Air Products boosts worldwide helium production capacity

Air Products boosts worldwide helium production capacity

Lehigh Valley, PA

Air Products and Chemicals Inc. plans to engineer and install a helium liquefier at its purification/liquefaction facility in Liberal, KS, which will boost the company`s worldwide helium production capacity to more than two billion standard cubic feet per year (scfy). The new unit will purify and liquefy crude helium molecules obtained from an adjacent natural gas processing plant owned by National Helium Corp. and from a connecting pipeline owned and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The helium will be used in a variety of applications, including magnetic resonance imaging, chromatography, leak detection, space shuttle launches, superconductivity, electronics, controlled atmospheres and fiber optics manufacturing. Officials say increasing helium production will allow Air Products to meet market demand for the inert gaseous element, which has reportedly grown at a rate of more than 8 percent per year for the past 25 years. — TGW

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