Helium rationed at WUR

The worldwide shortage of helium is making itself felt on campus. Supplier SOL Nederland can no longer deliver the gas. Research and education will have to make do with the limited supply that is still available, says Ineke Rus, contract manager for technical gases at Facilities and Services.

The supply of helium, a by-product of gas extraction, has been problematic for years. The main suppliers are the US, Qatar, Algeria and Russia. According to Rus, the temporary loss of production capacity, on top of the current war, is causing a dip in the supply of this gas. And prices are sky-high. ‘The price has risen by 240 per cent since 2013′, says Rus.

Cooling

The consequences of the shortage for WUR are currently being mapped out. Helium (in liquid form) is indispensable for cooling the large magnets in NMR equipment. It is also used as a carrier gas in gas chromatographs and mass spectrometers, which are essential for chemical analysis. Rus: ‘We have dozens of them at WUR’.  

Nobody wants to deliver at the moment; they are holding on to it for their own customers

Ineke Rus, contract manager for technical gases at Facilities and Services

The NMR Centre can keep going for now, says director Maarten Smulders. ‘We use liquid helium (at -269⁰C) to cool the magnets. We replenish this a few times a year. It’s time to do so again next week. We still have the 250 litres we need for that in stock.’ But a solution will have to be found for the future.

Alternatives

Last year, WUR used 146,000 euros worth of helium. Most of that is for the NMR equipment, and there are no alternatives according to Smulders. But there are alternatives for the gas chromatographs, says Rus. ‘You can also use hydrogen or nitrogen as a carrier, although you may lose some resolution.’ And that means the quality of the analysis goes down.

How the shortage will be solved is still unclear. Rus: ‘We are in intensive contact with SOL, so there may still be deliveries’. WUR is allowed to buy elsewhere as well. ‘Of course we have already tried that,’ says Rus, ‘but nobody wants to deliver at the moment. They are holding on to it for their own customers.’ So for now, the emphasis is on being frugal and only using the stuff for the really necessary projects.

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