The Latest Voyage of Discovery - Quantifying the Consequences of LH2 Releases for the Marine Industry

Following a desktop study undertaken in 2021 to identify hazard scenarios associated with the use of liquid and compressed hydrogen on commercial shipping, Shell has started a programme of large-scale experiments on the consequences of a release of liquid hydrogen. This work will compliment on-going research Shell has sponsored within several joint industry projects but will also address immediate concerns that the maritime industry has for the transportation of liquid hydrogen (LH2). This paper will describe the first phase of experiments involving the release of LH2 onto various substrates as well as dispersion across an instrumented test pad. These results will be used to address the following uncertainties in risk assessments within the hydrogen economy, such as (1) Quantify the impact of low wind speed and high humidity on the buoyancy of both a passive and momentum jet dispersion cloud, (2) Gather additional data on liquid hydrogen jet fires (3) Understand the likelihood for the formation of a sustained pool of hydrogen (4) Characterise materials, especially passive fire protective coatings, that are exposed to LH2. Not only will these experiments generate validation data to provide confidence in the Shell consequence tool FRED, but they will also be used by Shell to support updates and new regulations developed by the International Maritime Organisation as it seeks to reduce CO2 intensity in the maritime industry.