Has Helium Shortage 4.0 come to an end? (2024)

FAQs

Has Helium Shortage 4.0 come to an end? ›

“Helium Shortage 4.0 is over. It's not 'maybe it's over,' it's over,” declared Phil Kornbluth of Kornbluth Helium Consulting, at gasworld's European Specialty Gas Summit 2024. As of early 2024, helium supply has surged, making it easier to secure new stocks.

Similar to economic recessions, it can be difficult to identify the precise start or end of a helium shortage. All the same, Kornbluth Helium Consulting (KHeC) believes that, after winding down gradually during the second half of 2023, Helium Shortage 4.0 (HS-4.0) ended by the end of 2023 or early in Q1 of 2024.

Others suggest between 100 and 200 years of helium usage could be a best estimate. Regardless of the estimates, the knock-on effects to industry could be huge, not to mention the constant volatile nature of helium prices. All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing.

Argon can be used instead of Helium and is favoured for some metals. Helium is used for many lighter-than-air applications, and Hydrogen is a possible substitute for many where the flammability of Hydrogen is not a concern.

“However, the good news is that we're not running out of helium,” Trønnes says. The Earth's interior is absolutely enormous, and this is where the helium comes from. “It will continue to seep out through rocks and cracks forever,” he says.

As of early 2024, helium supply has surged, making it easier to secure new stocks. Gazprom has boosted the global supply by adding around 50 11,000-gallon containers per month, a 10% increase. Major helium suppliers have also ended their allocations.

It also cannot be manufactured artificially. The only stable supplies of helium are found deep underground, often in pockets of natural gas.

Once the gas leaks into the atmosphere, it is light enough to escape the Earth's gravitational field so it bleeds off into space, never to return. We may run out of helium within 25–30 years because it's being consumed so freely.

Helium in the U.S.

Apart from being the world's main producer and one of the largest helium consumers, the U.S holds the most extensive helium reserves worldwide.

Cutting edge space science and research requires helium. NASA uses helium to keep hot gases and ultra-cold liquid fuel separated during lift-off of rockets. Arc welding uses helium to create an inert gas shield.

How to make balloons float without helium? ›

Instead of filling the balloon with helium, you need to fill it with hot air. You can do this by using a hairdryer, holding the end of the balloon close to the hairdryer and letting the hot air fill it up. Once it is full of hot air, tie off the end of the balloon and watch it float!

Hydrogen is the most abundant element and provides many of the same attributes as helium in many ways. These gases are much lighter than the atmospheric construct and will allow latex and foil balloons to soar. Due to their low densities, both gases, when blown into a balloon, will propel the product into the air.

By recycling their existing helium, organizations can safeguard themselves against helium supply issues and insulate their budgets against helium price fluctuations. Customers can stop worrying about purchasing helium and instead rely on helium management solutions.

If our supply ran out, it could spell the end of MRI testing, LCD screens and birthday party balloons. Or it could make all of those things much more expensive. Although argon — another inert gas — can be substituted for helium for welding purposes, no other element can do what helium can do in super cold applications.

Keeping an MRI's magnetic current superconductive requires extreme cold. That's where helium comes in: With a boiling point of minus 452 degrees Fahrenheit, liquid helium is the coldest element on Earth. Pumped inside an MRI magnet, helium lets the current travel resistance-free.

Helium is a non-renewable resource and becoming increasingly scarce. Despite its abundance in the universe, helium is a finite element becoming increasingly scarce on Earth.

According to a recent press release, they use a new technology process to produce pure helium from the carbon dioxide stream. Then they extract the helium from the gas stream. This innovative method provides an economic way to help with reversing the helium shortage.

The superconductive magnet-powered imaging machines give doctors clear, high-resolution images of areas inside the body they can't see on X-rays and CT scans. But without liquid helium, the Earth's coldest element, MRI machines can't keep their magnets cool enough to generate these images.

Helium Price Prediction for 2025

Technical analysis suggests a potential increase for Helium in 2025. The minimum HNT price expected for 2025 is $10.88 while the maximum one is $13.09. On the other hand, the average forecast suggests it may reach $12.11.