[TheForge] RE: Fact or urban myth?

[Larry Brown]

Thanks to Dave, as more and more people talk of hydrogen it is wise to 
learn what you can do and shouldn't.
Larry Brown

At 09:33 PM 8/29/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>Here is the answer from my friend who worked many years in the
>compressed gas industry.
>dave mudge
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>I don't have the reference's any more because I left my library with the job
>However, it was widely recognized in the industry that acetylene
>equipment used to store and handle the bulk product should be burned
>when decommissioned. One of the first cousins of Acetylene was
>determined to be so dangerous that our corporation finally refused to
>accept any orders for products containing it.  The hazard of metal
>acetylides is real but may not be the culprit here.  Acetylene as
>produced is actually a mixture of a number of compounds which in
>combination make a kind of microscopic varnish film with the acetylene
>on all surfaces of the equipment. Exposed do high pressure, not
>necessarily hydrogen, or friction from high velocity gas movement, it
>may decompose.  Hydrogen is a particularly good candidate to stimulate
>decomposition because of its unique thermal properties as a compressed
>gas.
>For the view point of a former member of  a safety committee
>responsible for specifying the equipment and safe handling procedures
>for compressed gases I conclude with the following statement:
>In the normal course of events  no equipment suitable for acetylene
>service  is also suitable for hydrogen.  Both are chemically and
>physically dangerous to handle.  The compressed gas industry has in
>its over one hundred years of experience  developed, in conjunction
>with federal regulators and  industrial manufactures, a set of rules
>of thumb and equipment specification that allow most sensible people
>to use materials that are wildly dangerous without injury.  Do not use
>acetylene equipment for hydrogen service.  The specifications of the
>equipment are incompatible
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