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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	NIA2_SGN0027
Title	Ignition Probability in Small Services
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Hydrogen and Fuel Cells(Hydrogen, Other infrastructure and systems R&D) 100%;
Research Types	Applied Research and Development 100%
Science and Technology Fields	ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Project Contact No email address given SGN - Scotland
Award Type	Network Innovation Allowance
Funding Source	Ofgem
Start Date	01 September 2022
End Date	31 March 2023
Duration	ENA months
Total Grant Value	£93,700
Industrial Sectors	Energy
Region	Scotland
Programme	Network Innovation Allowance
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Project Contact , SGN - Scotland (100.000%)
	Industrial Collaborator	Project Contact , Wales and West Utilities (0.000%) Project Contact , Northern Gas Networks (0.000%) Project Contact , Cadent Gas (0.000%) Project Contact , SGN (0.000%)
Web Site	https://smarter.energynetworks.org/projects/NIA2_SGN0027
Objectives	The project will consist of:1. A literature review surveying the properties of hydrogen and methane followed by a review of the environment and equipment likely to be found in buildings associated with small services. 2. An experimental programme which will include a simulated representative environment ignition source and hydrogen gas leak.3. A probability study on ignition potential based on findings from the literature review and experimental programme. The work is split into five work packs and scheduled for seven months.WP1 - Set up and Project managementThis would comprise the project setup and running, communications, and update meetings.WP2 - Literature reviewThe literature review comprises two parts: the properties of hydrogen and methane and the environment and equipment likely to be found in buildings associated with small services.Review gas propertiesThis work examines recent and relevant projects relating to relative ignition in hydrogen and methane. It will also examine the differences between methane and hydrogen in ignition likelihood.Sources of information could include but not be limited to: H21 reports BEIS reports HyDeploy reports General literatureReview service environmentThe second part of the literature review will examine the service environment. It will explore questions such as where and how are services run? Where do they terminate? What equipment and potential ignition sources are adjacent to services? And then the environment inside the properties supplied by these services and similar questions asked, such as where and how are downstream pipes run? What equipment/appliances and potential ignition sources are adjacent to these pipes? The study will also include a review of incident records with natural gas to determine the most likely/relevant scenarios for this hazard.This work will inform the experimental evidence gathering and the probability study.WP3 - Evidence gatheringThis work package will form an experimental programme of works which could include a simulated environment such as a leaking pipework located next to an ignition source (such as an electrical component from a meter box or an appliance). The work programme will comprise a range of tests to get additional evidence to fill gaps identified in the literature.Gas detectors will be used to first map out the gas concentrations within the environment in real-time, building up a picture of how the hazard develops over time with small and large leaks. Once the development of gas concentrations is understood, ignition sources could be added to identify the consequences of ignitions for different concentrations.The work will likely build upon work carried out by DNV as part of the Hy4Heat and H21 projects, which looked at the build-up of gas concentrations in meter boxes and properties during leakage events. That work used gas sampling from a small number of set locations to draw out samples of gas from the environment under test, which will have had an effect on the environment itself. The tests proposed here will use multiple ATEX rated sensor heads in the test environment to map out the change in gas concentration in real time.WP4 - Develop relative probabilitiesThis work package looks to take in theory from the literature search and results from the experimental programme and use that to feed into a hazard identification process to quantify the relative risks of ignition in methane or hydrogen.The ignition probability is a complex calculationinvolving the likelihood of release of the potentially flammable liquid/gas, the probability over distance of the liquid/gas being dispersed within the Upper and Lower Flammability limits, the probability of exposure to a live ignition source, and the probability of ignition given that it is exposed to a live ignition source. This then needs to be evaluated at a system level, accounting for all potential scenarios (leak locations, ignition source types and locations, dispersion parameters, etc.).The purpose of this work pack is to identify and review, via a desk-top study, the existing data sources for similar equipment, locations and sectors to identify relevant ignition source probabilities for equipment in normal operation and fault/failure mode by assessing relevant causes of ignition and ignition modes. These ignition causes could be intentional causes where equipment is expected to possess an ignition mode under normal operations (e.g. producing hot surfaces, mechanical impact and friction, electric discharges, or hot gaseous combustion products) within the area of potential flammability. In addition, the ignition causes may also be unintentional and result from failure modes resulting in any of these characteristics that would result in a potential to cause ignition.It is proposed that following an indicative site or environment survey, a hazard identification process using a combination of HAZID and FMECA or FTA be carried out for the illustrative area of interest to identify all potential ignition sources and ignition modes, both discreet and continuous modes. The potential generic causes of ignition will be considered in the context of equipment and facilities identified in the area of concern from the illustrative site survey within the identified lower and upper flammability (and, if required, explosive) limits. The probabilities of each ignition mode will be estimated based on the best available data identified through the literature review. WP5 - ReportingReporting will include monthly updates and a final project report. Presentation results will also be fed into the EUSE group and disseminated to the wider hydrogen audience if required. The objective of this work is to determine the probability of spontaneous hydrogen gas ignition in a small service building environment. The evidence produced in this project will feed directly into a QRA being developed for the Hydrogen Village Trial and possibly subsequent large-scale hydrogen heating programs.
Abstract	The ignition probability of hydrogen has already been assessed in the H100 Hydrogen Consequence project, Hy4Heat and H21 projects however these have generally been in hydrogen rich atmospheres with the risk being a vapour cloud deflagration or detonation and less so on spontaneous ignition of hydrogen leaks which represents a less significant risk.The objective of this Project is to gain a better understanding of ignition sources and ignition probabilities to determine the potential for hydrogen gas leaks to ignite immediately orspontaneously in buildings associated with small services (i.e.domestic and light commercial).
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	14/10/22