How Helium One, Oxford and Durham Helium field discovery in Tanzania herald Noble Gas Recycling

Helium, a gas necessary in many industries, was in short supply.

So the news of a discovery of a massive supply in Tanzania by researchers from Oxford and Durham Universities collaborated with Helium One as explained in the article “Giant helium field could inflate the world’s dwindling supply”, published June 28, 2016 By Andrew Liptak, The Verge.

The researchers from Oxford and Durham Universities in collaboration with Helium One studied samples at Tanzania’s East African Rift valley. They calculated that the field could potentially contain over 54 billion cubic feet of helium, twice those in the United States Federal Helium Reserve, which was set up in 1925.

So what is the United States Federal Helium Reserve?

United States Federal Helium Reserve – Too much Helium spoils the World Supply

In 1903, scientists in the United States discovered vast quantities of the gas trapped in petroleum wells, leading the country to become one of the world’s largest producers, setting up the National Helium Reserve in 1925.

The Bush Dome reservoir was set up at a cost of US$300 million to store the US supply in 1960. However, due to a lack of demand, the loan use to set up the reserve grew to US$1.54 billion.

Realizing that they had to repay the loan quickly, Congress passed the Privatization Act in 1996 that pegged the price to the growing debt. This made the price of helium artificially low but had the adverse effect of discouraging recycling of this rare resource.

Due to overuse, the National Helium Reserve is set to run out in 2021. The discovery of the Tanzanian Helium field will save the world’s supply of helium for future generations.

So how is helium produced? And how did the researchers from Oxford and Durham Universities and Helium One discover the size of the Tanzanian Helium field?

Helium field in Tanzania – Africa replenishes Helium reserves as Recycling Needed

Albeit helium is the most abundant element in the universe, the result of nuclear fusion in Stars, it's rare on earth due to being lighter than air.

Our helium is produced from the radioactive decay of uranium to produce alpha beta particles as descried in my MICO Wars blog article entitled “What is Radioactivity and what are alpha, Beta and Gamma Particles”. 

It has many uses including:

1.      Party balloons

2.      Airships

3.      Rocket Fuel coolant

4.      MRI Machines

5.      Industrial leak detection

6.      Nuclear Power Plant containment

 

This latest discovery will hopefully encourage more responsible usage of helium, such as recycling as suggested in the article “That Dire Helium Shortage? Vastly Inflated”, published 29 June 2016 by Brendan Cole, Wired.

Also, the researchers from Oxford and Durham Universities and Helium One may find more resources of Helium to expand the world supply of this precious gas!