News
28.10.2024
First helium recovery system for NMR equipment in Spain
The CCiTUB has installed a new system for the recovery and liquefaction of helium gas from the five NMR devices located in their Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) laboratory at the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB).
Liquid helium, at a temperature of -269ºC, is used to cool the superconducting magnets, which are the core of NMR equipment. The new recovery system, the first in an NMR laboratory in Spain, consists of a network of pipes that collect the helium evaporating from the magnets of the five pieces of equipment and transport it to a large balloon with a capacity of 40,000 liters. It is a high-pressure storage system with a capacity equivalent to 360,000 liters of gas at atmospheric pressure, along with a NexGen250 purification and liquefaction system from the company Quantum Design.
A sustainable system
Helium gas is a scarce element on Earth and is only found in small proportions in natural gas, mostly from some countries subject to geopolitical tensions that affect both price and availability. In 2022 there were serious supply problems and the price increased by 200%. The five NMR equipments installed at PCB requires 8,600 liters of liquid helium each year.
With the new installation, the University of Barcelona increases the sustainability of its NMR equipment by recovering and recycling the helium that evaporates from the magnets. In this way, it becomes independent of supply fluctuations and significantly reduces the cost of purchasing liquid helium.
Equally important from an environmental and social responsibility point of view is the contribution to the reduction of the CO2 footprint. The process of separating helium from other gases consumes a lot of energy, and it is also very expensive to cool it to the point where it becomes liquid. Both the extraction and liquefaction carried out by some of the exporting countries use electricity only from non-renewable funds. It is estimated that the reuse and local liquefaction of helium will save 21,600 kg of CO2 per year.
Funding
This installation has been financed with funds from the European Next Generation program within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, ICTS 2021 call, (project ICT2021-6875) being one of the complementary actions to the installation of the 1.0GHz NMR located in the same NMR laboratory spaces at CCiTUB. Part of the equipment that will be supported by the recycling system is part of the Barcelona node of NMR's distributed ICTS.