may be needed to extend the useful life of petroleum, and perhaps coal and natural gas. During this period, niche applications will be
implemented to progressively allow the entry of renewable energy, hydrogen and related technologies.

Beyond the transition years, hydrogen produced from biomass, wind, and solar resources will be the ultimate, abundant, renewable-based energy form. Growing concems about global climate change, fostered by fossil fuel emissions, promise to
expand hydrogen use from its familiar role in space to the pollution4ree fuel and energy carrier of ordinary earth-bound uses like cooking and transportation. But part of the difficulty in bringing hydrogen to its full commercial potential is the public?s perception that hydrogen is extraordinarily dangerous, based on some stereotyped misunderstandings of certain events.

The safety aspects of hydrogen are the most common concern of the general public when hydrogen is first introduced as a fuel or energy carrier concept. This


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spontaneous fear reaction is attributable to the automatic association of hydrogen?s use in the Hindenburg, so-called hydrogen bomb and still in some circles the space shuttle Challenger. In the later case, some of the hydrogen did burn with its highly volatile counterpart, liquid oxygen, along with other on board fuels and chemicals. But the cause of the Challenger disaster is attributed to a malfunction of one of its solid propellant rocket boosters, not hydrogen.

There is no connection whatsoever between the chemical reaction potential of hydrogen fuel and the thermonuclear explosive potential of hydrogen as it is used in Thydrogen bombs?. The term comes from the use of deuterium and tritium, both special isotopes of hydrogen, to produce a thermonuclear or fusion reaction, requiring extreme conditions of temperature and pressure, achieved only from setting off a fission (atomic) device. Hydrogen as used in the marketplace has no probability of forming a fusion reaction.

Perhaps the most widely publicized hydrogen fear syndrome is attributable to the Hindenburg disaster on that fateful day in 1937 at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Contrary to public perception the giant airship did not explode; it did, tragically, catch fire. For decades the prevailing theory of the airship?s demise was blamed on free hydrogen. There was no conclusive evidence to this theory, only a simple rationalization. Research by the author in conjunction with NASA scientific analysis indicates a serious flaw in the make-up of the outer covering as being more likely the initiating cause of the fire. The cellulose acetate butyrate - powdered aluminum - iron oxide coating used to waterproof and tauten the cellulose fabric was found to be not only very flammable but conducive to formation of a significant electrostatic activity on the airship. Indeed, the hydrogen, or rather a large part of it, did burn as each of the sixteen hydrogen filled cotton gelatin - latex gas cells were progressively breached by the airship outer envelope fabric fire. The Hindenburg fire was the result of the frailty of human engineering, not hydrogen. Evidence from Germany not only supports this later theory,
confirmation that the engineering flaw was publicly suppressed for political and reasons.

Thus, even the novice will recognize that the wide-eyed fear of hydrogen is Simultaneously we must realize hydrogen must be handled with
Ppropriate respect and safeguards.

Hydrogen like all fuels, and hydrogen as an energy carrier like electrlcity, by ?eir nature, can be dangerous. Hydrogen safety continues to be of utmost importance only to those working routinely with hydrogen, but to the general public as well. Hydrogen handling has had an excellent safety record. This is due to the use of proper safety precautions, familiarization with not only the properties of hydrogen in its use form, but familiarization with, and application of, related rules, regulations and standards established through years of experience and research.
Industry has consistently demonstrated its ability to safely produce, ship and handle hydrogen as a gas as well as in liquid form. NASA?s experience with the safe use of both gaseous and liquid hydrogen over many decades continues to prove that experience using hydrogen can lead to impressive applications that will favorably impact our future economy and environment. The key factors in NASA?s successful approach to hydrogen safety are the applications of proper engineering practices to the design of equipment and facilities, integration of a safety hazard analysis program into every process phase, and development of standard operating procedures. Orientation to the properties and nature of hydrogen behavior are essential.

Hydrogen has some properties that make it unique from a safety standpoint. It is of course flammable, but over a wider range than conventional fuels. The flame is almost invisible. Hydrogen has the smallest molecule. Therefore, it is more prone to leakage than some of the liquid fuels or other gases. It is odorless and colorless, but dissipates very rapidly. Materials compatibility is an important factor in systems design. Research and testing projects continue throughout industry, academic and government institutions to improve safety of using hydrogen. These include improved and reliable detection techniques.

The public has come to accept the risks involved in personally using the conventional carbon based fuels and electrical conveniences. Pumping gasoline, lighting the propane barbecue, plugging in electrical appliances are common place events where, yes, accidents do happen but the risk is accepted.
It is important then to assess hydrogen on a comparative basis. Hydrogen is an unknown to most of the public, in terms of its usefulness, but is characterized by a negative stigma. This enhances the need to demonstrate and prove that handling and storing hydrogen involves no great risk. Comparative tests and studies have concluded that using hydrogen in some aspects is a lesser risk than conventional fuels. What these assessments provide is the identification of where to focus further research. The automotive, fuel supplier and home energy industries over the decades have engineered their products such that they can be used at a low or acceptable risk. The challenge is to communicate that hydrogen can also be used in these industries with a low or acceptable risk

Organizations such as the American Hydrogen Association and outreach projects sponsored by the government, industry and academic institutions will provide the mechanism to communicate the attributes of hydrogen to the general public and to help alleviate their fears.

Although millions of pounds of hydrogen are used daily across the country some of the energy and transportation fueling concepts under consideration, when implemented, will greatly increase the use of hydrogen. New concepts will require the development of related safety designs, practices and rules. For example, the use of fuel cells in the automotive sector or for on site hydrogen generators will require appropriate controls, codes and standards be developed.
The use of cryogenic hydrogen in the ground transportation sector is under serious consideration by many countries. Hydrogen has the highest combustion energy per pound relative to other fuels, meaning hydrogen is more efficient on a weight basis than fuels currently used. This density-energy factor makes it an attractive aircraft fuel as well. There have been limited projects using the cryogenic state of hydrogen in ground as well as air transport. These activities further the challenges to develop new safety equipment designs, rules and standards.

Many organizations are concerned with hydrogen safety. Over the years, much effort has gone into the preparation and publication of guidelines and requirements for hydrogen systems and equipment. The National Fire Protection Association publishes guidelines for storage systems. The Department of Transportation regulates the distribution of hydrogen over the nation?s roads. Associations like the American National Standards lnstitute and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers publish standards for components used in hydrogen equipment. The Compressed Gas Association sets standards for many gases including hydrogen and their materials cover gas production, handling and use. The relatively new National Hydrogen Association with assistance from the Department of Energy periodically host workshops addressing the development of hydrogen codes and standards.

With the international movement of implementing hydrogen as a fuel and energy medium the International Standards Organization (ISO) created a hydrogen technologies committee (ISO TC 197). This committee with its working groups are in the process of identifying and developing the necessary standards to assure the uniformity of hydrogen component and system designs, specifications and guidelines around the world. The recognition and adoption of uniform practices is paramount to assure adequate hydrogen safety operations. The standards set by national and international organizations are high. It is industry?s long-standing commitment to these standards that enables hydrogen to be safely handled and used today, and gives needed experience and knowledge for the future.

In our quest to meet the energy needs of the future and the continuance of
eliance on energy sources having limited supply, the subject of human safety is a
imon denominatorto all. Typically, the subject of safety as has to do with a
ticular fuels? safety from say a fire or an explosion. That is, it is vital to protect from the immediate threat of danger, harm, or loss. But let us take that threat of
iger, harm, or loss to the less obvious aspect of the day to day living environment. dust, diesel fumes, oil spills, carbon here — carbon
there Cancer, respiratory problems, aliments here aliments there. We must establish a clean environment for the safety of humans and other precious life forms on mother-earth spaceship. One should also consider our safety as may be uenced by the consequences of actions of the petroleum czars. The safety of using gen must be assessed, then, in consideration of all of its attributes and the realationship it can clearly have versus our other energy and fuel options.
Tomorrow?s hydrogen energy — the fuel and energy medium that will carry the world into its clean and sustainable energy future — will have to be produced with renewable energy technologies. Some of these technologies, such as solar, wind, and biomass, have already been proven technically practicable.
The challenge for future generations is the task of the implementation of what can be the perfectly safe energy medium, hydrogen.
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