Helium (He) is the second most abundant element in the universe, however, helium is extremely rare on Earth because it is very light and can only float through the air into space, so helium is present in the atmosphere only in trace amounts. Almost all of the helium available on Earth is found in low-lying natural gas deposits, mainly from the decay of underground radioactive elements, but the formation process is extremely slow. And because helium is chemically extremely stable and doesn’t react with other substances, it’s hard to “make” it, essentially you have to “mine” it.
So helium is an extremely limited resource, and the problem is that we’re consuming it at an alarming rate, with helium balloon manufacturing, medical MRI scanning equipment, superconductivity research and other fields all using liquid helium or helium in large quantities, making it a tight supply and expensive. Finding economically viable extraction routes has become a global focus, and the LNG industry offers new opportunities in this regard.
In the context of global energy transition, LNG as a clean energy alternative to coal and oil trend is obvious. Countries have set carbon neutral goals, LNG in power generation, industrial fuel and transportation fuel and other areas of strong demand, to promote the expansion of LNG plants in the world to maintain a steady development trend. But it also brings the challenge of how to improve operational efficiency, reduce energy consumption and optimize by-product utilization.
In the LNG production process, part of the natural gas is cooled to extremely low temperature liquefaction, and due to the characteristics of helium, it does not condense, but is enriched in BOG, and the helium content can be as high as 3%, much higher than that of ordinary natural gas. The rich helium can be extracted and converted into high value-added products, improving the overall income of LNG plants. BOG is often considered a low-value by-product, and most LNG plants currently choose to re-liquefy or burn BOG, but this increases energy consumption and fails to fully utilize its high-value components (such as helium).
In short, the BOG helium extraction process can not only extract helium, but also improve energy efficiency. Through co-production of helium, LNG companies can also enter the helium market, expand new profit channels and high value-added businesses, and form a differentiated competitive advantage with other LNG suppliers.
First, the helium-containing BOG needs to be regulated and stabilized, and Fullcryo provides advanced BOG compressors to pressurize the gas, providing stable conditions for the subsequent process.
In addition to a certain proportion of helium, BOG gas contains a high content of hydrogen and water. Hydrogen is removed to prevent the purity of helium from being affected, and water is removed to prevent subsequent freezing and clogging of cryogenic equipment. Fullcryo offers catalytic dehydrogenation/dehydration systems that use specific catalysts to remove hydrogen and water by adsorption or condensation.
After dehydrogenation and dehydration, the gas enters the crude helium extraction system, where the helium is separated from other gases to obtain a helium concentration of up to 95%.
Crude helium still contains trace impurities (such as nitrogen, hydrogen, methane, etc.), and the goal of this process is to highly purify helium to achieve a high purity standard of 5N (99.999%). The gas enters the cryogenic adsorption and purification system, and Fullcryo offers advanced special adsorbents and cryogenic purification technology to remove remaining impurities. Among them, the all-aluminum plate fin heat exchanger ensures the low temperature environment and improves the purification effect. After this treatment, helium reaches ultra-high purity and can be directly used in high-end scientific research, industry and medical fields.
This process involves cooling the high-purity helium to -269°C with a helium liquefaction system that converts 5N helium to liquid helium. Compared with gaseous helium, the volume of liquid helium is greatly reduced, which is easy to store, and can be directly loaded into dewar bottles and ISOtank transportation.
“Fullcryo’s BOG helium extraction technology provides us with an efficient and sustainable solution that allows us to successfully enter the high value-added helium market without compromising our primary LNG business. In the future, we will continue to deepen cooperation and explore smarter and greener modes of energy use.” The chief engineer of Ningxia deep-burn multi-source LNG Company was excited to be interviewed by the news.
Ningxia Deep-burn Zhongyuan LNG Plant is a medium-sized LNG producer with an annual LNG processing capacity of over 600,000 tons. However, the plant has been facing the problem of BOG (evaporative gas) emissions waste, the team has investigated a variety of traditional helium extraction solutions, but found that the existing technology generally has complex processes, high energy consumption, large investment and other problems.
After in-depth investigation, Deep Combustion Zhongyuan reached a cooperation with Fullcryo to build China’s first set of LNG-BOG low-temperature helium extraction device in Yanchi, Ningxia. More than 10,000 hours of stable operation since 2020 prove the reliability and economic viability of its technology. The plant has an annual output of 120,000L of liquid helium, effectively improving the comprehensive economic benefits of the LNG plant.
Reliable technical level: Backed by the top scientific research team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fullcryo independently develops core equipment such as helium liquefier, BOG cold box and large-scale cryogenic engineering. It ensures the equipment to recover helium in BOG efficiently for a long time, improving the added value of products, and enjoys wide recognition in the field of cryogenic equipment and industrial gases.
Rapid response service system: from technical scheme design, equipment installation and commissioning, operation management to after-sales support, to provide a full range of services to ensure that customer needs are met in time to ensure long-term stable operation of the device.
Customized design solutions: Fullcryo has its own professional operation team, which conducts analysis and investigation in the early stage. Depending on the size of the LNG plant, BOG composition and production mode, flexible helium recovery options such as on-site plant construction are available.
