Allentown’s Air Products Opens Cutting-edge Helium Plant In Colorado

Allentown’s Air Products, a leading industrial-gases company, held a grand opening on Wednesday for its Doe Canyon plant in Colorado, the world’s first facility that can produce helium from carbon dioxide, a move that diversifies the company’s supply chain. “Today celebrates an accomplishment that has not been achieved before,” Air Products President and CEO Seifi Ghasemi said. “We are capturing an important molecule … 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.” Much of the helium produced in the U.S. is furnished by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), but its system is in decline, and eventual depletion is anticipated. Simultaneously, global helium demand is expected to continue growing, spurring Air Products to meet this demand with its new facility. Extracting helium from a gas stream composed primarily of carbon dioxide, Air Products will liquefy purified helium on site prior to delivery. The plant is expected to produce up to 230 million standard cubic feet of the gas annually — gradually replacing the dwindling BLM reserves. “People often talk about ‘thinking outside the box,’ and that is really the case in this instance,” Corning Painter, Air Products’ executive vice president and general manager of industrial gases, said. “This is not just another liquid-helium plant; we’re using cutting-edge technology to extract and produce helium that would have otherwise been lost. Bringing the Doe Canyon helium plant on-stream is just one more step in a series of steps that we’ve taken in order to become the most reliable supplier of helium to our customers around the world.” Helium’s many uses include MRIs, lift for research balloons, blimps, the party industry, fiber optics, manufacturing, metallurgy and scientific equipment.

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