Assessing the Past and Future Sustainability of Global Helium Resources, Extraction, Supply and Use, Using the Integrated Assessment Model WORLD7

Abstract

The sustainability of the helium production, supply and use was assessed using the WORLD7 integrated model. The use of helium is at present concluded to be unsustainable with respect to long-term supply security, because of lack of significant recycling. There is no risk for significant helium scarcity in the short term (before 2030), but in the long term, the scarcity risk is unavoidable under business as usual. The helium supply runs into limitations by 2090, under business as usual and supply declines after that. The study shows that the present helium recycling rate is far too low, causing helium to be squandered in one-way use and that is driving helium prices up. A scenario analysis with the WORLD7 model suggests that a sustained program for helium recycling and demand management, combined with political efforts to ban unnecessary use, will be able to significantly improve the long-term helium supply situation. The outputs show that such efforts may be sufficient for avoiding any scarcity under the demand assumptions taken.

Reduced Use of Fossil Fuels can Reduce Supply of Critical Resources

“…The supply potentials of Germanium, Helium, and Sulphur recovered from fossil fuels were calculated following Frenzel et al (2017): where N is the number of recoverable sources, m i is the mass (or for natural gas volume) of the ith source, x i is the by-product concentration in the ith source, and R(x i , x d cut-off ) is the recovery rate, i.e. the share of the by-product that can be recovered depending on the cut-off grade of the waste stream d. Data for fossil fuel by-product contents and recovery rates are adopted from previous studies (Frenzel et al 2013(Frenzel et al , 2017Olafsdottir and Sverdrup 2020;Oliver et al 1984;Rappold and Lackner 2010;Speight 2019;Zartmann et al 1961), see also supplementary material.…”

“…Using assumptions for helium content in natural gas, cutoff grade (0.8%) and recovery rate (50%) from previous studies (Olafsdottir and Sverdrup 2020;Zartmann et al 1961) show that potential helium supply declines in a sustainable development scenario, see Fig. 3.…”

The Resource Potential and Development Prospect of Helium in Changqing Gas Field

“…Helium is widely used for its unique properties, such as low boiling point, low density, low solubility, high thermal conductivity, and inertia [2]. It is used for magnetic resonance imaging, lifting gases, analytical and laboratory applications, welding, engineering and scientific applications, leak detections, and semiconductor manufacturing [3] (see Figure 1).…”

“…Helium can replace these fuels without freezing because it is inert with a low freezing temperature. NASA uses large amounts of helium to purge rocket propulsion systems [2]. This low reactivity makes helium a valuable gas used in manufacturing and repair processes when an inert atmosphere is required.…”

Operation of a continuous flow liquid helium magnetic microscopy cryostat as a closed cycle system

“…With increasing scarcity [1][2][3] and continuous inflation of Helium prices 4 , several experimental groups with setups that up until recently used continuous flow liquid Helium (LHe) cryostats for measurements at cryogenic temperatures, find it increasingly difficult to maintain operation of the setups. In an effort to circumvent the high operational costs and the frequent supply shortages, some research groups have invested in a oneoff manner, in new closed cycle cryorefrigeration systems 5 , leaving perfectly operational continuous flow cryostats unused.…”