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...by not using hydrogen generators.

Most of the air samples are analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, GC/MS. The carrier gas has been hydrogen, generated by Proton Energy's H2 generators (water electrolysis). Now a method has been developed to analyze the air samples without using hydrogen as the carrier gas, but helium instead.

We might be able to save a lot of grid electricity by turning off the H2 generators!

Because the helium makes itself?

So much for that energy savings.

Now if you burned the H2 stream with the purged contaminants, or fed it to a fuel cell, then you'd be cooking with gas, so to speak.

The helium more than likely comes from the plant up in the Texas panhandle near Amarillo. The helium is made from the radioactive decay of materials in the Earth, fractionally distilled from natural gas, transported using oil products (liquid He tanker trucks) and eventually distributed in cylinders.

Note that I edited the original post to include a link to Proton Energy Systems. One can download a spec sheet of the five small "Hogen GC" generators that we use in the lab. Each one is rated about 1000 watts. (x 5 generators =5000 watts.) They run about 24/5. To power them each day using solar PV would require about 909 120W panels and @ $700/panel, that's about $127,000, and that's just for the panels.


At a utility rate of about $0.14/kW-hr, it costs about $500/month to power the H2 generators.

To try to include a system that recaptures and scrubs over a hundred different pollutants in a hydrogen carrier gas stream from the GCs to be used for other purposes would require a lot more money for the agency, and that's not going to happen. At least in the lab I work at. And one of the GC's has a FID (flame ionization detector), which means the H2 gas stream is burned.

Conventional gas stoves are not allowed in the building anyway, and I believe there are tight regulations for using H2 in buildings.

And there are better ways to heat a building, and the amount of hydrogen wouldn't come close to providing any significant heat.

I might plug one of those H2 generators into my Kill-o-Watt meter and measure the actual power usage in one day.

It would be interesting to learn how much fossil fuel energy is required to liquify helium for transport.

Edit was to correct statement concerning how helium was made. I stand corrected.

Consumers feeling the helium squeeze
The second most plentiful element in the universe is suddenly in short supply on this planet.

By Bob Secter
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Friday, November 16, 2007

CHICAGO — Helium is the talk of the party balloon industry these days, and it is not a discussion being carried out in high-pitched giggles.

The second most plentiful element in the universe is suddenly in short supply on this planet, and that means soaring prices for a lot of things, balloons included. "Some customers have told me they're just not going to sell balloons anymore because they can't get helium," said Chicago party wholesaler Lee Brody. "Everybody's scrambling."

As raw materials crises go, the helium shortage clearly takes a back seat to the global oil crunch. But the repercussions go well beyond the cost of decorating birthdays or bar mitzvahs, while also shining a light on an obscure federal helium program that has proved critical to feeding the world's growing appetite.

To most of us, helium is just a novelty gas that floats blimps, bobs huge latex whales over car dealers and makes your voice sound like Daffy Duck when inhaled (which, by the way, experts say is a really bad idea that could lead to a collapsed lung).

But demand for the gas has taken off in industry and scientific research in recent years, and the helium squeeze is being felt everywhere from university physics labs to plants in India, China, Taiwan and Korea that make today's hottest consumer products. Japanese helium suppliers recently warned customers in the electronics industry to prepare for supply cuts of up to 30 percent
...
Austin American-Statesman

Great quote, apt for peakers:

That stockpile will be empty in a decade, and new overseas sources have been slow to develop. "We're pedaling as fast as we can here, but we just can't produce enough," said Leslie Theiss, manager of the Federal Helium Reserve near Amarillo.

Saw that mentioned on a peak oil site many years ago. Never paid any attention to it since. Another reminder that Earth's providence is finite.

For some reason I had always assumed it was taken from the atmosphere and pressurized or liquified for industrial or other uses, but in doing a little research, I see that it is seperated from natural gas.

WisJim wrote:For some reason I had always assumed it was taken from the atmosphere and pressurized or liquified for industrial or other uses, but in doing a little research, I see that it is seperated from natural gas.

Someone with a knowledge of chemistry greater than my introductory in high school level might want to correct me, but I would think since Helium is a noble gas (unlike hydrogen) once it gets into the atmosphere it will float away. Hydrogen is also lighter than air but since it can react with other elements it might form bonds and become part of a molecule heavier than air ... Helium does not react.

Clouseau2 wrote:

WisJim wrote:For some reason I had always assumed it was taken from the atmosphere and pressurized or liquified for industrial or other uses, but in doing a little research, I see that it is separated from natural gas.

Someone with a knowledge of chemistry greater than my introductory in high school level might want to correct me, but I would think since Helium is a noble gas (unlike hydrogen) once it gets into the atmosphere it will float away. Hydrogen is also lighter than air but since it can react with other elements it might form bonds and become part of a molecule heavier than air ... Helium does not react.

You had a good HS teacher. You are mostly correct about hydrogen reacting with other substances in the atmosphere, (it's a great reducing agent), but some small fraction does make it off the planet, especially after every rocket/shuttle launch. Helium is "produced" from separating it from natural gas, but helium originated from the natural decay of radioactive elements in rocks and minerals.

Clouseau2 wrote:Someone with a knowledge of chemistry greater than my introductory in high school level might want to correct me, but I would think since Helium is a noble gas (unlike hydrogen) once it gets into the atmosphere it will float away.

Close enough. It doesn't exactly float away from Earth on its own (it still weighs something). But, it will float to be above most of the Nitrogen and the solar wind 'blows' it off.

Amazing that we have any useful quantities. Uranium and Thorium decay (and several of their daughter steps like Radium and Radon) emit alpha particles... Helium. If those happen to be below a good enough geological cap, the helium is trapped. Those same gas-tight traps are good enough to trap methane. Thus, helium from natural gas deposits. Though, most gas deposits aren't over enough Th/U, and so don't have significant quantities of He.

This reads like a bad sci-fi joke:

The second most plentiful element in the universe is suddenly in short supply on this planet.

I actually thought it was a joke when I read it.. lol.

Anyway, nuclear engineering could get us some of it, I guess. Bombard stuff into unstable nuclei that decay into alpha particles. Then arrest those particles and pass a current through it. There: 10^-10 grams of it ready.

Intl Herald Tribune

This probem also occurred last year at this time, per the attached article.

The agency manages public lands, mostly in the West, and their mineral resources. It handles 42 percent of the U.S. production of crude helium, the colorless, odorless gas best known for inflating balloons that is derived from natural gas production.

The government provides more than one third of the world's helium, selling it to private plants for processing.

The various factors involved in the shortage in recent months should be resolved by November, according to Leslie Theiss, who manages the BLM office in Amarillo, Texas, the heart of U.S. production of helium.

The U.S. government helium production remains at 100 percent, but output will be trimmed in the fall for up to two weeks for scheduled maintenance that has already been postponed to reduce further supply disruptions, Theiss said.

US to sell Helium Reserve

The Helium Privatization Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-273) directs the Department of the Interior to begin liquidating the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve by 2005

Here's the problem. We let the market take this function over, and it failed.

Helium shortages have been going on for a long time. Helium shortage (and the fact that the US was hoarding it) was the reason the Hindenberg was filled with hydrogen: link

Chuckmak wrote:This reads like a bad sci-fi joke:

The second most plentiful element in the universe is suddenly in short supply on this planet.

You think so?

Then consider the situation of the most plentiful element in the universe.

Thought this would be about "Peak Everything," given the title. We've had heaps of threads on rare earths.

Was thinking about this recently: The Oil Drum: Europe | Goodbye Helium, Goodbye Brainscans

How much Helium is there?

The expected ultimate extractable amounts of Helium are estimated at 40,000 million Sm3 as of 1 January 2007 by the United States Geological Survey (Sm3 = standard cubic meters). Of this amount 93% is endowed in six countries, the United States, Algeria, Canada, China, Qatar and Russia. This ultimate extractable reserve base has been identified using an economic classification, not a geologic one. The reserve classification here includes currently economic, marginally economic and some of the identified currently subeconomic reserves. Of this ultimate extractable amount 7,030 million Sm3 has been classified as reserves that are extractable using existing technology under current economic conditions. However, for Canada, China and Qatar this data is not available which makes the actual figure likely to be much higher. The countries for which figures are available are the United States (3,500 million Sm3), Algeria (1,850 million Sm3) and Russia (1,680 million Sm3).

Since Helium is a by-product of natural gas production, and the discoveries of natural gas fields peaked in the ‘70s of the 20th century and have been on a declining trend ever since, it is unlikely that much more Helium reserves will be discovered. The earth’s endowment of Helium is therefore quite well known although the figures are not very precise. This is due to a lack of a universal methodology to measure Helium reserves. Whether these figure are on the upside or downside is unknown. For reasons of political nature, governments worldwide normally have a tendency to exaggerate reserve figures and as a result it is likely that the expected ultimate amount of Helium in reality is lower.

Goghgoner's mentioning a decline in propane production due to decreased extraction from conventional gas wells made me think of this, I wonder if UNG produces helium on the side. No use of the words "shale" or "unconventional" in the comments or article, though.

TheDude wrote:Was thinking about this recently:

Hmmm. Yeah, we would probably be at peak helium if we are at peak hydrocarbon production. I thought most Helium was formed through processes in the earths mantle and seeps up through the crust into hydrocarbon formations? I don't know much about it other than it would be difficult to manufacture without losing energy.

It would be ironic if we had a shortage of the second most abundant element in the universe!

pablonite wrote:

TheDude wrote:Was thinking about this recently:

Hmmm. Yeah, we would probably be at peak helium if we are at peak hydrocarbon production. I thought most Helium was formed through processes in the earths mantle and seeps up through the crust into hydrocarbon formations? I don't know much about it other than it would be difficult to manufacture without losing energy.

It would be ironic if we had a shortage of the second most abundant element in the universe!

Most of the Helium found in the Mantle and Crust comes from radioactive decay, a Helium nucleus is formed when an Alpha particle that captures a couple electrons after emission. Over geological time scales quite a bit of it is formed in source rocks and migrates upward until caught in the same kind of geological traps that capture Natural Gas and Petroleum. So you see the Helium we have been harvesting on Earth has almost all come from the decay of very heavy nuclei formed in Supernova's before the Solar System formed. The Helium on the Gas Giant planets on the other hand is mostly of the majority formed in the Big Bang or in the cores of dwarf stars like our Sun, Sol.

A shortage of Helium-3 , a byproduct of radioactive decay, is pausing brain research facilities around the world:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/s ... ode=418746

more on Helium-3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3

I would imagine shale gas contains a far lower proportion of Helium compared to geologically older gas deposits.

There is supposedly huge deposits of Helium in the limestone cap of the Uranium rich bits of central Australia. A listed company called Central Petroleum has control over the bulk of it:

http://www.centralpetroleum.com.au/

who sell it to:

http://www.manmonthly.com.au/news/bocs- ... -in-darwin

BOC & the Linde group seem to have a global monopoly on supply, yet neither are saying anything about a shortage on their websites. Shortages have occurred increasingly over the last 4 years but been short lived and due to logistics more than physical shortage. Could be some games going on vv China playing games with rare earth minerals? Just having a stab?