Introduction
Helium is a critical component of cutting edge research. In its liquid form, which boils at 4 Kelvin (or negative 452 Fahrenheit), helium is used to ensure superconductivity for high end scientific instrumentation in chemistry, biology, and medicine including magnetic resonance imagers (MRIs) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers (NMRs), as well as for state of the art solid state research in physics and materials science. Helium is entirely nonrenewable, produced as a byproduct of certain mining operations, and once it is released it quickly escapes the Earth’s atmosphere. [1]
The cost of research-grade helium has increased up to 400% from 2010 to 2013 in some regions [2] since the federal government has started the process of selling off the Federal Helium Reserve. To help minimize the impact on its researchers, the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh in partnership with the NSF has invested in the creation of a helium recovery program and associated cost recovery center. Pitt Cryogenics is able to provide the University community with research-grade recycled helium at rates greatly reduced from the virgin helium prices provided by outside vendors. Construction of the facility was completed in January of 2015, and the first recovered helium was supplied to the Department of Physics in March.
Helium Timeline
| 1868 | Solar helium discovered by J Norman Lockyer |
| 1895 | Terrestrial helium discovered by Sir William Ramsey |
| 1905 | Liquid helium produced by Kamerling Onnes |
| 1917 | Federal Helium Program created |
| 1918 | Three experimental helium plants constructed in Texas |
| 1921 | First full scale helium production plant created in Fort Worth, TX |
| 1925 | Federal Helium Program moved to Bureau of Mines |
| 1927 | First private helium facility built by Kentucky Oxygen-Hyrogen Co. in Dexter, KS |
| 1927-1929 | Depletion of field near Fort Worth forces shutdown. New plant built in Ammarillo, TX |
| 1937 | Amendment to Helium Act authorizes commercial sale of helium |
| 1948 | Helium Arc Welding developed |
| 1943-1944 | Plants built at Exell, TX, Olis and Cunningham, KS, and Shiprock, NM |
| 1945 | First shipment from Exell to Amarillo for underground storage |
| 1949 | Bureau of Mines develops Grade A helium (99.995% pure) |
| 1960 | Helium Act amended to provide for long term storage |
| 1961 | Kerr-McGee Oil Industries signs four contracts for six government purchased of crude helium for conservation |
| 1962 | First helium delivery under conservation program |
| 1973 | Government ends helium stockpiling and switches to a repleneshment mode of storage in he Bush Dome Reservoir |
| 1996 | Helium Privatization Act passes - Exell plant ceases helium, BLM ordered to sell off helium |
| 2006-2007 | Worldwide helium shortage |
| 2013 | Helium Stewardship Act passed |
| 2015 | Pitt Cryogenics begins operation |
Helium: Sources and Uses
Technical Overview of Helium Extraction & Refinement
Government Interaction in the Helium Market
References