The United States has been the largest producer of helium since , thanks to a massive reserve found across Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas — fittingly named the Federal Helium Reserve. But that's set to close down production in , and scientists are looking for new reserves to replace it. Watch the video above to learn more about shortage hitting the earth's helium supply. The National Science Foundation, for instance, is running a small-scale program to outfit labs with systems that recycle and re-liquify helium.
Louis who coauthored the report. APS's Elsesser thinks that more could be done. He'd personally prefer that the reserve stay open, but regardless, he advocates for royalties on helium sales that could fund recycling technology and research for alternatives to the gas.
New helium plants in Russia and Qatar are coming online in the next few years, but Elsesser and other experts also note that helium is, in some applications, irreplaceable—which makes the need to use it wisely all the more important. All rights reserved.
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In terms of helium remaining within our planet, it is created as a result of other changes happening below the crust of the earth.
However, this is an expensive and inefficient process, so the number of natural gas fields that have enough helium and processing power present to make it worthwhile is small. The extraction process starts with natural gas that is at least 0. It then undergoes a number of industrial processes that filter impurities like water, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide from the gas. In , the US Congress passed the Helium Act of , which aimed to stockpile helium for the use in blimps in the war effort via :.
Interestingly, these together are regarded by many as one of the indirect causes of the Hindenburg Disaster of The US monopoly on helium caused a shortage, forcing others to turn to using highly-flammable hydrogen as their lifting gas.
The BLM also evaluates existing helium-bearing gas fields for the extraction and disposal of the gas. The Helium Acts Amendments of gave the green light for the US Bureau of Mines to allocate five private plants to recover helium from natural gas to be stored in the National Helium Reserve.
There, it can be compressed at the surface and stored, thanks to a thick layer of salt keeping the gas in place. This act worked to implement the following:. Though the US is the largest terrestrial known source of natural gas and helium, it is not the only country globally with reserves. Behind the US, are Algeria and Qatar, respectively, in terms of recoverable helium.
The current helium shortage that we have today is the result of a number of factors, both directly related to the gas supply itself and also because of the economic factors surrounding it. Though we had previously stockpiled it as part of the war effort, the later decision by former President Bill Clinton to sign into law the Helium Privatization Act of changed that with its requirement that the US government sell off its supply by
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