HELIUM PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY BASED ON NATURAL GAS COMBUSTION AND BENEFICIAL USE OF THERMAL ENERGY

Helium is widely used in all industries, including power plant engineering. In recent years, helium is used in plants operating by the Brayton cycle, for example, in the nuclear industry. Using helium-xenon mixture in nuclear reactors has a number of advantages, and this area is rapidly developing. The hydrodynamics and mass transfer processes in single tubes with various cross-sections as well as in inter-channel space of heating tube bundle were studied at the Institute of Thermophysics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Currently, there is strong shortage in helium production. The main helium production method consists in the liquefaction of the natural gas and subsequent separation of helium from remaining gas with its further purification using membranes.