Air Products unveils first-of-its-kind helium plant

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“Today celebrates an accomplishment that has not been achieved before,” said Seifi Ghasemi, Air Products’ chairman, president and CEO. “We are capturing an important molecule — that being helium — from a naturally occurring stream of carbon dioxide provided by this site’s host Kinder Morgan, who I would like to thank for their cooperation with this venture.”

Kinder Morgan is an energy infrastructure company.

According to Air Products, much of the helium produced in the United States today is from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management system, however, the BLM system is in decline, and eventually that storage supply will be depleted.

At the same time, the world’s demand for helium is likely to continue to grow and is why new sources of helium and “out of the box” thinking are needed Ghasemi said.

“In doing so, our company takes another step forward … to help to ensure Air Products continues to build on the helium market leadership established and enhanced over many decades,” he said.

The purified helium at the new Colorado facility will be liquefied on-site for subsequent delivery to Air Products customers. The plant is expected to produce up to 230 million standard cubic feet of helium per year, replacing more than 15 percent of the existing BLM reserve helium supply as that system declines.