Many customers have been asking us about options to reduce helium consumption by gas chromatographs or use another carrier gas as their suppliers have informed them of helium supply shortages and increased pricing.
There is an alternative gas that can be used as the carrier gas for most Helium carrier applications. Unfortunately, it is hydrogen. Hydrogen is the only gas that has a thermal conductivity that is similar to helium, and thus can be used as a direct replacement. Other gases, such as argon, have thermal conductivities too close to the components we are typically looking for, and therefore will not provide a good detector signal.
In some situations, it is possible to convert the GC to use hydrogen, and we do have kits available to do this. In situations where using hydrogen is not practical, we can convert the actuation gas (the gas used to actuate the analytical valves) to nitrogen or air. This can reduce the carrier gas consumption by half and is relatively easy.
We have created a flyer to explain the issues and the options that are available. The flyer is available at the Danalyzer and Rosemount analytical sites here:
http://www2.emersonprocess.com/siteadmincenter/PM%20Rosemount%20Analytical%20Documents/Danalyzer-GC-FLR-Helium.pdf
If you have any questions, feel free to post them to this thread.
Regards,
Shane
(link updated on April 11, 2016)
Shane Hale | Global Business Development Director - Rosemount Wireless | Emerson Automation Solutions
shane.hale@emerson.com | T +1 952 204 4737 | M +1 713 447 2839
Thanks for this note Shane. I read somewhere that the world is facing a helium crisis - we are actually running out of Helium soon. And that is going to be a problem in many manufacturing processes. Good thing Analytical instrumentations have figured out something.
May be we should not allow party ballons....:-)...haha.
In reply to adarochris: