The subsea pipeline network on the Norwegian Continental Shelf is increasingly being recognized as an opportunity for the large-scale transport of hydrogen from Norway to Europe. Utilizing existing natural gas pipelines for transportation of hydrogen gas brings several challenges, especially the risk of hydrogen embrittlement.
Ensuring the safety of hydrogen transport relies on understanding its impact on pipeline materials. Recent findings from the RCN project HyLINE (2019-2023) highlight that while hydrogen adversely affects the mechanical properties of investigated pipeline steels, they may still meet existing design standards. However, specific parts of the welds appear to be more vulnerable. To address this gap, HyLINE II will focus on the material integrity of welded joints in subsea hydrogen pipelines, examining their impact on overall pipeline integrity.
The expected results from HyLINE II will be an enabler for the ambitions to transport hydrogen gas to Europe through existing and new pipeline infrastructure. From an industrial perspective the project can potentially guide the definition of steel design as well as definition of welding protocol for hydrogen use. The obtained knowledge will be essential in establishing safe material and fabrication requirements, operating limits and acceptance criteria for fabrication and in-service inspection of existing and new pipelines.
The research partners SINTEF, NTNU, and Kyushu University (Japan) will collaborate with national and international industry partners that encompass the whole value chain of the hydrogen economy.
A combination of laboratory experiments and numerical simulations will be applied to identify and quantify critical mechanisms and material properties that needs to be considered. NTNU have three PhD candidates working in the project.
HyLINE 2 (RCN No. 344377) is jointly funded by the Research Council of Norway and the Industry partners Equinor, Gassco, Total E&P, TechnipFMC, Tenaris Dalmine (Italy) and AS Norske Shell.
Budget: 28 mill NOK
