Investigation of a new energy‐efficient cryogenic process configuration for helium extraction and liquefaction

Abstract

This study's main focus is to simulate and design a novel cryogenic system that produces liquid helium. The novelty of this research has two main parts: first, this system is able to produce large amounts of liquid helium at atmospheric pressure, and second, from an energy consumption point of view, it performs better than other processes of liquid helium production. The first and second laws of thermodynamic are used to investigate this process. In this novel cryogenic process, liquid helium is produced at three stages; first, the mainstream contains some helium enter to helium upgrader to increase helium concentration. After that, the stream with high helium concentration enters to pressure swing adsorption process, and pure helium is obtained. Finally, pure helium enters to cryogenic process and is liquified in an expander. The network consumption in this system is equal to 18.66 MW, and the proposed system's exergy efficiency is obtained at 23.4%. Also, the results show that this system can produce 196.5 kg/h liquid helium. In this research, Aspen HYSYS V10 and MATLAB software are used to simulate this cryogenic process. Finally, numerical assessment is done on the key parameters that influence the performance of the process.