Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Safety

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Update on International Hydrogen Standards
Karen Hall, Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association

The development of International Standards for hydrogen energy technologies is moving quickly. This article provides an update on the activities of ISO/TC 197 - highlighting the documents that are presently out for comment or vote. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Karen Hall at khall@fchea.org if you require any additional information about these activities or would like to provide comment on the open documents.

Additional details about any of these documents, as well as many other codes, standards and regulations for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies may be found at www.fuelcellstandards.com.

The 20th meeting of ISO/TC 197 was held in Beijing, China on 15th December 2011.

Working Group 5 is developing a revision of ISO 17268 - Compressed hydrogen surface vehicle refuelling connection devices. The Working Group met on November 22 in Montreal to address technical comments. The Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) is expected to be available to review any day. The International Standard (IS) is expected to be published in June 2012. The bulk of the recent work has been related to the addition of requirements for 70 MPa nozzles and receptacles. This International Standard can be used for certification purposes.
ISO 14687-2 Hydrogen Fuel - Product Specification - Part 2: Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell applications for road vehicles will be available for review of the Final Draft International Standard any day. It is expected this document will be published as an International Standard in June 2012. The Working group anticipates beginning work immediately on a revision that is intended to be applicable for wide-scale commercial rollout. Input from automotive manufacturers, hydrogen suppliers and fuelling station operators will be useful for setting these requirements.

This International Standard specifies the quality characteristics of hydrogen fuel in order to assure uniformity of the hydrogen product as dispensed for utilization in PEM fuel cell road vehicle systems.
ISO 14687-3 Hydrogen Fuel - Product Specification - Part 3: Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell applications for stationary appliances has moved to the Draft International Standard (DIS) phase.

Second edition: ISO/TR 15916 Basic considerations for the safety of hydrogen systems

This was the only Working Group to meet in conjunction with the Plenary meeting in China. This is an update of the ISO Technical Report on basic hydrogen safety information.

This Technical Report provides guidelines for the use of hydrogen in its gaseous and liquid forms. It identifies the basic safety concerns and risks, and describes the properties of hydrogen that are relevant to safety.

The Draft Technical Report (DTR) is available for review and comment. Publication of the Amended Technical Report is expected in November 2012.
Two recent ballots for Draft International Standards failed. Technical consensus is lacking on these efforts. The Working Groups are reviewing comments received and we expect working group meetings to be scheduled:
- 1. ISO 15869 Gaseous hydrogen and hydrogen blends -Land vehicle fuel tanks
  
  This Standard applies to the following types of fuel tank designs:
  
  Type 1 - all - metal fuel tank;
  
  Type 2 - hoop wrapped fuel tank with a load sharing metal liner and composite reinforcement on the cylindrical part only;
  
  Type 3 - fully wrapped fuel tank with a load sharing metal liner and composite reinforcement on both the cylindrical part and dome ends;
  
  Type 4 - fully wrapped fuel tank with a non-load sharing liner and composite reinforcement in both the cylindrical part and dome ends.
- 2. ISO 20100 Gaseous hydrogen - Fuelling stations
  
  Specifies the design characteristics of standalone outdoor public and non-public fuelling stations that dispense gaseous hydrogen used as fuel onboard land vehicles of all types.
  
  Residential and home applications to fuel land vehicles are excluded from this International Standard.
  
  This work item was published as a Technical Specification in December 2008. Since then, the WG has continued its work towards the publication of the International Standard.
  
  The DIS was released on 21 March 2011 for a five-month ballot ending on 21 August 2011. Following some confusion regarding the UK vote, it was not approved and the comments were returned to ISO/TC 197 WG 11 for consideration in preparation for a second DIS that will be circulated for a two-month voting period. FDIS is anticipated in September 2012. The International Standard is scheduled for March 2013.
  
  After the publication, the Working Group plans to look at incorporating indoor warehouse, retrofit and multi-fuel refuelling on a fast-track basis.