Helium shortages will persist

Abstract

Scientific instrument users can expect helium shortages throughout 2019. In fact, the shortages are likely to continue into 2020 and beyond, predicts Phil Kornbluth, a consultant who previously ran helium operations at BOC and Matheson Tri-Gas. Costs for the noble gas, used to cool nuclear magnetic resonance magnets and as a carrier in gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, are also likely to go up dramatically, Kornbluth notes. “Expect double-digit percent increases,” he says. The aggressive price increases are not likely to free up much gas, Kornbluth cautions. In situations where substituting or recycling is possible, people have already largely done so, he says. In some cases, mass spectrometry users have substituted hydrogen for helium. In other cases, NMR operators have installed helium-recycling systems. Over the past decade, regular US auctions of government stockpiles have supplied about 20% of global helium demand. However, the government held its last helium auction at