From Risk to Readiness: Safety Insights for Hydrogen Production in NAHV

As the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley (NAHV) progresses with the development of pilot sites across Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy, safety remains a critical concern—particularly in the integration of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzers.

At the 11th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards (ISFEH 11), Sasan Jorjani, researcher at the Hydrogen Technologies and Resilient Energy Systems (HyRES) unit of the Centre for Sustainable Energy (SE), Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), presented a paper focused on operational safety analysis for PEM-based hydrogen production. While the study was not officially linked to NAHV, the proposed methodology was introduced during the presentation as a potential safety framework applicable to the project.

The research outlines a structured safety analysis using HAZOP methodology, supported by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations with FDS software. It focuses on identifying and mitigating risks such as membrane failure, hydrogen leakage, and unintentional hydrogen-oxygen mixing—scenarios particularly relevant for containerised electrolyser systems planned within NAHV.

The study recommends a combined strategy of technical and organisational safety measures. These include ventilation, leak detection, and automated emergency shutdowns, as well as training and safety reporting protocols. Simulation results demonstrated that proper mitigation can reduce hydrogen concentration by an order of magnitude, reinforcing the effectiveness of such measures.

These findings align closely with NAHV’s commitment to deploying safe and high-performance hydrogen technologies. By adopting proven safety methodologies and simulation-based risk analysis, the project can further strengthen the reliability and replicability of its demonstration sites.