Air Liquide has successfully delivered the largest helium purification plant in Canada

The plant was delivered in March and started operations in April. It materializes a contract Air Liquide had signed with North American Helium for the supply of a customizable helium purification solution using its advanced membrane technology. The plant will support North America Helium's site in southwest Saskatchewan, which is the largest helium production plant in Canada.

Helium production company North American Helium successfully started helium production at its Battle Creek, Saskatchewan facility in Canada, almost two months ahead of schedule. The plant produces helium with a purity from 99% up to 99.999% utilizing Air Liquide’s modular helium purifier technology. It has been producing high purity helium from the full flow rate available (up to 20 MMSCF per day) since the end of April.

The plant purifies the raw well gas containing less than 1% mol of helium into a purified helium product, utilizing Air Liquide’s membranes designed for high and medium-pressure stages. The skid-mounted solution also includes Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology, in order to achieve the final helium purity. Air Liquide’s customizable helium purification solution has the ability to remove CO2, CH4, H2S, N2, H2, and moisture, producing purified helium, an offer that provides an exceptional value proposition for the helium industry. Air Liquide has provided all the technology including basic engineering, modular de-H2 unit, modular membrane skids, compressors, PSA skids and all required process equipment to produce the end product of high purity helium. The skid-mounted solution provides customers with quick delivery times and low total cost of ownership, while providing best-in-class performance.