Prospects for the global helium industry development

Provornaya, I.V.; Филимонова, И.В.; Эдер, Л В; Nemov, Vasily; Земнухова, Е А

doi:10.1016/j.egyr.2022.01.087

Cited by 10 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Due to the symmetry of the r-N-GY monolayer and the monatomic nature of He atom, the reaction coordinate in Figure 8 is the displacement of the isotope along the direction that perpendicular to the membrane, where x = 0 denotes the position of the r-N-GY membrane. The energy barriers of 3 He and 4 He were found to be separated due to the different masses, with that of 3 He, being the lighter isotope, slightly higher due to its stronger ZPE. Then the transmission probabilities t(E) of both isotopes as a function of kinetic energy E were calculated using the 1D finite difference method, 56 and the results were plotted in Figure 8c,d.…”

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confidence: 90%

“…Helium (He) is a vital resource that is widely used in high-tech industries and fundamental scientific research. , However, He is scarce and non-renewable, making the development of efficient and economical methods for high-purity He enrichment highly desirable. , Currently, the primary source of industrial He production is through the recovery of He from natural gas. , Among various solutions, membrane separation is a promising technique because of many advantages including high efficiency, low energy consumption, simple operation, and environmental friendliness. , As a result, it has received widespread attention and is considered a future-proof He separation technique. The semi-permeable membrane is the critical component in the membrane separation technique, as it must ensure high permeation of He while preventing the passage of impurities. , Enormous efforts have been made for the design of membrane structure and achieved great success. , …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this work, by combining first-principles calculations, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and quantum analysis, we investigated the performance of the strain-tunable r-N-GY nanostructure for He and 3 He/ 4 He isotope separation. The unstrained r-N-GY membrane exhibits superior selectivities (over 10 8 ) for impurities (Ar, CH 4 , CO, CO 2 , H 2 O, N 2 , and Ne) in natural gas and excellent He permeance (1.1 × 10 −5 mol s −1 m −2 Pa −1 ) that exceeds the industrial standard by 4 orders of magnitude.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To quantitatively describe the separation performance of He isotopes, we calculated the permeance and selectivity of the r-N-GY membrane for 3 He and 4 He. We plotted a variation of permeance Q versus temperature T in Figure 9.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Simulation Studies on Improved Separation of Helium and Helium Isotopes by Strain Modulated r-N-GY Monolayer Nanostructure

Zhang

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Nano Mater.

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Acquiring helium gas (He) via membrane separation technology is deemed a prospective and benign approach to mitigate the He shortage crisis. This study demonstrates, through theoretical means, that the recently synthesized r-N-GY nanostructure can serve as a semipermeable membrane for highly efficient separation of He and its isotopes. Our simulation results clearly reveal that the r-N-GY monolayer exhibits an excellent selectivity in separating He from natural gas molecules, with a selectivity exceeding 10 8 toward He over other impurities. Additionally, the He permeance reaches 1.1 × 10 −5 mol s −1 m −2 Pa −1 , surpassing the industrial standard by 4 orders of magnitude. We further demonstrate that the application of tensile strain can effectively regulate He permeance. For instance, the application of 8% strain along the armchair (AC) direction results in the substantial reduction in the energy barrier for gas molecules passing through the r-N-GY monolayer, leading to a two-order-of-magnitude increase in He permeation rate compared to that of the unstrained case, while still maintaining ultra-high He/Ne and He/N 2 selectivity (10 3 and 10 15 , respectively). Moreover, there is a marked enhancement for the quantum sieving of 3 He/ 4 He upon application of 8% tensile strain along AC direction, thus offering a promising strategy for both He and 3 He isotope separation. Therefore, this study suggests a high performance and strain-tunable nanostructure candidate with great promise in He and He isotope purification that can constitute the ultimate functions of nanomaterials in semi-permeable membrane technique.

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confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Simulation Studies on Improved Separation of Helium and Helium Isotopes by Strain Modulated r-N-GY Monolayer Nanostructure

Zhang

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Nano Mater.

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“…The main challenges for liquid hydrogen are the high capital costs and energy consumption to liquefy the hydrogen (30% of the energy carried in the hydrogen [7]), low volumetric density, and the fact that most hydrogen liquefaction processes use helium. Helium is produced as a by-product of the oil and gas industry, and by phase-out of oil and gas, helium will become a rare commodity [8,9]. The main issues with ammonia, methanol and LOHC are the high capital cost, and the fact that around 30% of the energy transported will be required to transform these molecules back into hydrogen [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%