Overview of Hydrogen Safety Study

ABSTRACT

Hydrogen is viewed as the most promising energy carrier which will be a key pillar to future low-carbon societies. However, hydrogen is prone to leakage and explosion due to the small molecule and wide flammable range. Therefore, hydrogen safety studies should be prioritized to demonstrate that widespread use of hydrogen technologies will have the same or lower levels of risk as conventional fossil fuel technologies. In this talk, the hydrogen energy features and development status are briefly introduced. Hydrogen properties related to safety are compared with conventional fuels such as gasoline and natural gas. Then, hydrogen safety studies at Shandong University are summarized, including room temperature and cryogenic hydrogen supersonic jets, jet flames and explosions, and quantitative risk assessment.

Li Xuefang is an associate professor at the Institute for Advanced Technology (Institute of Thermal Science and Technology) at Shandong University. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Thermophysics from Tsinghua University in 2016. In 2014-2015 and 2018, he worked as a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, USA, where he participated in the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program. He worked on the hydrogen safety study with collaborators to facilitate the commercialization of hydrogen energy. He is a member of the China Renewable Energy Society (CRES), a member of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE), a member of the China Fire Protection Association, and a member of the Youth Working Committee of the Chinese Society of Power Engineering.