Inherent safety design mechanism for the hydrogen production process through natural gas reforming

This study aims to establish an inherent safety design mechanism for the Hydrogen Production Process through Natural Gas Reforming (HPPtNGR). The methodology begins by adapting inherent safety indicators and their measurement strategies based on the Inherent Safety Index (ISI) framework. Fuzzy sets are then employed for risk normalization to generate dimensionless inherent safety indices and fuzzy risk memberships. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is subsequently used to estimate the weights of process units of potential HPPtNGR alternatives. The inherent safety indicators, fuzzy risk memberships, and unit weights are reconciled using equation-based Bayesian networks, thus forming a mechanistic model for incorporating inherent safety into the HPPtNGR. Two illustrative examples are presented as case studies to demonstrate the proposed mechanistic model in prioritizing inherently safer process design alternatives. The case studies demonstrate that the inherent safeness of alternative A is estimated as 5.38, while alternative B scores 6.03, implying that alternative A is inherently safer than alternative B. The proposed mechanistic model can minimize safety risk factors during the process design stage, making the HPPtNGR fundamentally safer.

© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.