Authority Permits and Regulations for the Production and Transport of Rocket Grade Hydrogen Peroxide
It was a long and demanding process to get the production and handling permits, required by Swedish authorities. On the other hand one has a solid legal foundation once one has received them. As long as one do not violate any part of the permits one can be sure one is acting legal, safe and reliable.
Three permits were required:
• Civil permit.
• Permit to handle “explosive and flammable substances” – This permit is required despite liquid rocket grade hydrogen peroxide in fact is neither explosive nor flammable! More about this later.
• Environmental permit
It took quite some time and effort to prepare the applications, but finally all three were filed on January 7, 2005.
Civil Permit
This permit was issued by the city of Gothenburg. A standard case normally takes two to three months to process. In my case it took some extra time to investigate that the industrial area was proper for my activity and that there were no disturbances for the neighbours. Approval was also needed from different city departments, like the fire brigade and the municipal waste water department.
The permit was issued on May 10, 2005.
Permit to handle explosive and flammable substances
Liquid rocket grade hydrogen peroxide is neither explosive nor flammable, but you still need the permit if you want to manufacture it. HP can decompose when being polluted. The vapour phase above boiling rocket grade hydrogen peroxide at ambient pressure can explode if ignited and organic materials like dry wood can take fire at spillages of rocket grade hydrogen peroxide.
The permit is issued by the city council. Everyone handling this class of substances, like every gas station and paint shop, needs it.
My case was not a standard case though, so the city handed over the handling of my application to the Swedish Rescue Services Agency. (Räddningsverket in Swedish). SRSA were acting as the expert body on the state level for the city. SRSA have issued quite detailed guide lines, which is helpful.
The most demanding part of the application is the very detailed HAZOP (Hazardous operation) study. All dangerous mal operation situations as well as the consequences and the actions and means to prevent damage to equipment and life are needed to be described. Despite I have acquired quite an extensive knowledge about these matters over the years my study was not approved at first. I had to hire an expert consultant company to complete the study.
SRSA sent their report to the city of Gothenburg, with their recommendation to approve my application on October 27, 2005.
The city of Gothenburg issued the permit on November 15, 2005.
Environmental Permit
Despite the production has very little environmental impact, it was still classed as a chemical plant and could not be approved by the city council, without a permit from the county (Länsstyrelsen I Västra Götaland).
The county permit takes a long time to receive because of the complicated administrate process. The county issued the environmental permit on December 7, 2005.
Hazardous material transports
Rocket grade hydrogen peroxide does not only need to have the proper production and handling permits. Like many other substances such as gasoline and propane it is defined as an hazardous material and need to be labelled, packed and transported safely in accordance with the rules and regulations for hazardous materials or dangerous goods. It also needs to be accompanied with the proper information documents. These rules and regulations are described in
• ADR The European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR)
• IMDG International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code.
• 49 CFR Code of Federal Regulations. 49 = Transport of Hazardous Materials in US and DOT regulations (US Department of Transport).
It has taken time to digest these regulations and in the end one is still not certain one has really interpreted all of them correctly, so I also hired a specialized professional company to prepare an expert study report for me. This company can be found here: Farligt Gods Center
The handling and transport regulations are for producers and carriers. A private customer/user can legally transport the Rocket Grade Hydrogen Peroxide in his own private vehicle. See below:
ADR (Europe):
1.1.3 Exemptions
1.1.3.1 Exemptions related to the nature of the transport operation
The provisions laid down in ADR do not apply to:
(a) the carriage of dangerous goods by private individuals where the goods in question are
packaged for retail sale and are intended for their personal or domestic use or for their
leisure or sporting activities provided that measures have been taken to prevent any
leakage of contents in normal conditions of carriage.
(b) the carriage of machinery or equipment not specified in this Annex and which happen
to contain dangerous goods in their internal or operational equipment (-As for example a Rocketbelt or a Gyroplane. My remark), provided that measures have been taken to prevent any leakage of contents in normal conditions of carriage;
49 CFR (USA):
§ 171.1 Applicability of Hazardous Materials
Regulations (HMR) to persons and functions.
(d) Functions not subject to the requirements
of the HMR. The following are examples of
activities to which the HMR do not apply:
(6) Transportation of a hazardous material
by an individual for non-commercial purposes
in a private motor vehicle, including a
leased or rented motor vehicle.
This article was updated on December 9th, 2005