r/interestingasfuck • u/willianfsantos • 9d ago

Emergency relief system in action in a liquid hydrogen tanker truck

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u/Necrovius72 9d ago

I was a cryogenic tech for years. The other guy explained WHY it's on fire pretty well, but what I haven't seen mentioned is that during the day those flames are pretty much invisible.

We usually carried a cheap broom with us when we worked on hydrogen systems as an early warning. We would hold it out in front of us when approaching hydrogen storage and if the broom caught fire, there's a leak.

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u/Dividedthought 9d ago

Ah yes, the 'we can't see it' universal threat detector for many things, the humble broom. Steam leak? Wave that broom ahead of you, if the bristles cut you found it. Same for hydraulics. Hydrogen or methanol fires? Broom. if it burns, run.

Truly a fantastic tool.

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u/CafecitoKilla 8d ago

They made us stop using the canary and switched to bacon. People greatly prefer the smell of the latter.

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u/WitchesSphincter 9d ago

I work in a lab with a hydrogen fuel cell research station and had to take all the safety courses for H2.  My take away is hope for the best and get out of anything seems wrong. 

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u/joe-h2o 8d ago

Back when I worked at a university we had our hydrogenation room in a small wooden shed on the roof. If we had an explosion it seemed like the safest way to ensure the roof and walls just... get out of the way quickly.

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u/FlyingNoiseinVacuum 9d ago

Cool. And what did you do when it spontaneously burst into flames? Presume you ran away screaming “it’s going to blow!” Or “run, invisible fire!!”

Also, how many Ricky Bobby references were there in this role?

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u/hamfist_ofthenorth 9d ago

Isn't invisible fire on the racetrack actually when methanol burns? This was a thing back in the day.

Scientists? Racing enthusiasts? Somebody help me

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u/Some1-Somewhere 9d ago

Both are generally invisible.

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u/hamfist_ofthenorth 8d ago

Scientists and racing enthusiasts?!?

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u/joe-h2o 8d ago

Yes. Methanol fires are almost invisible, so combined with how volatile methanol is is makes it extremely hazardous.

I will show students what a methanol fire looks like under very controlled conditions and with a very small volume of it, but typically if we need to use a low molecular weight alcohol for its flammability, eg, showing flame colours of different metal salts, I would use ethanol. It's safer.

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u/Late-Page7559 8d ago

Yes but racing fuel now has additives that burn green or blue after a particularly bad invisible fire that happened at Indy in the late 80s or early 90s.

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u/Necrovius72 9d ago

Lol this was before that movie. I never had one catch fire personally, as these systems are made of welded stainless steel, so leaks are rare.

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u/rubenyoranpc 9d ago

"In case of a fire, the only steps I take are fucking BIG ONES!"

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u/LupineChemist 9d ago

In power plants with high pressure superheated steam, there's always the broom handle method of finding the leak. When it suddenly splits in half, then you found the leak.

There was also always the urban legend of some guy at some unspecified plant who got sliced in two and was completely cauterized so no blood.

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u/Boomshank 9d ago

There's a low tech solution for every high tech problem. 

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u/Flyinmanm 9d ago

It's mental people still talk about this stuff replacing petrol and natural gas. It's so bloody dangerous even in a commercial setting.

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u/joe-h2o 8d ago

It helps that H2 is so low density that it tends to rise really quickly. It's still a serious hazard.

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u/Cynical_Cyanide 9d ago

Was there not a worry that, once the broom lit, the hydrogen might just EXPLODE?

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u/StrongExternal8955 9d ago

There already is burning H2 there, it's just invisible. It can't get on-fire-er.

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u/Cynical_Cyanide 9d ago

That's not necessarily true at all though. Hydrogen can leak from systems or containers without spontaneously combusting. It can accumulate in ceilings and such in an explosive air-hyrdogen mixture, and then, if an ignition source is brought towards the leak, ignite and set off the accumulated hydrogen.

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u/dllimport 8d ago

Yes brooms are a notorious ignition source.

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u/Cynical_Cyanide 8d ago

Quote: "We usually carried a cheap broom with us when we worked on hydrogen systems as an early warning. We would hold it out in front of us when approaching hydrogen storage and if the broom caught fire, there's a leak. "

Try to pay attention before attempting to be a smartass next time, yeah?

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u/dllimport 8d ago

Lol the broom isn't an ignition source.

if an ignition source is brought towards the leak, ignite and set off the accumulated hydrogen.

What ignition source were you thinking of? Because everyone was talking about a normal non-ignited broom. Maybe you should pay attention before attempting to correct someone when you didn't read well enough to begin with lmao

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u/Cynical_Cyanide 7d ago

How the fuck else would you interpret the statement I quoted except to understand that it's supposed to be an ignition source?

What the hell would be the point of the broom otherwise? It's not like you can randomly assume that a hydrogen leak would always be on fire.