Shortage of exploitable Helium on Earth?

[Christophe]

In 25 years there may be no Helium

24.08.10 - 15: 07

Scientists warn, global reserves of helium are declining dangerously. At the current rate of consumption they should be exhausted in twenty or thirty years.

Helium, a non-flammable inert gas, is being squandered to inflate the children's balloons and, with no amusement, to give a sharp voice to the person breathing it. But helium is a precious gas used in hospitals to cool scanners or used for example by NASA to clean its rocket or cool telescopes and nuclear reactors .. The largest reserve of helium is in Amarillo Texas . It is a non-renewable and non-recyclable gas. The United States to make the exploitation profitable fixed a very low price of sale.

The nobel Robert Richardson, physics professor at the Cornell University in New York denounced this waste, as at present, if we can replace helium for some uses, it will be impossible to replace in such scanners .

For the professor, it is therefore necessary to drastically reserve the use of helium for noble tasks. So no more using it at children's parties to inflate balloons, or we would have to pay a few hundred dollars to inflate each balloon. The development of this article can be found on the "Mail Online" site

sources:
http://www.rtbf.be/info/societe/environ ... ium-247960
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... years.html

Yes, it's not just oil that will be missing: https://www.econologie.com/forums/ressources ... t6257.html

[chatelot16]

the helium is a gas too rare in the atmosphere, so light that it leaves in the space

it is a gas found in some rock ... when there will be more there will be more ...

for many uses the hydrogen easy to manufacture can be used

to inflate small baloons with helium is a big waste, in the open air for a few gallons without passengers the hydrogen has no danger

[Cuicui]

In 25 years there may be no Helium

Hydrogen-boron fusion in a nuclear power plant with magnetic necking produces helium.

[dedeleco]

"The Nobel Prize Robert Richardson, professor of physics at Cornell University in New York" won the Nobel Prize with D Osheroff and D Lee for the discovery of superfluid helium-3 from fermions in 1971 (at 2,7mk), similar to superconductors.
This lack He3 already rationed, even faster than the 4 helium, superfluid Bose him to 2,17 K and liquid 4,2 K, atoms at the point of the lowest possible liquefaction, which cools the superconducting coils giving very large magnetic field of magnetic resonance scanners of atomic nuclei. !!
Nothing can replace it in cryogenics!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 104822.htm
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/04 ... -disaster/
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.08/helium.html

It can be made by radioactivity a very small, but very expensive and slow, without hope!
It will miss well before the oil and much harder to replace!

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/phys ... index.html

He3 indispensable is a rationed species endangered now !!

The shortage is so severe, Dr. William K. Hagan, acting director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office at DHS, that even handheld and backpack detectors used by the US Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and Transportation Security Administration would be affected. According to the hearing's charter, US exports of the precious gas have ceased, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has been made aware of its various sources of nuclear-nonproliferation work.

A lack of Helium-3 will also adversely affect the oil and gas industry. These detectors are used to locate hydrocarbon reservoirs, and several measurement tools are designed around the helium-3, said GE Energy rep Anderson. Other affected industries include cryogenic research and magnetic resonance imaging.

Read more http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/04 ... z0xZD0oRdU

[dedeleco]

chatelot16 writes ::

for a pound of some liter without passengers the hydrogen has no danger

Uh, we must have farted 100ml fuel gas, H2, CH4, to change your mind, if not lucky, with a smoker!

[dedeleco]

cuicui writes:

Hydrogen-boron fusion in a nuclear power plant with magnetic necking produces helium.

Before this machine produces helium clutches, helium will have completely disappeared, like the currently rationed He3.

[Lounes]

Before this machine produces helium clutches, helium will have completely disappeared, like the currently rationed He3.

But in the long term it leaves an exit ... it's always ca de took!

Full HS: I was wondering if there has ever been any research on possible submarine mines that would - someday - be exploitable? (since at the moment, given the pressures in the deep seabed, I do not think it's feasible with current materials)

[oiseautempete]

Helium is not extracted from rocks but natural gas in which it is present in concentrations up to 7% ... 2 are therefore linked: as long as there is natural gas, there is helium ...

[Christophe]

Full HS: I was wondering if there has ever been any research on possible submarine mines that would - someday - be exploitable? (since at the moment, given the pressures in the deep seabed, I do not think it's feasible with current materials)

It's not at all HS.

There are bound to be people who have thought about it ... because concerning Helium 3, some already plan to exploit the MOON!

See: https://www.econologie.com/forums/exploitati ... t7995.html

[Christophe]

Helium is not extracted from rocks but natural gas in which it is present in concentrations up to 7% ... 2 are therefore linked: as long as there is natural gas, there is helium ...

No because the GN does not always contain!

If it is well trapped in rocks like natural gas ... that's why some deposits of GN contain more or less ...

Its extraction (GN) and transport are quite complex so not that all deposits of GN are equipped ... even those that contain a good proportion.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9lium

As helium is trapped like natural gas by impermeable rock layers, the higher helium concentrations in natural gas deposits are found, from which most commercial helium is extracted.

Its concentration in volume relative to natural gas ranges from a few parts per million to a concentration of 7% identified in San Juan County, New Mexico

I doubt that for a few ppm, the gas companies are equipped with a purification system ...

After yes everything is a question of cost price; when Helium will be more expensive, it will be more interesting to extract it ...

In 2005, about 160 million m3 helium were extracted from natural gas, or drawn from the reserves, with about 83% of US 11% of Algeria and the rest mainly from Russia and Poland [61] . In the United States, most of the helium is extracted from Hugoton natural gas and adjacent deposits in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas [60].

Another method of producing and purifying helium is the diffusion of raw natural gas through semi-permeable membranes or other barriers [62].

It is possible to synthesize helium by bombarding lithium or boron with high energy protons, but this is not an economically viable method of production [63].