ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem. Eng.
Sec. Sustainable Process Engineering
This article is part of the Research TopicTransforming Waste to Energy: Innovations in Sustainable EngineeringView all articles
Risk and Safety Assessment of Hydrogen Pipelines and Storage Tanks using Preliminary Hazard Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden
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The safe operation of hydrogen pipelines and storage tanks is essential for the development of a sustainable hydrogen economy. However, these systems are exposed to significant risks that must be effectively managed to prevent hazardous outcomes. The present study therefore assessed the hazards and risks associated with hydrogen transport through pipelines and storage in tanks using the preliminary hazard analysis (PreHA) on the Hydrogen Incident and Accident Database (HIAD 2.1), developed as part of the European Network of Excellence HySafe. This database reports 34 accidents involving pipelines and 28 accidents involving storage tanks over the past five decades. The outcomes of these incidents vary, as majority of pipeline incidents led to fires, whereas storage tank failures are more likely to escalate into explosions. Other reported consequences in both pipeline and storage tanks included leaks with no ignition and near misses which are incidents that did not cause harm but had the potential to escalate into serious accidents. The PreHA analysis further identified corrosion and welding related issues as the main hazards for pipelines, while storage tanks are more often affected by operational failures as well as corrosion. Less frequent but high-impact event of natural disasters was also found to pose catastrophic risks to both systems. Specific to pipeline integrity, it was observed that civil/construction work was found to have a rare but notable impact. The findings of this study provide insights into the critical vulnerabilities of hydrogen pipelines and storage tanks and highlight the need for continuous improvement in safety management practices.
Keywords: Hydrogen pipelines, hydrogen storage tanks, Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PreHA), Hydrogen Incident and Accident Database (HIAD), hydrogen safety management
Received: 10 Oct 2025; Accepted: 13 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Asante-Okyere, Mensah, Sandström and Försth. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Solomon Asante-Okyere, solomon.asante-okyere@associated.ltu.se
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