• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.416-420
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• 2021

Hazardous area classification design is required to reduce the explosion risk in process plants. Among the international design guidelines, only IEC 60079-10-1 proposes a new type of zone, namely zone 2 NE, to prevent explosion hazards. We studied how to meet the zone 2 NE grade for a facility handling hydrogen gas, which is considered as most dangerous among explosive gases. Zone 2 NE can be achieved considering the grade of release, as well as the availability and effectiveness of ventilation, which are factors indicative of the facility condition and its surroundings. In the present study, we demonstrate that zone 2 NE can be achieved when the degree of ventilation is high by accessing temperature, pressure, and size of leak hole. The release characteristic can be derived by substituting the process condition of the hydrogen gas facility. The equations are summarized considering relation of the operating temperature, operating pressure, and size of leak hole. Through this relationship, the non-hazardous condition can be realized from the perspective of inherent safety by the combination of each parameter before the initial design of the hydrogen gas facility.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.47-60
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• 2021

Hydrogen is a next-generation energy source, and according to the roadmap for activating the hydrogen economy, it is expected that industries to stably produce, store, and transport of hydrogen as well as the supply of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be made rapidly. Accordingly, safety measures for accidents of hydrogen vehicles in confined spaces such as tunnels are required. In this study, as part of a study to ensure the safety of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in road tunnels, a basic investigation and research on the risk of fire and explosion due to gas leakage and hydrogen tank rupture among various hazards caused by hydrogen fuel cell vehicle accidents in tunnels was conducted. The following results were obtained. In the event of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle accidents, the gas release rate depends on the orifice diameter of TPRD, and when the gas is ignited, the maximum heat release rate reaches 3.22~51.36 MW (orifice diameter: 1~4 mm) depending on the orifice diameter but the duration times are short. Therefore, it was analyzed that there was little increase in risk due to fire. As the overpressure of the gas explosion was calculated by the equivalent TNT method, in the case of yield of VCE of 0.2 is applied, the safety threshold distance is analyzed to be about 35 m, and number of the equivalent fatalities are conservatively predicted to reach tens of people.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2004

Redox characteristics of metal oxide for hydrogen production by thermochemical water-splitting were investigated. $CuFe_2O_4$ as a redox pair that had a different molar ratio of Cu and Fe were prepared by co-precipitation method. Hydrogen production consisted of water-splitting step and thermal reduction step was performed below 1200K. Redox characteristics of Cu-ferrites were studied using the thermal gravimetric analysis technique. Also, structure change of Cu-ferrite during thermal reduction was investigated using the high temperature controlled XRD. In results, oxygen release of Cu-ferrite during the thermal reduction was initiated at oxygen site combined with Cu. Consequently, oxygen release amount of Cu-ferrite was increased with increase of Cu molar ratio of Cu-ferrite. It was found that thermal reduction of Cu-ferrite was begun at $875^\circ{C}$. It was confirmed that structure of Cu-ferrite was changed to metal and cation excess metal oxide during the thermal reduction step.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.439-449
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• 2021

The recent reduction in greenhouse gases, interest in environmental pollution such as low-carbon emission policies is increasing. Accordingly, the penetration rate of eco-friendly vehicles, including hydrogen battery vehicles capable of reducing carbon emission, is increasing, and thus it is required for disaster prevention and safety-related measures. In this study, the degree of risk for the concentration distribution of hydrogen when leaking hydrogen fuel vehicles according to ventilation conditions was analyzed through numerical analysis, limited to places in parking lots. As a result, when only one hydrogen tank was released, the combustible volume ratio of hydrogen in the underground parking lot was up to 8.6%, and as ventilation continued, the volume ratio of combustible hydrogen decreased to less than 1% after 150 seconds, indicating that mechanical ventilation is essential. In the case of simultaneous release or stage release of three hydrogen tanks, the final combustible volume ratio of hydrogen is similar, but the increase in the combustible volume ratio of hydrogen in the early stage of release is low, and further research is expected.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.812-824
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• 2021

In order to reduce risks from the Steam Generator Tube Rupture (SGTR) accident and to meet safety targets, various measures have been analyzed to minimize the amount of fission product (FP) release. In this paper, we propose an introduction of a Containment Filtered Venting System (CFVS) connected to the steam generator secondary side, which can reduce the amount of FP release while minimizing adverse effects identified in the previous studies. In order to compare the effect of new equipment with the existing strategy, accident simulations using MELCOR were performed. As a result of simulations, it is confirmed that CFVS operation lowers FP release into the environment, and the release fractions are lower (minimum 0.6% of the initial inventory for Cs) than that of the strategy which intends to depressurize the primary system directly (minimum 15.2% for Cs). The sensitivity analyses identify that refill of the CFVS vessel is a dominant contributor reducing the amount of FP released. As the new strategy has the possibility of hydrogen combustion and detonation in CFVS, the installation of an igniter inside the CFVS vessel may be considered in reducing such hydrogen risk.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.67-79
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• 2008

Global warming, which is one of the most serious challenges, has been the subject of intense debate and concern for many scientists, policy-makers, and citizens for at least the past decade. To protect the health and economic well-being of current and future generations, we must reduce our emissions like carbon dioxide. Alternatives to achieve an energy future without serious global warming are to change to clean and renewable sources of energy like the wind, the sun lights, rivers, the biomass, hydrogen, and oceans. To identify some of the key and new environmental impacts associated with renewable energy and hydrogen energy, we set up the new conceptual methodology. Specifically, new identified environmental and health impacts are related with the usage of hydrogen energy. When comparing with fossil fuel, the renewable energies can reduce the release of carbon dioxide when they are used except hydrogen produced from fossil fuel. However, all renewable energy technologies are not appropriate to all applications or locations. Our results suggest that all of alternatives to replace fossil fuel can release the several global and local impacts although they seems to be smaller than the impacts from fossil fuel. Therefore, the quantitative and detail analysis to assess environmental impacts of the alternative energies might be useful to make our decision for the future energy against the global warming.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.12-17
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• 2010

Numerical simulations were performed for the prediction of the flame structure during the interaction between hydrogen and hydrocarbon flames. A counterflow flow geometry was introduced to establish the interacting two flames. Methane was used as a representative hydrocarbon fuel in this study. A well-known numerical code for the counterflow flame, OPPDIF, was used for the simulations. The detailed chemistry was adopted to predict the flame structure reasonably. The interaction of two one-dimensional premixed flames established in counterflow burner was investigated with the global strain rate and velocity ratio. It was found that the maximum temperature located near the methane flame surface while the heat release rate of methane was lower than hydrogen flame. The flame thickness become narrow with increasing the velocity ratio while the global strain rate was fixed. The local strain rate and heat release rate at the methane flame surface were correlated with the global strain rate, while those at the hydrogen flame were not correlated with the global strain rate. However, the maximum temperature of the interacting flames was correlated with the global strain rate.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.346-353
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• 2013

Objectives: The goal of this study is to identify the distribution of the foliar fluorine content of vegetation surrounding the area where hydrofluoric acid was accidently released in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do on September 27, 2012. In addition, it also aims to estimate the concentration of hydrogen fluoride in the air on the day of the accident. Methods: Samples of plant leaves were collected on October 7, 2012 within 1 km from the site where the accident occurred. These samples were analyzed for soluble fluorine ion with an ion selective electrode. The ambient concentration of hydrogen fluoride was calculated using the fluoride content in the plant via the dose-rate equation (${\Delta}F$=KCT). Results: The arithmetic and geometric means of the concentrations were 2158.2 and 1183.7mg F $kg^{-1}$ for leaves and, 2.4 and 1.1 ppm HF for the air, respectively. The highest concentration of hydrogen fluoride in the air was 14.7 ppm, which is higher than the maximum concentration reported by the government (1 ppm) and the exposure limit (ceiling, 3 ppm). The concentrations of both fluorine and hydrogen fluoride decreased with increasing distance from the accident site and showed a significant decrease outside of a 500m radius from the site (p <0.05). Conclusions: The area around the accident site was highly polluted with hydrogen fluoride according to the results of this study. Considering the persistency of hydrogen fluoride in the environment, long-term monitoring and environmental impact assessment should be pursued.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2024

In workplaces handling flammable gas such as hydrogen, hazardous area is determined through KS C IEC 60079-10-1 standard. Because this standard determines the hazardous distance based on the release characteristic regardless of the type of gas, indoor/outdoor conditions, and atmospheric conditions, concerns are being raised about the effectiveness. In this study, simulations (PHAST, HyRAM) were performed to calculate the hazardous distance for hydrogen under various release characteristics and atmospheric conditions, and compared these results to IEC standard log-log graph. Also, we performed regression analysis according to each result. we found that the simulation results were 0.6 to 3.8 times less than the IEC standard, presented convenient linear regression equations. In addition, We confirmed that the results of hazardous distance varied based on wind velocity and atmospheric stability at the same release characteristic. In addition, we derived linear regression equations for release characteristics and hazardous distance that can be conveniently utilized. So, when classifying hazardous area in workplaces where they handle the hydrogen, the integrated graph and linear regression equation are helpful for confirming the hazardous area. Moreover, it is expected that the economic burden will be minimized by being able to classify reasonable hazardous area and to greatly reduce the risk of hydrogen explosion.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.394-402
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• 2008

The Effects of Cu or Ni additives co-added with Ce/Zr mixed oxides to Fe-based oxide mediums were investigated for the purpose of the replacement of Rh, a precious metal additive, in terms of hydrogen storage(reduction by hydrogen) and release(water splitting). From the results of temperature programmed reduction(TPR), initial reduction rate of iron oxide in the mediums was greatly increased with the addition of Cu, similar to that of Rh. For isothermal redox reaction of 10 cycles, the total amounts of hydrogen evolved in water splitting steps for the mediums added with Cu or Ni were highly maintained at ca. 7 mmol/g-material, even though the oxidation rates were slightly lower than that for the medium added with Rh. This result suggests that the replacement of Rh to Cu or Ni is possible as a co-additive for Fe-based oxide mediums.