According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on July 28, 2020，China recently opened its first large helium gas plant in Yanchi County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.Although new plants and equipment currently meet only a small amount of demand, such helium plants are relatively cheap to build and could be widely used in the future.

 

Chinese scientists say the completion of the country's first large helium plant is a step closer to reducing or even ridding the country of its dependence on imported helium in making high-tech products.

Helium is light and colorless. It is an inert gas and so stable that it is unlikely to react with other elements even in extreme conditions, making it considered a rare resource.

 

Helium is widely used and important in everyday manufacturing, whether as a pressurizer and pressurizer for fuel in Long March 5 rockets, as a protective gas in welding, or as the "super-clean environment" needed to make electronic chips.

 

The opening on July 21st of China's first large helium gas plant in Yanchi county, Ningxia hui Autonomous Region, could change that.The Chinese Academy of Sciences designed and built the plant, which is the country's first facility capable of producing and operating helium commercially, according to its official statement.

 

The United States currently holds more than one-third of the world's helium reserves and has been one of the world's largest producers of natural gas.Most of the helium, meanwhile, is extracted as a by-product of natural gas, and the United States has the world's largest helium-rich natural gas field.By contrast, China also has natural gas, but it contains very little helium, which means it would be too expensive to extract helium directly from the gas.

 

However, a research team at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry under the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently found that waste from China's natural gas plants contains significant amounts of helium, which could be the key to the country's large-scale production of the gas.One scientist, who did not want to be named, said the cost of the production method was not disclosed but was "very competitive" compared with the cost of imports.

 

Scientists involved in the project said the new plant, in the form of liquid helium, would produce 20 tons a year, the South China Morning Post reported.While that is still a far cry from China's current huge use of more than 4,300 tons a year, the plant costs very little to build, with estimates ranging from 30 million to 50 million yuan ($4.3 million to $7.1 million).Once China builds hundreds of such facilities, it will be able to "stand on its own" with helium.

 

Another scientist told the South China Morning Post that official support is needed for this to happen."Investment is not an issue at all, it's whether the government wants to do it or not."According to the press release on the official website of riF, the project has received positive comments and responses."The next step will be to cooperate with relevant departments and units to fully promote the demonstration project in China, so as to form large-scale production of liquid helium and alleviate the shortage of helium resources in China," the release said.

 

Helium is widely used in high-end equipment manufacturing, medical treatment, large scientific engineering and other fields, and is an important strategic resource related to national security, the development of high-tech industry and the health of people's livelihood. The use of helium in China is almost entirely dependent on imports, and the resource security situation is very severe.

Objectively speaking, China wants to build more similar facilities, also need some time, some researchers estimate, China implemented in the production and use of helium "self-reliance" also need at least 10 years, there are several facilities currently under construction or in the planning stage, they will be the main purpose of the reserve force of the defense industry.

Some experts argue that China's goal should not be to 'produce enough helium to meet demand,' but to import more helium while the international market can still supply it, and to build up large strategic reserves.