Interesting Articles on Helium

[TechMan]

Older articles but still good.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a4046/why-is-there-a-helium-shortage-10031229/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a8289/as-shortage-worsens-we-visit-the-federal-helium-reserve-14720528/

Helium for industrial uses comes from natural gas wells, mostly in the TX panhandle (Amarillo).  The .gov created the Federal Helium Program, which is managed by the BLM back in 1917.  This was to manage the helium used by the blimps during WWI.  All helium has to be sold to the .gov per the Congressional mandate. The helium is stored int the Bush Dome Reservoir, thus creating the Federal Helium Reserve.  Because of the Federal Helium Program the .gov sets the price for helium.

Gas extracted from the wells runs through pipes and into a metering station at the helium plant. The metering station is where BLM engineers gauge gas pressure, temperature, and flow, allowing them to accurately blend the gases because the system requires just the right balance of helium and methane. The gas from all the wells is then fed into a single pipe that sends the gas into a compressor and then to the cryogenic processing plant where the other gases are separated from the helium. First the carbon dioxide is removed. Then the gas, at about 93 F, is sent into a "cold box" where it is chilled to the point where most of the methane will liquefy and drop out of the mix. The remaining gas is chilled again to minus 267 F.

What's left at this point is mostly helium and nitrogen, and some of those gases are removed, recycled, and used elsewhere in the plant. The crude helium that comes out at the end of the process is composed of 78 percent helium, 21 percent nitrogen, and about 1 percent methane.

First, it's becoming more and more difficult to produce high-quality helium from the reserves that remain. Helium stored underground depletes over time, lowering the quality and concentration of what remains to be extracted. Then there's politics: the helium enrichment plant at Cliffside is set to shut down by 2015, as mandated by a 1996 federal law. Back then Congress aimed to privatize the helium program, so it required the federal government to halt helium production and refining activities and sell off the government's massive helium stockpile at Cliffside. But so far private industry hasn't stepped in to pick up the slack.

[Nick1911]

Interesting.

I'm too young to remember when helium was a economical industrial gas - the purposes for which I'd use it, TIG welding and HVAC purging/leak testing it has been replaced by respectively Argon and Nitrogen.

For TIG welding, I haven't heard any particular disadvantage of Argon.  I have read that nitrogen is inferior to helium for leak testing though, because diatomic nitrogen is a substantially larger molecule then the monoatomic helium.  Because of this, the nitrogen is slower to leak out and therefore it's harder to pinpoint leaks.

[Firethorn]

It's still an industrial gas, it's usage has just shifted to things like MRIs.

Also, the US is being stupid if it thinks that a commercial industry will emerge while it's selling off a stockpile, thus keeping prices depressed.

[French G.]

I welded some with helium. Way different on aluminum than argon, ridiculous penetration, really wonderful welds once you got it dialed down. Not something I'd do much without a forced air respirator, at least argon carries itself and the metal fume to the floor. I was pretty high after a few hours of He Tig welding.

[never_retreat]

The biggest waster of HE, is cryogenics. Most equipment does nothing with the gas that boils off except vent it outside.