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Air Products' KnowH2ow® Workshop in Washington, DC
by
Patrick Serfass, National Hydrogen Association
Air Products and
Chemicals, Inc. held a customized KnowH2ow® Hydrogen Safety Training
Workshop at the NHA’s 14th Annual Hydrogen Conference as a preliminary part
of the two-day event. The sold-out workshop drew a wide variety of participants
from within the hydrogen industry and other industrial parties.
Air Products
and Chemicals is the world’s leading industrial hydrogen supplier. Since
the mid 1950s, when the company designed and built three liquid hydrogen plants
for the U.S. Air Force, Air Products has developed their business with a focus
on safety. In the process, Air Products has built an impressive safety record. Their
KnowH2ow® workshops give participants an opportunity to learn from
their extensive experience with hydrogen and in the process, become more familiar
with universe’s most abundant element.
Last week's workshop
was structured by a number of modules which covered a variety of topics throughout
the day. It began with a review of hydrogen properties and safety concerns
with frequent comparisons to two more commonly known fuels: gasoline and
natural gas. The following modules covered safe operating practices, hydrogen
production, liquid hydrogen, vehicles and fueling, and codes and standards. In
addition, two guest presenters (and attendees), Addison Bain, retired NASA scientist,
and Andrei Tchouvelev, Executive Vice President of Operations for Stuart Energy
Systems, spoke on the misconceptions about the Hindenburg disaster and electrolysis,
respectively.
Since the KnowH2ow® workshop was held in conjunction
with the U.S. Hydrogen Conference, the audience was not typical in that it was
not a collection of employees from a single company. There were mechanics,
trade association and standard development organization representatives, hydrogen
scientists, fuel cell developers, industrial gas suppliers and a few people who
were “just interested in learning more about hydrogen.” The diversity
of the audience created a healthy, open atmosphere for questioning on a number
of topics for the Air Products team of experts who ran the event. The unique
demographics of the audience also allowed for another unexpected feature: the
team could refer questions to experts in the audience.
In all, I was pleased
with how informative and useful the presentations were in explaining both hydrogen’s
current role and issues that may arise from the push to build the hydrogen industry.
Due
to popular demand, Air Products will hold another KnowH2ow® Hydrogen
Safety Training Workshop on May 30 in conjunction with an NHA Hydrogen Codes and
Standards Workshop and Fuel Cell Summit VII. All events will be at the Inn
and Conference Center, University of Maryland University College in Adelphi, Maryland. Click
here to read the related story.
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