Vallourec participates in DNV’s H2Pipe Joint Industry Project

Hydrogen has a key role to play in the energy transition, with enormous potential to help carbon-heavy industry shift towards clean, alternative energy. With an increasing number of projects being studied or already under development, it is imperative that a global standard be established to ensure the safety and reliability of hydrogen infrastructure and to offer operators a guideline they can base their construction on. With this goal in mind, DNV, one of the world’s leading certification bodies for the energy market, recently launched a JIP for the development of the world’s first guideline for transport of hydrogen gas in existing and new offshore pipelines. Vallourec, one of the key players in pipeline manufacturing, joined the JIP from the start.

Today, there is no standard dedicated solely to the transportation of hydrogen or a mix of hydrogen via offshore pipeline. The objective of DNV’s H2Pipe JIP is firstly to develop a guideline for safe and reliable design, re-qualification, construction and operation of pipelines intended for transportation of hydrogen gas that will complement the existing DNV standard for submarine pipeline systems (DNV-ST-F101) which is already widely recognized in the industry.

The second phase of this JIP will include a comprehensive experimental test program to enhance the understanding of the governing hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms and how hydrogen affects the integrity of the line pipe material. The results from these tests will further support the guideline providing industry players with a recommended practice ensuring that the design and material requirements do not compromise the pipeline integrity and safety.

Source and Photo: Vallourec