Best practices guidelines on safety issues relating to current and emerging FCH Technologies

Topic description

Specific Challenge:

There has been considerable overall progress with fuel cell and hydrogen (FCH) technology development and market deployment in the past. To keep this trend successful and to foster on further market entry, it is essential that the safety of all FCH technologies and plant can be assured – particularly as public and end-user acceptance depends on actual and perceived safety levels. Today's FCH technology comprise many different techniques and components and the safety coefficient of each FCH component affects the overall safety coefficient of each assembled plant and packaged system. Best practice guidelines are therefore required on current and emerging FCH Technologies including information at the component level and, if relevant, the weakest component(s) in the assembled system for which definition of fail-safe modes and/or restrictions on use might reasonably apply during early deployment and pre-commercialisation stages of the applicable FCH technology.

For the further successful deployment and market entry of FCH technologies is essential to ensure the safe operation of FCH applications. Contemporary FCH technology is based on integrating and assembling a mix of technical components, e.g. electrolysers, finishing devices, storage tanks, fuel cell stacks, sensors, etc. depending on the particular application the system is intended for. Each of the components bears its own critical failure aspects and safety standard. The overall safety standard of an assembly can be increased through improving safety coefficients of individual components within the assembly. The improvement of safety coefficient in general supports both the safe and harmless operation of FCH technology together with plant endurance.

Apart from safety coefficient of single components, the best practice in assembling and installing components to extensive plants is as well essential and should be based on known practical issues and safety standards. The accumulated knowledge base concerning past failures for the installation, for the operation and for the maintenance of the specific FCH technology can influence and complete best practice guidelines.

It is expected that the consortium would create comprehensible and specific best practice guidelines based on already identified practical issues arising from all kind of FCH industry including knowledge transfer of past and ongoing projects and specific research results facing that issue:

• Best practice guidelines based on already identified practical issues
• Implementation of new standard operating procedures and safety standards as far as available
• Implementation of restrictions according the assembly of materials, components and interfaces
• General procedures in order to define the best compromise of cost-reduction, safety and industrialization
• Identification of further requirements to technical components common to both the energy and transport sectors

• Increase fail-safer of several assembled plant technology
• Raising public confidence in FCH Technologies
• Improvement to the operation and maintenance of FCH plant technologies by best practice guidelines
• Influences the necessities to standardization/harmonization of materials used, components, interfaces and testing procedures in order to define the best compromise of cost-reduction, industrialization and safety aspects

International cooperation