Whitepaper: Hydrogen odorization

Status and challenges

In natural gas distribution, odorization contributes to a high level of safety and this will be no different for hydrogen distribution. Like natural gas, hydrogen is odorless by nature. This can cause dangerous situations, for example if a leak occurs. It is very likely that hydrogen will be odorized in the built environment in order to meet the desired safety level.

In this whitepaper Kiwa’s expert odorization Erik Polman takes a closer look at the odorization of hydrogen. What exactly is an odorant? What types of odorants are there? And how do we know whether a certain odorant is sufficient? The paper outlines what experience has already been gained in determining an odorant for hydrogen and also discusses the challenges that remain.