Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - 12:30 PM
Improved Plant Safety through Low Hydrogen Inventory
Power plants that have hydrogen cooled generators require a hydrogen supply sufficient enough to supply the seal leakage makeup requirements along with sufficient buffer storage to minimize the amount of gas deliveries. Hydrogen gas is as critical to the plant as the fuel feedstock itself, without either the plant cannot run. Power plant operators face a few challenges regarding the safe and reliable supply of hydrogen to maintain the operation of their power generators. The mode of hydrogen supply differs from plant to plant depending on such things as distance from the central hydrogen supply or permit restrictions on the amount of stored hydrogen that is allowed on site. There are plants that utilize single cylinders while others utilize cylinder bundles to meet their needs. Many other plants have installed large gas volume bulk storage systems to minimize deliveries and reduce the unit cost of the gas delivered. These bulk systems vary in size from single high pressure ground tubes to multiple tube trailers. One of the chief safety concerns that many plant operators are faced with is the possibility that a major generator casing leak or facility piping leak occurs while a large volume of hydrogen is “lined up” to continuously feed hydrogen to the plant. The operator is faced with few options to mitigate this safety risk. This presentation will compare the different modes of hydrogen supply and storage utilized throughout the industry and present the pros and cons of each to include cost, operation, and safety. The major comparison that will be emphasized is the safety advantages of an extremely low gas inventory “onsite generation” solution vs bulk storage. This will be presented in a technical and objective manner.
Presentation