Page 47 - Energize June 2022

VIEWS AND OPINION

In terms of helium, the 2P number Energize: What sort of plant would be necessary to produce the gases, and what investment
is 13,6 billion cubic feet, or 64 million would be required for this? Please explain the Phase 1 and Phase 2 parts of the project, and
kg of the second lightest substance on the projected costs of each.
earth. If we were to produce 10% of world
helium, this would last around 30 years. SM: Phase 1 was R1-billion and will make 350 kg of helium per day and 50 metric tons of
Remember, each billion cubic feet has a LNG per day. Phase 2 is around R14-billion and will see 5000 kg of helium and about 700
surface value of over US$300-million. metric tons of LNG.

Energize: What other gases are present as Energize: How will these gases be distributed? Will pipelines or tankers be used for this?
impurities in the methane and helium?
SM: Only tankers will be used, as pipelines are far too complex to use at such low
SM: Just methane, nitrogen and helium. temperatures.
No sulphur. Other gases are present in
trace quantities. Energize: What will be the main local uses of the LNG?

Energize: What sort of refining or SM: Displacement of diesel in trucks, displacement of LPG in factories, and tri-generation
processing would be necessary to produce (cooling, heat, power) at mines.
pure helium and pure LNG, and also to
separate out the impurities? Would one Energize: What sort of recovery factor (percentage of the gas which can be extracted) is
exploit the difference in boiling points of projected for the LNG? And for the helium?
helium and methane, as helium boils at
a far lower temperature (-268,9°C) than SM: Greater than 99% for helium, and around 95% for the methane, although we use a bit
methane (-161,6°C)? of that recovered methane in the cooling process. Gas is very different from mining. Even
the discard methane is consumed to generate heating for the oils in the plant, reducing
SM: This is exactly what our plant does. electricity consumption. Almost nothing is wasted.
We take all the gas to -162°C, and the
methane comes out a liquid. It still has Energize: As more gas is extracted from the source, gas pressure will drop, making further
a few nitrogen bubbles, but nothing extraction less efficient. Is there a remedy for this (i.e., injecting some gas such as nitrogen or
hectic. The remaining gas is helium and carbon dioxide back into the source)?
nitrogen, which we then cool to -196°C
(the boiling point of nitrogen) and the SM: You are correct in a normal gas field. But this field has no pressure, and you can’t
nitrogen falls out, leaving laboratory stimulate the flow rate. What you see is what you get, and it appears that this is the rate at
grade helium gas. The helium is then which the methane is being regenerated.
cooled to -269°C at which point it
becomes a liquid. Send your comments to rogerl@nowmedia.co.za

energize | June 2022 | 45