TY - JOUR A1 - Semenova, Aleksandra A1 - Spitzer Sra, Stefan H. A1 - Dvorakova, Barbora A1 - Askar, Enis A1 - Funnemann, Patrick A1 - Hermanns, Roy T.E. A1 - Jankuj, Vojtech A1 - Vignes, Alexis A1 - Kuracina, Richard A1 - Szabova, Zuzana A1 - Norman, Frederik A1 - Gabel, Dieter A1 - Danzi, Enrico A1 - Makarova, Ekaterina A1 - Lorenzon, Ivan A1 - Toman, Adrian A1 - Adamus, Wojciech A1 - Hessels, Conrad T1 - Towards standardized safety protocols for iron-based energy carriers: International alignment through round robin testing on safety characteristics N2 - Background Iron powder appears to be a promising solution for long-term energy storage and (inter-) continental transport, as it is safe to store and does not require energy to maintain its state, unlike, for instance, liquefied hydrogen. However, while the fundamental research is well underway, large-scale implementation is still in its early stages, with a growing number of promising demonstrators emerging. Methods This article contributes to the large-scale implementation of iron as an energy carrier by presenting a round-robin test of four iron powders currently used in research and larger-scale demonstrators. These powders were tested on their safety characteristics in the standard 20 L apparatus across eight European countries. Results The resulting data are intended to support future standardization efforts using different iron samples as standardized fuel. All tested powders were classified either as non-explosible or as belonging to the category of marginally explosible dusts (Class 1). This provides a clear picture of the level of explosion protection measures that need to be considered for the safe use of iron powders in energy carrier applications. Conclusions Along with that, the study detected variations in the results and pointed to shortcomings in the current standards that may cause such discrepancies. These findings emphasize the importance of improving testing procedures to support standardization and ensure the safe use of iron powder as an energy carrier using an a-priori-approach rather than subsequent testing. KW - Explosion protection KW - Energy carrier KW - Safety characteristics PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655761 DO - https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.22839.1 SN - 2732-5121 VL - 6 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - F1000 Research Ltd AN - OPUS4-65576 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -