Air Products today held a grand opening at its new Doe Canyon helium production facility in Colorado. The Doe Canyon helium plant is the only one in the world extracting helium from a gas stream composed primarily of carbon dioxide (CO2).
The helium from this new facility further diversifies Air Products’ supply chain to ensure a reliable and stable supply of product for its customers.
“Today celebrates an accomplishment that has not been achieved before. 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,” said Seifi Ghasemi, Air Products’ chairman, president and chief executive officer. “In doing so, our company takes another step forward to maintain the leading position we have earned in this industry and to help to ensure Air Products continues to build on the helium market leadership established and enhanced over many decades.”
Much of the helium produced in the United States today comes from the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 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 are needed. 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 current BLM reserve helium supply as that system declines.
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