Novel technology to control the fire and explosion hazards of hydrogen fuel

Supervisor: Dr Y Wu, Professor M Pourkashanian and K Hughes.

Safe pressure relief systems are essential to protect high pressure storage tanks in emergency situations. Hydrogen fuel has wide flammability limits and very low minimum ignition energy; therefore it could easily be ignited during the pressure release phase using the traditional pressure systems and therefore poses a significant fire and explosion hazard - both to the storage tanks themselves and to surrounding equipment and buildings.

This project will develop advanced hydrogen pressure relief systems, incorporating some novel safety measures to prevent fires and explosions during hydrogen tank pressure relief processes. The project will involve experimental investigations and chemical kinetic modelling of the mixtures of hydrogen/hydrocarbon/quenching agent.

For further information contact Dr Yajue Wu (y.wu@sheffield.ac.uk).