Qatar is the source of as much as 30% of the global supply of helium. The embargo of Qatar by several of its neighboring countries threatens the global supply chain.
There were supply shortages 5–10 years ago, and now it’s time to do a quick check. Helium has historically been used as the carrier gas in GC. It is also used as a coolant for spectrometers, including nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometers. Its imminent shortage, however, means that users are looking to alternative gases.
The switch to hydrogen
While gas chromatography assays are often validated using helium or nitrogen as a carrier gas, hydrogen can be an effective carrier. But changing the carrier gas to hydrogen raises safety concerns, despite the small volume of gas actually consumed. On-site generation of hydrogen should thus be considered. There are many vendors, but I was impressed with a novel membrane generator for GCs from Proton On Site (Wallingford, CT).
The low viscosity of hydrogen improves the kinetics of transfer between the stationary and mobile phase in chromatography by as much as 30%. This translates to improved column efficiency. Thus, for the same resolution provided by helium, the column can be shorter, which saves run time. If you switch to hydrogen, you can improve your lab’s productivity.
Liquid helium purchasing program
The American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, and Defense Logistics Agency offer a program to supply liquid helium to large users. See http://www.aps.org/policy/issues/energy/helium/purchaseprogram.cfm.
To qualify, you need to fill out a questionnaire and return it to Mark Elsesser ([email protected]) at the American Physical Society no later than Friday, July 21, 2017.
Robert L. Stevenson, Ph.D., is Editor Emeritus, American Laboratory/Labcompare; e-mail: [email protected]. See associated blog post at https://www.labcompare.com/2719-Blog/341215-The-Helium-Shortage-Update/.