In the HYPOS project INES, project partners have been researching the safety of hydrogen applications for over three and a half years. At the end of the project, a hydrogen safety manual has been created, which is to serve as a guideline for future hydrogen projects. The manual contains safety and organizational information to enable the safe operation of facilities for hydrogen production, transport, storage and use.
“Safety in the handling of hydrogen is a basic prerequisite for hydrogen application projects“, says Dr. Hartmut Neumann, project coordinator from TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH, explaining the project approach. “Across all elements of the hydrogen value chain it is necessary to incorporate safety aspects into process-specific issues.” The research work in the INES HYPOS project therefore plays a significant role beyond the project network.
For more than three and a half years, INES project partners TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH, Technische Universität Dresden, Dr.-Ing. Veenker Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg and Fraunhofer IMWS focussed on the safety of new hydrogen technologies. The goal of the joint project was to analyze specific dangers of hydrogen technologies and to develop a methodology for an integrative safety assessment of the technical and technological value chain of ‘power-to-x’ technologies. The focus of the INES project was to accompany other HYPOS projects with regards to safety issues. Thus stakeholders could be provided with a holistic approach to record and assess risks.
“The manual gives users, manufacturers and project developers not only an initial orientation, but also specific advice in getting started with the topic of hydrogen safety at all stages of the value chain”, says Neumann, explaining the project result. “It provides on the one hand, the basis for considering safety-relevant aspects and can on the other, serve as the point of departure for further technical discussion on how to deal with real and relevant risks of a hydrogen economy.
The manual forms an important building block for the adaptation and optimization of already existing and newly-developed hydrogen infrastructure. In the future, the hydrogen safety manual will continue to add value to current and future HYPOS projects. Through constant exchange in the HYPOS network and corresponding information about safety aspects, it further sensitizes stakeholders to safety issues.
About the HYPOS project
Since 2013, HYPOS e.V. has been a network for all those interested in the hydrogen economy. With over 145 members, HYPOS combines the potential of innovative SMEs with the competencies of industry as well as the expertise of universities and research institutes. Together, all HYPOS members pursue the goal of establishing a cross-sectoral green hydrogen economy. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the amount of 45 million euros, 34 project consortia are researching innovation potential from electricity provision to production, storage, distribution and use of green hydrogen in the chemical, refinery, mobility and energy supply sectors. With the implementation of a “H2 transfer region Leipzig’, the expansion plan of the central Germany H2 pipeline network as well as education projects such as ‘HYPOS in schools’, HYPOS is accelerating the industrial use as well as acceptance of green hydrogen applications in the central Germany hydrogen region.