Hydrogen leaked and caught fire in the compressor area of ​​the continuous reforming workshop of a refinery

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At 0:56 on April 24, a fire broke out at Qilu Petrochemical. It has been verified that at 0:02 on April 24, hydrogen leaked and caught fire in the compressor area of ​​the continuous reforming workshop of the Shengli Refinery of Qilu Branch, and the continuous reforming unit and hydrocracking unit were shut down in an emergency. The hydrogen flow was cut off at 0:20, with protective combustion, and completely extinguished at 1:20, with no casualties. The cause of the accident is under investigation. As the most ideal energy source in the future, hydrogen energy has the advantages of low noise and zero emissions, and has huge development potential. It has been promoted and applied in hydrogen refueling stations, hydrogen production stations, vehicles, backup power sources, distributed power generation and other fields, and has gradually spread throughout people's living and working areas. However, compared with other fuels, hydrogen has the characteristics of easy leakage, wide flammability range, high combustion calorific value, and large explosion energy. Once an explosion accident occurs, the consequences are often extremely serious. Currently, there are safety uncertainties in every link of the hydrogen production-storage-transportation-application industry chain. In 2019, three hydrogen explosion accidents occurred in South Korea, the United States, and Norway, causing serious consequences such as multiple casualties, hydrogen refueling station outages, and the suspension of sales of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Therefore, it is particularly necessary to solve the hydrogen safety issue before hydrogen energy can be applied on a large scale.