US CNG cylinder incident report released: Be careful with your gas tanks
Last May 26th, the first known US incident where a failure of the natural gas fuel system lead to a fatality occurred when a man was refuelling a SuperShuttle. Further investigation by the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) has shown that the cause of the failure was corrossion crack in the fiberglass over-wrap. Acid from the battery had split on the tanks, probably because of a rear-end collision that happened three weeks before the incident.
The cylinder was an older model manufactured by Comdyne, and known for being sensitive to acids. It is recommended that after any collision or any suspect of tanks being in contact with acid, CNG tanks should be depressurized and then removed from service.
[Source: NGV]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
m.s.j. 5:01AM (2/24/2008)
i am looking for italian or spanish companies, manufacturing "cng cylinder production line".
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michael 2:18PM (10/01/2007)
Sounds like the problem was with the maintenance program at SuperShuttle. I hope no passengers were on board. Sorry someone had to lose their life but if it forces companies like supershuttle to follow instructions or alerts them to their negligence, maybe it will save lives.
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Chris M 3:41PM (10/01/2007)
Note that CNG tanks are only 250 to 300 bar pressure, while many prototype H2 vehicles are using 700 bar pressure tanks of carbon fiber composites, which are also vulnerable to some solvents and corrosive substances. The failure of a H2 storage tank would be much more devastating, due to the higher pressures and greater flammability involved.
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CNG Utah 1:02PM (12/20/2007)
I spoke with the technician who services the CNG equipment at the station where this incident occurred. He said that the tank had been condemned and shut off but not removed from the van. The van driver was filling his tanks but for some reason he decided to go under the van and open up the valve on the condemned tank. When he opened the valve the tank failed and blew him out from under the van.
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nosmog 1:38AM (12/21/2007)
How sad to see Chris M dancing on the tragic death of a Super Shuttle driver just to make another one of his incessant cases against hydrogen.
What a sad sick testament to his ignorance.
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