Hydrogen Excess Flow Valve

Completed

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells(Hydrogen, Other infrastructure and systems R&D)

Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
SGN

Network Innovation Allowance

Ofgem

01 August 2019

31 August 2021

ENA months

£130,000

Energy

South East

Network Innovation Allowance

Project Contact, SGN

SGN partnered with HSL to conduct the first phase of testing, which was to test natural gas EFVs for suitability with hydrogen as part of the H100 project. HSL have now been awarded phase 2 of the project to develop a suitable EFV for 100% hydrogen. Awarding to HSL will reduce costs by utilizing the existing methodology and test rig built to run the original Emergency Flow Valve tests. 1. The project will begin with a review of the current Gas Industry Standard for Emergency Flow Valves: GIS:EFV1:2006 and conduct gap analysis. 2. With the gaps identified, a new standard will be developed and also a specification. 3. Once the specification and standard are developed, a new prototype EFV can be produced and tested against the standard and specification. 4. A report will be produced outlining the outcomes of the tests. The project aims to develop, test and produce prototypes EFVs for use on hydrogen services that operate at pressures up to 75mb. This is safety by design feature of the H100 demonstration network and an additional requirement for services on this network only.The requirement is for a hydrogen low pressure EFV but currently the only applicable gas industry standard is for natural gas excess flow valves that operate at medium pressure (75 > 2000mbar) so therefore neither the standard nor the existing EFV is suitable for use with hydrogen. HSL together with there partners IGEM and AVR will develop a new standard then build and test protype low pressure excess flow valves for the H100 network to that standard, workflow as follows; A review of current EFV standard and specifications Develop requirements and new standard Design and manufacture prototype hydrogen EFV Test against new specification Approve for use The objectives of his project are to: Develop a new Gas Industry Standard and specification for a hydrogen excess flow valve. Industry approval of the new standard Development of a prototype EFV that has been tested against the new standard and meets the criteria set out in the specification Final report outlining the outcomes of the tests

In order to meet the UK governments plants of net zero by 2050 there is a need for no carbon heat. Hydrogen for heat provides an opportunity to meet the challenging target while minimizing disruption to customers and therefor, is an attractive alternative to natural gas. SGNs H100 project aims to demonstrate hydrogen can be distributed safely to peoples homes. To ensure the highest level of safety on this first of its kind hydrogen network, Excess Flow Valves will be installed on every service of the network to avoid risk of hydrogen build up in buildings. Excess Flow Valves are an essential safety feature within the gas network designed to close and stop gas flow if the service, meter or internal pipework suffers a catastrophic failure. Stopping the flow of gas from a damaged service significantly reduces the risk of a fire, explosion, injury and/or property damage.Through SGNs H100 project the EFVs currently used on natural gas services were tested for suitability with hydrogen. The project identified that the higher flow rates of hydrogen caused the EFV to trip erratically and therefor deemed them unsuitable.

09/11/22