What is the best approach to handling the boil-off gas from a liquefied hydrogen tank at a fueling station? What are the safety precautions?
If liquid hydrogen usage is sufficiently high at the fueling station, there may be no need to vent any boiloff generated from the LH2 storage tank. Boil-off gas should be minimized through system design, but where needed, the boil-off hydrogen along with any other hydrogen released must be vented through a local vent stack which is constructed to safely vent the hydrogen in accordance with CGA G5.5 and NFPA 2. These standards anticipate the possible ignition of hydrogen in a vent stack and have provisions for that to happen safely. If economical, the boil-off gas can also be captured by using a gas compressor to store the gas for dispensing into vehicles.