Improving steel pipelines for safe transport of hydrogen
Hydrogen is increasingly gaining attention as a promising energy source for a cleaner, more sustainable future. Using hydrogen to meet the energy demands for large-scale applications such as utility infrastructure will require transporting large volumes via existing pipelines designed for natural gas. But there’s a catch. Hydrogen can weaken the steel that these pipelines are made of. When hydrogen atoms enter the steel, they diffuse into its microstructure and can cause the metal to become b...
Video: Improving Steel Pipelines for Safe Transport of Hydrogen
The steel used to make pipelines can be weakened by hydrogen molecules that are introduced during manufacturing or when the pipeline is transporting oil and gas. USask researchers used the CLS to generate 3D images of the cracks that form inside the steel, to better understand what is happening at a microscopic level. They found that the amount of hydrogen that stays inside the steel and where it accumulates have the largest impact on whether a pipeline will fail. This new information can be use...
China's Use of New Software for Natural Gas Pipeline Management Recognized on International Stage
CATONSVILLE, MD – INFORMS, the leading international association for professionals in operations research and analytics, has selected six finalists for the 47th annual Franz Edelman Award for Achievements in Operations Research and Management Science, the world’s most prestigious award for achievement in the practice of analytics and O.R. For more than four decades, winners of the Edelman Award have been recognized for transforming how we approach some of the world’s most complex problems. T...
How to Locate Pipelines: National Pipeline Mapping System
Whether they are emergency responders, city planners, pipeline operators, homeowners, students or just curious neighbors, it’s important for community members to know where pipelines are located so they can be avoided or found, serviced and monitored. The U.S. Department of Transportation offers an excellent resource for learning more about local pipelines. The National Pipeline Mapping System’s (NPMS) Public Map Viewer includes interactive maps showing the locations of hazardous liquid and g...
Exprodat Offers ArcGIS Pipeline Referencing Implementation Services
Exprodat, the oil and gas ArcGIS platform specialist, Esri Gold Partner and Getech group company, has extended the services it provides to energy companies around the world by developing a number of support services targeted at the new ArcGIS Pipeline Referencing (APR) extension. Recently, Esri has developed the ability to manage linear referencing networks, such as pipelines, within the core of the ArcGIS platform. This means that pipeline assets, build materials, maintenance reports and a h...
Key Plastics Pipe Industry Resource Launches New Website
IRVING, Texas - The Hydrostatic Stress Board (HSB), an independent, technical-based group of voluntary industry experts, operating under the auspices of the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI), today announced that its website section has been reconstructed and expanded to expedite the listing request process, and to highlight the long-standing history of its board. Content just added includes downloadable forms and templates to submit requests for compounds and composite plastic pipes (PPI...
PHMSA Issues Interim Final Rule To Implement Expanded Authority to Issue Emergency Orders, Improve Pipeline Safety
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) today issued an Interim Final Rule (“IFR”) to implement the agency’s expanded authority to address unsafe pipeline conditions or practices that pose an imminent hazard to life, property, or the environment. The regulations adopt a provision of the Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines Enhancing Safety Act of 2016 (PIPES Act), that allows the agency to impose emergency re...
PHMSA Awards $900,000 to Higher Educational Institutions to Support Pipeline Safety Research
WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced it is providing a total of $900K to three educational institutions as part of its Competitive Academic Agreement Program (CAAP) for pipeline safety research. The awards announced today will go to Iowa State University, West Virginia University and North Dakota State University to spur the development of research projects that could prevent or mitigate pipeline corr...
Improving Pipeline Information Sharing
On September 9, 2010, a section of natural gas pipeline in San Bruno, California, exploded leading to significant property damage and the death of 9 people. The cause of the explosion was ultimately traced to defective welds and a decision to increase the pipeline operating pressure. Legal action was taken against the operating company, and a number of its executives are facing criminal indictments. Of particular interest is the charge, under the U.S. Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968,...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
