This special issue of the Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries contains papers written by specialists from all over the world working in specific areas of hydrogen safety. Many of the papers were prepared by the Keynote Speakers of the First European Summer School on Hydrogen Safety (ESSHS), http://www.engj.ulst.ac.uk/esshs/hycourse/index.php, held at the University of Ulster 15–24 August 2006 (Belfast, UK). These keynote speakers including renowned scientists in the area such as Prof. John Lee, Prof. Forman Williams, and many others agreed to prepare papers for the special issue of this journal based on their teaching materials delivered during the 1st ESSHS.
The majority of the authors of these peer-reviewed papers are members or supporters of the European Network of Excellence HySafe “Safety of Hydrogen as an Energy Carrier” (2004–2009), http://www.hysafe.org/. HySafe is funded by the European Commission under the FP6 research framework programme. The HySafe consortium, endorsed by the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy, comprises 25 partners including research institutions, governmental agencies, universities, and industry from 12 countries.
Dissemination of knowledge on hydrogen safety to professionals and the public is one of the main priorities of the HySafe network. The biennial report on hydrogen safety, the database of hydrogen incidents and accidents, the International Conference on Hydrogen Safety, and the e-Academy of Hydrogen Safety are the main dissemination activities of the network. This journal issue is in line with the HySafe dissemination activities and will contribute to the safe introduction of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies to the market.
The 10 papers contained in this issue cover a wide range of hydrogen safety problems. Four of the papers are related to the exiting scientific and practical problem of spontaneous ignition of sudden high-pressure releases of hydrogen. They complement an excellent paper by Prof. Frederick Dryer and colleagues on this topic, which was published earlier this year in CST. A comparison between experimental results on spontaneous ignition obtained by Russian and Japanese groups raises the question of the effect of tube wetting on ignition pressure. The Russian group led by Dr. Victor Golub performed experimental and numerical investigations of the effect of the boundary layer on the spontaneous ignition. A numerical study of the phenomenon was carried out by Prof. Jennifer Wen and colleagues. The reduced chemistry for hydrogen autoignition presented in the paper by Prof. Forman Williams opens a door for the application of numerical methods to spontaneous ignition and its quenching in a larger domain, with complex geometry.
Three papers are devoted to hydrogen-air detonations. The overview and comments on explosion problems for hydrogen safety were prepared by Dr. Hoi Dick Ng and Prof. John Lee. Prof. Luc Bauwens and co-authors performed simulations of hydrogen-air detonation for realistic accident scenarios in an electrolyser and reformer. Prof. Andrzej Teodorczyk published original experimental data on detonation-to-deflagration transition in obstructed channels. These data can be used for the validation of CFD models.
The paper “Metal Hydride Fires and Fire Suppression Agents” by Prof. Robert Zalosh is a contribution for the journal readership not familiar with the various hydride fire incidents and testing. This is consistent with this special issue, which characterizes the wide spectrum of hydrogen fire and explosion hazards and protection approaches in different hydrogen applications.
Last but not the least, this issue includes an overarching paper on CFD modelling of releases, dispersion and combustion for automotive scenarios prepared by a large group of authors led by Dr. Alexander Venetsanos. This paper represents an excellent example of research collaboration between three HySafe partners, i.e. National Centre for Scientific Research Democritos, Joint Research Centre of European Commission, Volvo technology Corporation, and a researcher from Raufoss Fuel System. The paper focuses on an area where the most widespread of hydrogen application is expected.
The papers presented in this issue contribute both to closing knowledge gaps in the field of hydrogen safety, and to the quality of the world's first higher education course in hydrogen safety, i.e. The Postgraduate Certificate in Hydrogen Safety Engineering, delivery of which commenced in January 2007 at the University of Ulster in online mode (http://campusone.ulster.ac.uk/potential/postgraduate.php?cid=C514PJ). The implementation of the International Curriculum on Hydrogen Safety Engineering into higher education, to which practically all authors of the issue have contributed, is outlined in a paper by Dr. Arief Dahoe.
The authors and reviewers are acknowledged for their diligence in ensuring the quality of this special issue on hydrogen safety.