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Helium production and storage in the United States, 1940-2014 (data from USGS) In 1903, an oil exploration well at Dexter, Kansas, produced a gas that would not burn.. Kansas state geologist Erasmus Haworth took samples of the gas back to the University of Kansas at Lawrence where chemists Hamilton Cady and David McFarland discovered that gas contained 1.84 percent
Cleveite was the first known terrestrial source of helium, which is created over time by alpha decay of the uranium and accumulates trapped (occluded) within the mineral. The first sample of helium was obtained by William Ramsay in 1895 when he treated a sample of the mineral with acid. [3]
Terrestrial helium is a non-renewable resource because once ... The helium fields of the western United States are emerging as an alternate source of helium ...
These fields contain natural gas with unusually high percentages of helium—from 0.3% to 2.7%—and constitute the United States' largest helium source. The helium is separated as a byproduct from the produced natural gas. After the Helium Acts Amendments of 1960 (Public Law 86–666), the U.S. Bureau of Mines arranged for five private plants ...
Around this time, it was discovered that helium enabled divers to stay under water longer and ascend in a shorter time, presenting another application for helium. In reaction to depleting helium sources, the Helium Act of March 3, 1927 was established to prohibit the sale of helium to foreign countries and for non-governmental domestic use. [8]
Helium is also present as up to 7% of some natural gas sources, [20] and large sources have over 0.5% (above 0.2% makes it viable to extract). [21] The fraction of 3 He in helium separated from natural gas in the U.S. was found to range from 70 to 242 parts per billion.
Pure-play helium, also known as primary helium or green helium is helium that is extracted from the earth as the main product. Since the early 20th century, most of the world's helium supply has been extracted from natural gas as part of the nitrogen rejection process. The preference for primary helium is driven by the planned reduction in use ...
Terrestrial helium consists almost exclusively (all but ~2ppm) [16] of 4 He. 4 He's boiling point of 4.2 K is the lowest of all known substances except 3 He. When cooled further to 2.17 K, it becomes a unique superfluid with zero viscosity. It solidifies only at pressures above 25 atmospheres, where it melts at 0.95 K.