Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-21
Texas HeHum Plants

WHILE most other important nations would
pay exceedingly well for it, Uncle Sam has
SO much helium it has been found necessary to
run the plant at Amarillo, Tex, at only about
one-third its capacity.
Running only 10 months in the past year,
the plant produced 100000 cubic feet more than
the greatest output of the Fort Worth plant.
The output was limited to the demands of the
Army and Navy for the lighter than-air craft.
Should the demand exist, the plant could turn
out about 24,oO0,0O0 cubic feet year.
Helium- bearing natural gas for the Anna
rillo plant is drawn from Government owned
gas wells the cliffside structure northwest of
Amarillo Tex, where the Government controls
gas rights in about so 900 acres of land. II is
transported to the plant through Government
owned pipe line.
In the plant the helium is extracted by cool
ing the natural gas under pressure to very low
temperature at which all of its constituents
except the helium, are hquefied. After the
helium has been drawn off, the other con-
stituents are returned to the gaseous state by
warming them up to atmospheric temperature.
Each cubic foot of natural gas that enters the
plant is cooled from atmospheric temperature
to about 800 degrees Fahrenheit below zero and
returned to atmospheric temperature in less
than one minute The gas from which the
helium has been extracted is discharged into a
pipe line, with its heating value improved by the
extraction of the helium. and is cold for use as
domestic and industrial fuel. All of the equip
ment for production and transportation of the
natural gas and the extraction of the helium is
operated by the Bureau of Mines
The gross operating costs for the 10 operating
months OF the year were $40, 146.75, or $143O
per 1000 cubic feet of helium produced The
net costs were $lo9,562.15, or $11.16 per 1000
cubic feet The lowest operating costs of the
Fort Worth plant over fiscal years operation
were about $34 per 1000 cubic feet of airship
gas containing about 95 per cent of helium.
The airship gas produced at Amarillo is about
SO per cent heliun1, and the reported production
and costs for that plant are based on the actual
quantity of helium contained in its product.
The standby costs of the Amarillo plant for the
two months Of December and February when
it was closed for lack of orders were $1918l IA
gross, or $1904622 net.
Under present conditions it costs less to
operate Government airships with non-flamma-
BILE helium than it would cost to operate them
with hammable hydrogen. The first cost of
hydrogen, as produced for airship operation,
may be somewhat less than the present cost OF
hel1um However, when diffusion Of air into
the gas envelope reduces the purity of the
hydrogen to about IS per cent the envelope
must be debated because of decreased buoyancy
fire risk and danger of explosion. AS no safe
and economical process for purifying this nv.
drogen has been found, it is allowed to escape
into the atmosphere, and the ship must be
reinf1ated with new hydrogen. This operation
is necessary eight to ten times a year
When air diffuses into a helium filled shin
the only serious effect is to decrease the lifting
power. In this case, however the helium can
De purlfled at cost of from SO cents to 81 so
per 1000 feet in plants that have been designed
and built by the Bureau of Mines
The new helium required over the course of
years operation is only about one and half
or two times the volume of the ships, compared
with eight to ten times the volume in the case
OF hydrogen. Thus helium, though possibly
somewhat more expensive in first cost, now has
considerable advantage over hydrogen in cost
over years operation in addition to its ines
unable advantage of safety from fire and
explosion.