China is a resource-rich country. The vast land contains many rare resources that many countries in the world desire. However, China is a helium-poor country. More than 95% of helium depends on imports, which is too large.

Moreover, most of the helium comes from the United States, which has been in constant friction with China. In the face of increasing demand for helium, this has become another “stuck neck” problem in China.

But why is the mere helium gas stuck by the United States? How does China solve the problem of scarcity of helium resources? How to solve the stuck neck problem in other fields?

What is helium?

Helium is a colorless and odorless inert gas. It ranks first among the rare gases in the periodic table. Most of it was formed during the Big Bang period. In the entire universe, helium accounts for 23% of its mass, ranking it in the entire universe. The second element.

Under normal conditions, helium does not react with other substances, and even if it is put together with water, it is difficult to dissolve in it. At 20°C, only 8.61 milliliters of helium can be dissolved per liter of water.

It is precisely because of its inactive chemical properties that helium is often used as an anti-corrosion material. Among all the elements, helium has the lowest boiling point, only 4.22K, so it often exists as a gas.

To make helium liquid or solid, not only need to change its temperature, but also pressurize it. The most amazing thing is that when the temperature of liquid helium is lower than -271°C, its properties will change and become a superfluid.

The thermal conductivity of helium in superfluid is extremely high, 800 times that of copper, and it can penetrate many common materials, such as glass and rubber.

Moreover, the density of helium is very small, the mass is far lighter than air, and it is not flammable. Therefore, helium has become one of the necessities of many high-tech industries.

Uses of helium

Helium is present in many common items, such as hydrogen balloons, thermometers, light bulbs, neon lights and other items. Someone asked if the hydrogen balloon was not lifted off by hydrogen? What is helium?

In fact, because hydrogen is flammable and explosive, there is a great safety hazard. Therefore, China has banned hydrogen filling balloons from a long time ago and replaced it with non-flammable helium.

But because everyone is accustomed to calling it a hydrogen balloon, it is not changed to a helium balloon. Helium is also well known by many diving enthusiasts. Because helium will be mixed with oxygen and then injected into the cylinder for divers to use when breathing underwater.

This can reduce the diver’s breathing resistance, eliminate nitrogen anesthesia, extend the diver’s time under water, and prevent the diver from suffering from decompression sickness.

Helium in gas form is also widely used in the medical industry, often used to treat asthma and wheezing, and argon helium knife can also be used to treat cancer. Helium in its liquid form has more industrial uses and can be used as a coolant and refrigerant.

Helium in superfluid form can be used to make superconducting materials. In addition, nuclear reactors, space accelerators, metal smelting and other industries have its presence everywhere.

Why was the neck stuck by the United States?

Helium is also called “golden gas” and is an indispensable role in the aerospace industry, semiconductor manufacturing, low-temperature superconducting industry and other fields. As the application range of helium becomes wider and wider, the demand is also very large.

Although the content of helium in the universe ranks second, the amount of helium stored on land is not that much. In addition, helium has a very wide range of uses, but its natural generation rate is very slow, and it is easy to escape. Scattered in the air, so helium resources are increasingly scarce.

At present, there are about 51.9 billion cubic meters of helium resources on the earth. The United States’ helium reserves account for 40% of the global helium reserves, ranking first in the world. Russia’s helium reserves account for 8% of the global helium reserves, but China’s helium reserves only account for 2%.

China consumes more than 22 million cubic meters of helium per year, so the vast majority of helium is imported. Although the United States has a lot of helium reserves, they began to formulate laws related to helium resources as early as 1917, and set up a federal helium project.

At the same time, the relevant systems are constantly revised and improved to ensure the effective control of helium resources. Although the United States has become the world’s largest exporter of helium, their control of helium is still very strict, and even included helium in one of the crisis mines in 2018.

In 2020, the import price of helium is US$82,200 per ton, an annual increase of 44%. China is a major helium-consuming country and a major helium-poor country, with an annual demand of 22 million cubic meters.

However, because the helium reserves are too low, 95% of the helium comes from imports. What is even more worrying is that with the continuous increase in demand, the amount of helium imports is also increasing year by year.

Some people say that although the United States has the largest helium reserves in the world, other countries also have helium, and we can import it from other countries. The United States has a large amount of helium gas is entirely a geographical advantage. They are in a more stable regional plate, so a large amount of helium gas is sealed.

Coupled with their development and storage capabilities, they have become the largest exporter of helium. At present, only the United States, Qatar, Russia and other countries are exporting helium.

Qatar, a country originally located in the Middle East region, has been high hopes by many people, but although Qatar has a certain amount of helium reserves, the key gas production technology is still controlled by the United States.

Moreover, the price is affected by factors such as war and technical conditions. The price of helium in Qatar is also higher than that of the United States. As a result, China’s helium imports are still mainly dependent on the United States.

As a scarce resource, once the import of helium is completely stopped, it will have a shocking impact on all walks of life in China. Therefore, it is urgent to solve the problem of shortage of helium resources. How can China solve this problem?

How to deal with the problem of excessive dependence on helium?

13% are from Australia, 26% are from the United States, and 61% are from Qatar. However, Qatar’s import price is higher than that of the United States, and Qatar’s technology relies on the United States, so the situation of China’s helium imports remains severe.

Helium is also present in China, most of which are in China’s central and western basins, the eastern part of the basin, and some hot springs. However, the helium content in China’s helium gas fields is very low, so the annual helium output is far from enough for use.

In order to achieve “helium freedom”, China is also trying to produce helium from multiple sources. Some people say that helium will escape into the air? It’s better to “pull” it out of the air. But extracting helium is not that simple.

The content of helium in the air is pitiful. It may capture half of the city’s air and not extract the amount of a brick, so this idea is obviously unrealistic. But helium is also present in natural gas, so China uses a variety of methods to extract helium.

For example, methods such as “air separation method”, “helium liquid method”, and “low temperature liquefaction split”, although the purity of helium extracted by the first two extraction methods is as high as 99.99%, the process is cumbersome and the cost is extremely high, so the most commonly used method is “Low-temperature liquefaction split flow method”.

[Continued in part 2/2]