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Is Hydrogen A Colorless And Odorless Gas?

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There are many elements that occur naturally on earth that can be put to good use to help with everyday life. Some of these elements, however, can cause harm if proper control is not taken when working with the element. Hydrogen is one such element that can be beneficial if used correctly and catastrophic if not. To better understand incidents involving hydrogen, one needs to be familiar with the element. According to Web elements, hydrogen is the lightest material on earth and makes up 90 percent of the universe. (Webelements, 2016.). Hydrogen is a colorless and odorless gas, which makes it undetectable to the human eye and nose. Some uses include clean fuel, ammonia for chemicals, and protection of fragile items to name a few. Hydrogen is most commonly found in water on earth. In April of 2010, Tesoro Refining and Marketing Company, a petroleum refinery in Anacortes, Washington had an incident that involving hydrogen (U.S. Chemical Safety and Investigative Board, 2014). During their process, the company runs Catalytic Reformer / Naphtha Hydrotreater units for petroleum refining. Tesoro uses a 6600-E heat exchanger for this process. According to the report from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Investigative Board, the heat exchanger ruptured. High Temperature Hydrogen Attack or HTHA is a process that hydrogen that is heated to a high temperature dissolves or dissociates within steel. These types of accidents are common in steel manufacturing and petroleum

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