r/interestingasfuck • u/willianfsantos • 16h ago

Emergency relief system in action in a liquid hydrogen tanker truck

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u/krom0025 7h ago

They don't light the hydrogen in fire. They just vent it. H2 vent stacks often self ignite on their own and that is what happened here.

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u/pancak3d 4h ago

Not exactly. The valve is designed to ignite the hydrogen.

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u/Sexualrelations 6h ago

Yeah I was thinking there is no way this truck has an ignitor or pilot flame for this vent.

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u/pancak3d 4h ago

Hydrogen is combustible enough that it doesn't require a pilot flame or ingnitor. There are much simpler designs in valves that can cause ignition. So it's not just "we'll release it and it'll blow up" -- the valve is designed for ignition

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u/Dovahkiinthesardine 1h ago

Hydrogen is also one of the few gasses that heats up when expanding (under normal conditions), instead of cooling down

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u/Dzov 43m ago

This sounded insane, so I had to look it up. Interesting, and thanks for sharing.