We are considering the same problem in Russia, Moscow, our NMR facility has four NMRs with total LHe consumption ~3750 liters/year.
The liquid helium price on the Gazprom stock market was ~11 000 RUB/Kg in sep-dec 2018 (20 USD/liter) and the final price for our lab (including delivery) was 22 USD/liter.
The price details in Moscow are here (April 2018 - now)
The LHe price was ~4000 RUB/kg (7-9 USD/liter) for a long time before.
Our yearly LHe costs were expected to be 2.65 millions RUB for 2018 (at the beginning of the year), but the final 2018 LHe price was 3.8 millions RUB. Prices for 2019 have high risk of volatility and in the worst case will be 5.7 millions RUB (85k USD / year, 1 USD = 67 RUB).
Both systems will include: gas bag ~60 m3, he compressor, block of 200bar gas cylinders, helium purifier, helium liquifier, LHe dewar. Total price is in range 350-400k USD, it is equivalent of 5 years of LHe consumption in our facility at the highest prices. The equivalent cryomech system is installed in MSU (Moscow) and works fine.
We hope that a new NMR will (probably) be paid by Russian govenment with additional ~1000 liters/year consumption, and we hope that some LHe recirculation system will be (probably) included in it's configuration. The negotiations are in progress now.
There is an public information that the new Amur GPZ (google) will be launched by Gazprom in 2021-2025. The helum production rate will be 10 millions m3/year in 2021 and 60 mlns m3/year in 2025 vs 5 mlns m3 in Orenburg, Russia just now. In case of success, that should change the world helium markets. Hence, the LHe recirculation system may became unnecessary and will became sunk costs if paid from laboratory grants.
Sincerely,
Maxim A. Dubinnyi
12.01.2019, 03:08, "Tara Sprules, Dr." <tara.sprules@mcgill.ca>:
As helium prices climb, how feasible is investment in helium recovery systems that would serve just one or a few instruments? Have many labs gone this route?
What experience has anyone had with them in terms of maintenance, whether there is any effect on quality of NMR data etc.?
Thanks very much,
Tara
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Dr. Tara Sprules
QANUC
Quebec/Eastern Canada High Field NMR Facility
www.nmrlab.mcgill.ca
phone: (514) 398-1721
fax: (514) 398-8254
3420 University St., Rm 023
McGill University
Montreal, QC, H3A 2A7
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С уважением,
Максим Дубинный
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Received on Sat Jan 12 2019 - 05:33:01 MST