Recovering helium from Australia’s natural gas: A case study for advanced adsorption processes to concentrate dilute gases

该项目将在从天然气中生产氦气的气体分离技术方面取得突破。全球在关键医疗、科学和工业应用方面对氦气的需求预计将以每年5%左右的速度增长。为了克服预测的氦气产量不足，必须开发新的低成本和节能的从天然气田中回收氦气的技术。该项目将有助于开发新型微孔吸附剂，更好地理解氦吸附动力学，以及设计变压吸附过程以浓缩稀混合物的一般方法。

This project will deliver breakthroughs in gas separation technologies for the production of helium from natural gas. Global demand for helium in critical medical, scientific and industrial applications is projected to grow at around five per cent per annum. To overcome the forecast short falls in helium production, new low cost and energy efficient technologies to recover helium from natural gas fields must be developed. This project will contribute novel microporous adsorbents, a better understanding of helium sorption kinetics and general methodologies for design of pressure swing adsorption processes to concentrate dilute mixtures.