Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) and Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc., a member of the Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation group, have announced that production operations have begun with the filling and shipping of the first two 11,000-gallon helium ISO containers from their jointly-owned liquid helium production plant near Big Piney, Wyoming. The plant is designed to produce 200 million standard ft3/yr of helium initially, with expectations for future expansion to 400 million standard ft3/yr.
The Big Piney helium facility purifies and liquefies a helium feedgas stream that is supplied by Denbury Resources’ Riley Ridge gas processing plant. The Denbury plant processes a raw gas stream produced from the LaBarge Field in Wyoming, one of the largest helium-rich gas fields in the United States. The LaBarge Field is believed to contain sufficient helium reserves to support production for decades.