Hydrogen Gas/ Health effects. 2

[Safetyranger]

Everything I have come up with determines that Hydrogen gas is harmfull at "very high concentrations". Does anyone know what the exposure limits are for this gas? Is it just the fact that a Hydrogen rich atmosphere is Oxygen deficient? Also, at what concentration does it begin to pose a serious explosion hazard?

 

[mcgyvr]

Best to request the MSDS sheet from your supplier.
here is a sample

http://polymer.matscieng.sunysb.edu/msds/hydrogen.pdf

 

[Safetyranger]

Thank you. The MSDS was actually quite helpfull. The Hydrogen that we deal with is a by-product of a couple of our processes and we don't purchase any at our facility so we have never received an MSDS for it from a supplier. I ran an internet search on Hydrogen, but never considered an MSDS for botted Hydrogen. It answered some of my questions however.

 

[tomwalz]

Isn't it most common to burn the Hydrogen and get rid of the whole issue?



Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

 

[tomwalz]

Try the SIRI MSDS site for "hydrogen gas".

http://hazard.com/msds/

Big Three Industries answers your suffocation question.

It does talk Hydrogen as though the reactivity were a health issue as in exposure to eyes.

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

 

[Safetyranger]

A very useful link. We do have LEL meters that have never made a peep in this area, so the health exposure limits don't appear to be an issue. Big Three states that the LEL will be reached before a harmful Health exposure could occur. There are also two large scrubbers at work in this area to keep the hydrogen drawn off of the tanks, but we do still have some low grade hydrogen readings in the area. If the LEL meters can be trusted, it appears that the amount in the air is negligible. Also, oxygen concentrations in this area never vary, always a steady 20.4% so asphyxiation shouldn't be a concern. Thanks for the input.