That Helium Recovery dealers is the second-most abundant element in the universe would seem a boon to the industries that rely on the gas. But because it easily escapes the Earth's atmosphere, helium is rarer on the land below. The gas is typically isolated for commercial applications during the extraction and purification of natural gas, where it can occur in concentrations of up to 7 percent. Only a few companies worldwide extract the gas, however, leaving the helium market vulnerable to abrupt changes in the supply chain, often at the hands of politics.
Occurring naturally as a gas, helium, with its two electrons, two neutrons and two protons, is the lightest of all the noble gases. It is also inert, or nonreactive, a property that makes it vital to the production of semiconductors and other high-end electronics. Perhaps its greatest advantage, though, is its low boiling point, lower than that of any other element, which lends it to applications in cryogenics. Without helium to cool their magnets, MRI machines and some high-speed rail lines would not be able to function.
Algeria has already expanded its facilities, and Qatar is slated to bring yet more capacity online in 2018. Russia, meanwhile, is set to start production at new facilities in Siberia in the early 2020s. Despite diversification efforts, however, the helium market is still divided among a handful of producers. And most of the new arrivals face a higher level of political or economic instability relative to the United States. The geopolitics of the Middle East and Eurasia may wind up destabilizing the helium purification equipment market in the years to come.