SP0242: Helium Recovery Project

We propose to install a helium recovery system which should allow us to reuse about 90% of the helium required to run the two NMR facilities located in the Pulp and Paper and Otto Maass buildings. The system will be comprised of a compressor, to compress the gas to high pressure; a purifier to clean it; and a liquefier to return it to the liquid state which is necessary for NMR instruments. Also, piping and pressure controllers will be necessary to connect the helium from the NMR instruments with the gas collection bag. Finally, a door linking Otto Maass and Pulp and Paper will need to be widened to permit dewars to be brought from the collection area and the magnets.

The idea of helium recovery is not novel in and of itself, and many commercial providers sell systems which can be used with our instrumentation. In fact, such a system exists within the laboratory of Guillaume Gervais in the Physics Department. However, it is too small to accept the amount of helium used by the NMR instruments in the Chemistry Department, and furthermore, transporting the helium to physics would be logistically difficult (it would be necessary to collect and compress the gas before it could be transported, and require special transportation to be moved). So, the technology would be novel within the context of the Chemistry Department, and complementary to the system in the Physics Department.