The dramatic rise in helium prices has made it financially attractive for Arencibia to recover exhaust streams that otherwise would not make economic sense. For instance, we are now recovering helium exhaust streams that suffer from very significant dilution, impurities and low volumes.
Five years ago, we would not have touched these exhaust streams. But today, we and our customers are seeing tremendous benefits from doing so. And while the price of helium may stabilise in the near future, these benefits are here to stay. A key reason for this is the innovative hub and spoke model that Arencibia offers its largest customers.
In the hub and spoke gas recovery model, a large manufacturer can recover and reuse helium across an entire portfolio of manufacturing facilities that are geographically contiguous. Arencibia collects, processes and transports crude helium from up to a dozen or more satellite facilities to a central processing unit located at the manufacturer’s largest facility, the hub. The recovered, purified helium is then transported from the hub back to the satellite facilities, in some cases on a daily basis, to meet the demand for helium across the manufacturer’s entire asset portfolio.
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