High-Pressure Hydrogen Sulfide Experiments: How Did Our Safety Measures and Hazard Control Work during a Failure Event?

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a hazardous, colorless, flammable gas with a distinct rotten-egg smell at low concentration. Exposure to a concentration greater than 500 ppm of H2S can result in irreversible health problems and death within minutes. Because of these hazards, operations such as oil and gas processing and sewage treatment that handle or produce H2S and/or sour gas require effective and well-designed hazard controls, as well as state-of-the-art gas monitoring/detection mechanisms for the safety of workers and the public. Laboratories studying H2S for improved understanding must also develop and continually improve upon lab-specific safety standards with unique detection systems. In this study, we discuss various H2S detection methods and hazard control strategies. Also, we share our experience regarding a leak that occurred as a result of the failure of a perfluoroelastomer O-ring seal on a small stirred autoclave vessel used for studying H2S hydrate dissociation/formation conditions in our laboratory, and discuss how our emergency response plan was activated to mitigate the risk of exposure to the researchers and public.

Experimental High-Pressure Hydrogen Sulfide Partial Oxidation and Equilibrium Calculation by Gibbs Energy Minimization

“…The detectors are set to alarm at 5 ppm H 2 S (local) and 15 ppm H 2 S (facility wide), where the low-level alarm is one-half of the eight-hour time weighted average exposure limit in Alberta (in accordance with the University of Calgary's H 2 S Code of Practice standard). 11 2.2. Materials.…”

A Review of Gas Measurement Set-Ups

“…The aspects of occupational health and safety in laboratories are widely described in many publications—examples can be found in the literature [ 44 , 45 , 61 ]. Therefore, the gas-sensing measurements are conducted under exposure to various gases, depending on the dedicated purpose.…”

“…A similar solution of gas neutralisation in sensor measurements was used by Adeniyi et al They used hydrogen sulphide in an experiment, which was first released into a dry gas trap after each measurement, from which it travelled to a scrubber with a 20% KOH solution ( Figure 3 ), and then on to a second scrubber with the same solution and finally to another dry gas trap. After the measurement process was completed, the entire measurement system was purged with clean nitrogen [ 45 ]. This simple solution is very effective because the output of the system is pure gas.…”

“…SP1 is a high-pressure syringe pump containing degassed water, and SP2 is the high-pressure syringe pump containing H 2 S fluid. Reprinted with permission from [ 45 ].…”

“…Over time, the cost of production of gas sensors has decreased significantly with a simultaneous increase in their efficiency. In recent years, gas-detection technology has grown in importance due to its availability and widespread use in the following areas: air-quality monitoring [ 10 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], industrial production [ 24 , 25 , 31 , 32 ], food testing [ 10 , 21 , 26 , 27 , 33 , 34 , 35 ], automotive [ 10 , 23 , 27 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], industry [ 24 , 25 , 35 , 38 ], medical applications [ 10 , 22 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 35 , 39 , 40 , 41 ], fire warning [ 25 ], hazard monitoring [ 25 , 27 , 31 , 35 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ], monitoring of gases at ambient conditions [ 46 , 47 ], that is the one of the most actual important approach, etc. ...…”