TY - GEN A1 - Hajhariri, Aliasghar A1 - Eberwein, Robert A1 - Perrone, Luca Pakj A1 - Cozzani, Valerio A1 - Otremba, Frank A1 - Seidlitz, Holger T1 - Study the impact of spacer at thermal degradation process of MLI-based insulation in fire condition T2 - Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries N2 - To reduce CO2 emissions, energy carriers such as hydrogen are considered to be a solution. Consumption of hydrogen as a fuel meets several limitations such as its low volumetric energy density in gas phase. To tackle this problem, storage as well as transportation in liquified phase is recommended. To be able to handle this component in liquid phase, an efficient thermal insulation e.g., MLI insulation is required. Different studies have been addressed the vulnerability of such insulation against high thermal loads e.g., in an accident engaging fire. Some of research works have highlighted the importance of considering the MLI thermal degradation focusing on its reflective layer. However, limited number of studies addressed the thermal degradation of spacer material and its effect on the overall heat flux. In this study, through systematic experimental measurements, the effect of thermal loads on glass fleece, glass paper as well as polyester spacers are investigated. The results are reported in various temperature and heat flux profiles. Interpreting the temperature profiles revealed that, as the number of spacers in the medium increases, the peak temperature detectable by the temperature sensor on the measurement plate decreases. Each individual spacer contributes to mitigating the radiative energy received by the measurement plate. Stacks of 20–50 spacers (this is the number of layers in commercial MLI systems applied for liquid hydrogen applications) can potentially reduce the thermal radiation by 1–2 orders of magnitude. An empirical correlation to predict a heat flux attenuation factor is proposed, which is useful for further numerical and analytical studies in the temperature range from ambient to 300 °C. KW - Liquefied hydrogen KW - Liquefied natural gas KW - Cryogenic storage tank KW - Thermal insulation KW - Multi-Layer Insulation KW - Microspheres KW - Perlite Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2024.105461 SN - 0950-4230 VL - 92 SP - 240 EP - 248 PB - Elsevier BV ER -