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Huge stash of helium discovered

P

PokerGuy

Lifer
Scientists using a new exploration method have discovered a huge new stash of helium. It's a good thing too, because the stockpile that we have is getting depleted rather quickly.

Most people don't realize how important helium is for scientific research and medical purposes (MRI's represent 20% of all helium use each year).

It's amazing that the second most abundant element in the entire universe is in such short supply here on earth. 😵

http://gizmodo.com/discovery-of-huge-stash-of-helium-is-a-game-changer-for-1782684367

Edit: don't know if this should be here or in off topic, but it falls under "news" so I put it here in P&N.
 
PokerGuy said:
It's amazing that the second most abundant element in the entire universe is in such short supply here on earth.
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Helium is too light to be trapped by Earth's gravity. So it just escapes if it's released from where it is trapped.

PokerGuy said:
Most people don't realize how important helium is for scientific research and medical purposes (MRI's represent 20% of all helium use each year).
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Indeed. High-field magnets, both for NMR spectroscopy and MRI imaging, are large helium users. Fortunately, more modern designs have led to reduced helium usage. Some even have built in helium recycling systems or are fill-once. Unfortunately, magnets are very expensive, so there are still plenty of older models floating around.

PokerGuy said:
Scientists using a new exploration method have discovered a huge new stash of helium. It's a good thing too, because the stockpile that we have is getting depleted rather quickly.
Click to expand...
The stockpile the government had is being sold off & shut down, as ordered by Congress. Gas-harvesting industries are stepping up to the plate to fill the void. Which is good, as helium costs can be a substantial cost for some research labs & facilities and shortages have led to delays in the installation of equipment.
 
Brainonska511 said:
The stockpile the government had is being sold off & shut down, as ordered by Congress. Gas-harvesting industries are stepping up to the plate to fill the void. Which is good, as helium costs can be a substantial cost for some research labs & facilities and shortages have led to delays in the installation of equipment.
Click to expand...

There was no pressing national security need or other compelling reason for the government to maintain a helium stockpile; we aren't back in WW1 doing recon with blimps. Scarcity driving up prices isn't a compelling reason for Uncle Sam than it would be to have a government stockpile of Twinkies when those were in short supply a few years ago.

Either way, finding a new supply is a good thing, unless you were a speculator with a short position on helium futures contracts (if such a thing even exists).
 
glenn1 said:
There was no pressing national security need or other compelling reason for the government to maintain a helium stockpile; we aren't back in WW1 doing recon with blimps. Scarcity driving up prices isn't a compelling reason for Uncle Sam than it would be to have a government stockpile of Twinkies when those were in short supply a few years ago.
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Perhaps there wasn't a need to maintain a stockpile, but my understanding is that congress essentially mandated the BLM (the agency that manages the reserve stockpile) to sell the helium at a price that "won't disrupt the market". I'm assuming in practice that means at a much lower price than regular supply and demand would dictate. Getting rid of a very limited resource that is important in science and medicine at below-market-value prices doesn't make sense to me.

I'll happily admit I don't know all the details of how this went down or how it came to be though.

Either way, finding a new supply is a good thing, unless you were a speculator with a short position on helium futures contracts (if such a thing even exists).
Click to expand...

Agreed, finding a new supply is good. Finding a new exploration method that helps identify sources is even better, because they are likely to be able to use these same new methods to identify other sources in the future.
 
Brainonska511 said:
Helium is too light to be trapped by Earth's gravity. So it just escapes if it's released from where it is trapped.

Indeed. High-field magnets, both for NMR spectroscopy and MRI imaging, are large helium users. Fortunately, more modern designs have led to reduced helium usage. Some even have built in helium recycling systems or are fill-once. Unfortunately, magnets are very expensive, so there are still plenty of older models floating around.

The stockpile the government had is being sold off & shut down, as ordered by Congress. Gas-harvesting industries are stepping up to the plate to fill the void. Which is good, as helium costs can be a substantial cost for some research labs & facilities and shortages have led to delays in the installation of equipment.
Click to expand...

The problem isn't that just the magnets are expensive, the closed loop helium systems are expensive. You could in theory retrofit an older magnet with a closed loop system, but it costs too much to make financial sense. All the magnet needs is liquid helium to keep it cold, it doesn't matter how it gets it. In Germany, they are all required to use closed cycle systems. Some NMR and MRI companies are producing some instruments using type II high temperature superconductors like YBCO, but its challenging to make coils out of single crystal ceramics. These allow them to run off liquid nitrogen instead of helium.
 
mect said:
The problem isn't that just the magnets are expensive, the closed loop helium systems are expensive. You could in theory retrofit an older magnet with a closed loop system, but it costs too much to make financial sense. All the magnet needs is liquid helium to keep it cold, it doesn't matter how it gets it. In Germany, they are all required to use closed cycle systems. Some NMR and MRI companies are producing some instruments using type II high temperature superconductors like YBCO, but its challenging to make coils out of single crystal ceramics. These allow them to run off liquid nitrogen instead of helium.
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Yep. Getting a recycling system for a single instrument is an extremely expensive proposition. I've heard quotes ranging from tens of thousands to a few hundred thousand for a recycling system, depending on the size. It makes sense if you're running a facility, but there are a lot of 1 and 2 instrument operators out in the wild.

I know that some companies are building the recycling system into the magnets, but that adds cost and no one is going to replace a working system just for that added feature.

A few years ago at a conference, I also saw some new developments in cyrogen-free magnets, such as a 9.4 T NMR spectrometer and a small animal 1.5 T (?) MRI. The former system used NbTi for its coil (but I can't really comment on this material; my expertise is on the applications side of NMR spectrometers).
 
werepossum said:
Yeah, but that's methane.

Cool story. I have no idea why people are still allowed to fill balloons with helium.
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It is pleasing to FreeMarket™, JobCreators™, and TheInvisibleHand™.

If that is not enough of a reason for you, you are hereby excommunicated.
 
glenn1 said:
There was no pressing national security need or other compelling reason for the government to maintain a helium stockpile; we aren't back in WW1 doing recon with blimps. Scarcity driving up prices isn't a compelling reason for Uncle Sam than it would be to have a government stockpile of Twinkies when those were in short supply a few years ago.

Either way, finding a new supply is a good thing, unless you were a speculator with a short position on helium futures contracts (if such a thing even exists).
Click to expand...

mn
 
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werepossum said:
Yeah, but that's methane.

Cool story. I have no idea why people are still allowed to fill balloons with helium.
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I've been wondering this ever since I took chemistry in college a while back. Helium is too precious and useful to waste for entertainment purposes.
 
This article actually surprised me, I didn't know that we extracted helium from underground(still?), and that it was in short supply. I figured we would produce it industrially somehow, but maybe that just shows my lack of chemistry understanding.
 
MovingTarget said:
I've been wondering this ever since I took chemistry in college a while back. Helium is too precious and useful to waste for entertainment purposes.
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Especially since it won't actually get you laid. Rather a waste, really.

Eli said:
This article actually surprised me, I didn't know that we extracted helium from underground(still?), and that it was in short supply. I figured we would produce it industrially somehow, but maybe that just shows my lack of chemistry understanding.
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Helium is a noble gas, so it doesn't bind with any other element to be separated. We could make it from radioactive decomposition, but that would be rather expensive and slow and, well, radioactive. 🙂
 
Every bit as good news as finding a huge oil deposit! Yay for science!

(And I think the wastage in balloons, etc, really should be reduced...)
 
Do you guys know how much helium car lots waste? Each large dealership runs through 3-4 cylinders per week for all those balloons you see on the lots. I think that kind of use should be prohibited.

I used to manage dealerships and I know the salespeople would be overjoyed if the practice stopped. They hate standing around filling balloons and placing them on the lot, for the first hour of their shift. Freaking balloons don't sell cars.
 
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