(398c) Comparative Study on Helium Recovery and Purification from LNG Liquefication Process

Helium is an indispensable chemical element, which is widely used in semiconductor applications, MRI scanning in medical industry, deep sea diving, weather forecasting, and welding due to its unique properties. However, the helium shortage is expected in near future because of increasing demand and the anxiety of supply. As a consequence, the helium production from alternative pathways has attracted the attention of industry. An increasingly available source of helium is from natural gas production, where helium could be collected from the end-flash unit from LNG liquefications process. It is considered as the most promising way of producing crude helium. Hitherto, there are three main types of helium extraction process have been proposed: flashing-based process, distillation-based process, and the integration of flashing and distillation process. Thus, the objective of this study is to perform a comparative evaluation based on rigorous simulations of these proposed helium extraction processes and give proper technical guidelines to achieve a successful helium extraction task. The simulation results indicate that the selection of the most suitable helium extraction process for an LNG plant will depend on the process, operation, and feedstock characteristics.