Main results
The development and qualification of hydrogen storage and transport infrastructures require reliable assessment of the fracture toughness of pipeline steels under high-pressure gaseous hydrogen. On top of the hydrogen, real service conditions, particularly for underground hydrogen storage, may involve contamination by impurities such as H₂S, H₂O, and O₂. These species can significantly affect material integrity and must therefore be considered for safe infrastructure design and operation. Similar concerns also arise in other applications, such as carbon capture, where hydrogen may be present in CO₂ streams alongside contaminants such as CO, NO₂, or SO₂.
In first approach, the effect of H₂S, H₂O and O₂ was investigated.. The results show that the addition of only 100 ppm H₂S in 100 bar of humid hydrogen has a highly detrimental effect on fracture toughness, equivalent to increasing the hydrogen pressure from 100 to 500 bar