Proposed Helium Recovery System for the UofT/Sick Kids Biomolecular NMR Facility

氦是一种珍贵的、不可再生的资源，用于各种行业，被列入加拿大被认为对该国可持续经济和技术成功至关重要的材料清单(www.nrca.gc.ca)。在极冷的液体状态下，氦也是现代核磁共振(核磁共振)谱和磁共振成像(MRI)中使用的超导磁体必不可少的。2022年初，一系列工业和地缘政治事件合谋导致了第四次全球氦供应危机--He4.0。这是迄今为止最严重的一次危机，导致氦供应急剧波动，仅在去年一年，液态氦的合同价格就翻了一番，自2018年以来上涨了约300%，从而危及学术核磁共振设施的近期未来。多伦多大学的生物分子核磁共振设施(NMRF)是加拿大同类设施中最引人注目的，也是世界上排名前两到三的设施之一。它包括从500 MHz到1 GHz的10个核磁共振光谱仪。GHz磁铁在加拿大是独一无二的，也是该国磁场最高的核磁共振磁铁。NMRF由三名教职员工共享，他们是生物分子核磁共振领域的世界领先者，特别是大型生物分子系统、内在无序蛋白质和对健康和疾病重要的凝聚体的结构和动力学。NMRF三十年来的数据推动了670多篇研究论文的发表，NMRF在任何给定的时间都支持20多个HQP。此外，在NMRF培训的博士后科学家中，有很高比例(~80%)成功地在加拿大和世界各地的主要研究密集型大学和研究所担任教职。在这里提出的氦回收系统(HERS)中，设施中单个磁体的氦气被被动耗尽或在常规的磁体填充过程中被收集到一条公共管道中，通向压缩机、净化器，并最终用于再液化。然后，高纯度的重新排出的氦将准备好按计划转移回磁铁中。她的装置将能够以~90%的速度捕获和回收氦，从而提供一种有效和成本效益(快速投资回报)的手段来保存这种宝贵的元素。此外，拟议的HERS将通过显著减少对全球氦市场波动的敞口和对供应商的依赖，确保NMRF的长期未来。她的研究将为NMRF的学员提供关于氦回收的宝贵指导，这对未来建立学术核磁共振研究设施至关重要。最后，拟议中的HERS还可以作为其邻近其他核磁共振基团未来的氦液化中心。

Helium is a precious, non-renewable resource used in a variety of industries, and is on Canada's list of materials considered critical for the sustainable economic and technological success of the country (www.nrca.gc.ca). In its extremely cold liquid state, helium is also absolutely required for the superconducting magnets employed in modern Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). In early 2022, a number of industry and geopolitical events conspired to cause the 4th major global helium supply crisis, "He4.0". This crisis, the most serious to date, has resulted in dramatic volatility in helium supply, and an approximate doubling of the contracted price of liquid helium in the last year alone, and ~300% increase since 2018, thus jeopardizing the immediate futures of academic NMR facilities.     The Biomolecular NMR facility (NMRF) at the University of Toronto/Sick Kids is the highest profile facility of its kind in Canada, and one of the top two or three in the world. It includes 10 NMR spectrometers ranging from 500 MHz to 1 GHz. The GHz magnet is unique in Canada, and the highest field NMR magnet in the country. The NMRF is shared between three faculty members who are world leaders in biomolecular NMR, particularly the structure and dynamics of large biomolecular systems, intrinsically disordered proteins, and condensates important to health and disease. Data from the NMRF over three decades has fueled the publication of over 670 research papers, and the NMRF supports over 20 HQPs at any given time. Moreover, a very high percentage (~80%) of post-doctoral scientists who have trained in the NMRF have successfully attained faculty positions at major research-intensive universities and institutes in Canada and world-wide.     In the helium recovery system (HeRS) proposed here, helium gas from individual magnets in the facility, exhausted passively or during regular magnet fills, would be collected in a common pipeline leading to a compressor, purifier, and ultimately helium liquefier for reliquefaction. The highly pure, reliquefied helium would then be ready for scheduled transfer back into the magnets. The HeRS would be capable of capturing and recycling helium at an ~90% rate, thereby offering an efficient and cost effective (quick return on investment) means of conserving this precious element. Moreover, the proposed HeRS would ensure the long-term future of the NMRF by significantly reducing exposure to volatility in the global helium market and dependence on suppliers. The HeRS would provide trainees in the NMRF valuable instruction on helium recycling, critical for the future establishment of academic NMR research facilities. Finally, the proposed HeRS could also serve as a future helium liquefaction hub for other NMR groups in its immediate vicinity.