Time: 2019-10-09 15:43 Click:
The Properties and Applications of Helium
Helium has many special physical and chemical properties. The most special characteristic is that it has a very low boiling point of 4.2K (-268.9℃).
Some materials have many special properties at this extremely low temperature, i.e. superconductivity. The typical application is nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Helium molecule is very small and light, and have very high specific heat and thermal
conductivity, so can be used widely in applications such as balloons, airships, leak detection, and gas cooling. Secondly, helium is also highly
chemically inert and can be used as carrier gas for pan-semiconductors and analytical testing industries. In addition, helium has many irreplaceable
roles in cutting-edge scientific research and nuclear physics. In short, helium is a very precious non-renewable resource with many unique properties,
a wide range of applications, and absolutely irreplaceable for some areas. According to the statistics of U. S. Geological Survey (USGS),
the distribution of helium in 2017 according to the application area is as follows:
Helium Resource Distribution
Helium is one of the main constituent gases in the universe, second only to hydrogen. However, it is a pity that the concentration of helium in the air is extremely low, only about 5x10-6 (5ppmv). At present, helium is almostly extracted from natural gas, the high is a few percent, the low is only a few ten thousandths, and the highest in the US natural gas plant can be up to 8%. The global distribution of heliumn is very uneven. The United States has the world's largest reserves and production of helium, followed by Qatar, Algeria, Russia, Canada, Poland, Australia and China.
Helium is a very typical non-renewable resource. According to the British "Daily Mail" (Daily Mail) reported on August 23, 2010, the global helium resources will be exhausted in 25 to 30 years. Professor Robert Richardson, a Nobel Prize winner in physics in 1996 , believes that helium prices should rise 20 to 50 times to make users more willing to recycle.
Helium Market and Pricing Mechanism
Helium has different quality grades and can be divided into 3 categories. Raw helium: the concentration of helium is 50%~95%vol, and the average is about 70%; Grade A helium: helium with a purity of 4N7 (99.997%vol) or more, and the price of grade A in the United States is generally 1~2 times higher than raw helium; Electronic grade: helium with purity above 5N (99.999%vol) is generally directly supplied to the end user. Due to differences in customer location, dosage and impurity requirements, the product price range is wide up to several times than the grade A.
Since the United States is the largest producer and exporter of helium, and the earliest (since World War I) countries that recognized the great value of helium. The United States government has undergone numerous reforms and has always controlled the market and price of global helium. In 2007, the United States set helium as a strategic reserve resource to control raw production, resulting in a wave of global suffocation, reaching a liquid level of 34 $/L at the highest (about 50 $/Nm3 conversion). In 2011, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) added an Enrichment Factor to the minimum price formula, which encourages the recovery and production through price leverage. In 2013, Conservation Factor was added to the formula, and the conservation factor that reflects the loss of non-renewable resources. For this reason, the prices on the open market in 2011~2013 have risen sharply. Coincidentally, the price of air chemical to BLM rose by 135% on September 1, 2018. Just when 2019 came, the price of helium rose again. Compared with 2018, the price in January, 2019 has doubled, the price of helium has exceeded 30$/Nm3, or even more than 40$/Nm3, the current liquid helium can only meet the supply of bulk and agreement procurement. Judging from the current situation, the subsequent large-scale probability continues to rise. It is clear that the price of helium in 2019 will be at a high level.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data listed below is the US market since 2000 (data in million cubic meters (MCM), volume measured at 101.325kPa absolute (14.696 psia) and 15℃). It is clear from the table that the US federal stocks are decreasing year by year and will be exhausted in the near future. Qatar, the second largest supplier of helium, has also affected global helium supply due to diplomatic turmoil and power shortages. It is foreseeable that the price of helium will remain high and the probability of decline is small.
| Year | Extracted from Natural Gas | Withdrawn from Storage | Grade-A Helium Sales | Imports for Consumption | Exports | Apparent Consumption | Federal Reserves | Grade-A （US$/Nm3） | Production |
| 2000 | 98 | 29 | 127 | 0 | 37 | 89.6 | 901.6 | 1.66 | 117 |
| 2001 | 87 | 45 | 132 | 0 | 43 | 88.9 | 856.8 | 1.66 | 106 |
| 2002 | 87 | 40 | 127 | 0 | 39.5 | 87.6 | 823.2 | 1.75 | 109 |
| 2003 | 87 | 35 | 122 | 0 | 41.3 | 80.7 | 789.6 | 2.25 | 144 |
| 2004 | 86 | 44 | 130 | 0 | 44.9 | 85.1 | 744.8 | 2.25 | 154 |
| 2005 | 76 | 57 | 133 | 0 | 51.4 | 81.6 | 694.4 | 2.53 | 160 |
| 2006 | 79 | 58 | 137 | 0 | 62 | 75 | 638.4 | 2.97 | 166 |
| 2007 | 77 | 61 | 138 | 0 | 64 | 74 | 576.80 | 3.52 | 171 |
| 2008 | 80 | 50 | 130 | 0 | 70 | 60 | 531.44 | 4.51 | 175 |
| 2009 | 78 | 40 | 118 | 0 | 71 | 47 | 492.24 | 4.87 | 147 |
| 2010 | 75 | 53 | 128 | 0 | 77 | 51 | 442.96 | 5.41 | 168 |
| 2011 | 71 | 59 | 130 | 0 | 82 | 48 | 382.48 | 5.77 | 172 |
| 2012 | 73 | 60 | 133 | 0 | 82 | 48 | 334.32 | 6.13 | 174 |
| 2013 | 69 | 49 | 118 | 2 | 81 | 39 | 289.52 | 7.21 | 175 |
| 2014 | 75 | 27 | 102 | 7 | 67 | 42 | 238 | 7.21 | 164 |
| 2015 | 71 | 20 | 91 | 16 | 65 | 42 | 215.6 | 7.21 | 168 |
| 2016 | 66 | 23 | 89 | 24 | 61 | 52 | 7.21 | 160 | |
| 2017 | 63 | 28 | 91 | 21 | 69 | 43 | 7.21 | 160 | |
| 2018 | 64 | 26 | 90 | 22 | 73 | 39 | 7.57 | 160 |
In terms of world demand, Chemicals Technology predicts that global demand will be 22.7MCM in the year 2020. Russia's Gazprom VNIIGAZ Institute predicts that world demand will reach 23.8~32MCM in the year 2030. The United States used to be the world's largest user of helium. However, with the rapid development of NMR/MRI, pan-semiconductors and optical fiber industries, the Asia-Pacific region is currently the fastest growing region in the world. According to Intelligas data, the Asia-Pacific region has occupied with 35% of the world's usage by 2017, it reached 59MCM, of which China is the strongest growth engine, reaching a market size of 21.6MCM. The semiconductor industry is already China's largest strategic industry, and it will develop rapidly in the future. So, the amount of helium will also increase. It is expected that there will be an increase of about 5~10% per year.
The Risk of Helium Supply
Helium is a typical non-renewable resource that cannot be considered solely by the economy. Helium is irreplaceable in cryogenic application, superconducting, aerospace, nuclear physics, pan-semiconductors and cutting-edge scientific research. The stable supply of helium is particularly important and the research on the conservation and recycling of helium should be taken seriously, and even the alternative technology of helium should be explored to ensure the stable development of related industries and undertakings.
