Towards hydrogen powered glass furnaces: CFD modelling of the dispersion of hydrogen leakages inside industrial facilities

Glass is one of the most ubiquitous materials in the world. However, due to extremely high temperatures required in the melting process, the glass industry is considered a hard-to-abate sector and poses major challenges to meet the net-zero emissions target in the next decades. To reach this ambitious goal, several decarbonisation options have been identified. Since the highest share of emissions from glass production stems from the combustion of natural gas, its replacement with hydrogen is considered a promising solution to reduce the sector's environmental impact. This is the aim of the H2GLASS project, launched by the European Union at the beginning of 2023. In this context, addressing safety aspects related to the use of hydrogen in confined spaces is of utmost importance, due to hydrogen peculiar flammability properties (e.g., wide flammability range, low ignition energy). In this work, a computational fluid dynamics model was developed in Ansys Fluent to simulate the dispersion of hydrogen in confined spaces under various operating conditions, ultimately aiming to analyse the consequences of an accidental hydrogen release in a glass production facility. The results of this work show that the model is capable of accurately predicting hydrogen dispersion in unventilated confined spaces, following both laminar and turbulent releases. The effect of ventilation was preliminarily investigated and needs to be further assessed.