CONSERVING ENERGY

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CONSERVING ENERGYSUPERCONDUCTIVITY, HELIUM
KUTHALAM NATURAL GAS FIELD (ONGC), SOUTH INDIA
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CONSERVING ENERGY

• Energy demand is continually increasing.
• Energy conservation is recognized as a
• national priority.
• Inefficient use of energy produces excess
• greenhouse gases.
• Has a negative impact on environment -
• regionally and globally.

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ENERGY EFFICIENCY

• Promotion of energy efficiency and its
  
• conservation is the optimum option to
• reduce gap between demand and supply.
• Modernize energy conservation and
• utilization.
• Economically achievable Conservation
• Superconducting technologies hold the
• greatest potential for conserving Energy.

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SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

• Superconductivity - a phenomenon observed in
  several metals and alloys such as Nb-Ti. When
  these materials are cooled to temperatures close
  to absolute zero ( 0 degree Kelvin, -273 degree
  Celsius) to around liquid helium temperatures
  (4.2K) their electrical resistance  drops very
  abruptly, down to zero.

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Electrical resistance vs temperatureComparative
behaviour of a normal metal and a
superconductorTc Critical Temperature
Normal Metals
Resistance
Superconductor
0K
Tc
Temperature
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SUPERCONDUCTING POWER

• Superconductors when turned into electrical
• circuits exhibit no energy loss due to
• electrical resistance.
• Superconductors repel external magnetic
• fields.
• A magnet placed over a superconductor
• experiences strong forces of repulsion that
• lifts it, so that it floats above.

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SUPERCONDUCTORS IN THE POWER SECTOR

• In the last 10 years, rapid improvements
• in superconducting materials and cooling
• techniques have found immense practical
• applications in low cost power generation,
• transmission and storage of electricity.
• Superconductivity has potential application
• in Fusion Technology as well.
• Superconductivity holds out great promise
• as a potential energy saving technology.

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LIQUID HELIUM - FLUID OF THE FUTURE

• Vital element in cryogenics. Fluid that is
  commonly used to reach low temperatures required
  for standard superconducting magnets.
• Superconducting magnets are becoming customary
  features for high energy accelerators used by
  physicists for research on fundamental particles.
• Superconducting magnets (MAGLEV) are used in
  Magnetically levitated trains.

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NOVELTY OF NOBLE HELIUM

• An extraordinary gas that exhibits extreme
• physical and chemical properties.
• A key element in
• Space Research Pressurizing liquid fuel
• for rockets.
• Atomic Energy Cover gas and cooling
• medium in
  nuclear reactors.
• Defence Supersonic wind tunnels, lasers.
• Probe to Seismic Studies Earthquakes
• Volacanism, warning for ecological imbalance

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• Superconducting Technology High field
• magnets, loss-less power transmission.
• Semiconductor Industry Protective
• gas for crystal growth in computer
  technology.
• Fabrication Industry - Shielding gas for
• processing reactive metals such as titanium,
  
• molybdenum, tungsten etc. Prevents oxidation
• and corrosion.
• Medicine Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• (MRI), Magneto Rheological Elastomer (MRE)
• to determine cancer (by blood analysis).

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SOURCES OF HELIUM

• Exceedingly low atmospheric abundance
• 5.2 parts per million (ppm).
• Only commercial sources are derived from
• natural gases.
• Geological distribution uneven.
• Present in higher concentrations (percent
• levels) in the gas emanations of some hot
• springs and geysers but flow rates are low.

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• Associated with natural gas in only a few
• regions principally USA, Russia and
• Poland.
• 98 of worlds commercial helium
• supplies come from the USA.
• Recently found to be a component (approx.
• 500 ppm) of natural gas in India at the
• ONGC Karaikal Asset at Kuthalam,
• Tamil Nadu.

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Map showing locations of a few sources of helium
in India
T1
Himachal Pradesh
Punjab
Haryana
Uttar Pradesh
Rajasthan
T2
B1
Gujarat
W
Madhyapradesh
Orissa
Maharashtra
Andhra Pradesh
B1 Bakreswar (W.B) B2 Baratang
(AN) K Kuthalam (Tamilnadu) T1
Tatta Pani (JK) T2 Tantloi (Jharkhand)
B2
Karnataka
K
Andaman Nicobar
Kerala
Tamilnadu
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TYPICAL COMPOSITION OF A THERMAL SPRING AND
NATURAL GAS
Gas? Spring gas (vol ) (Bakreswar-B1) Natural gas (vol) (Kuthalam-K)
He 0.50 1.40 0.05 0.10
N2 82.0 93.0 1.0 40.0
Ar 1.68 2.40 0.0 - 0.62
O2 1.00 2.70 0.00 1.40
CO2 0.03 1.50 0.35 2.90
CH4 1.0 60.0 22.0 90.0
Flow Rate (Nm3/hr) 1.0 - 6.0 1000 - 7000
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Geochemical monitoring set up at Bakreswar
GAS CHROMATOGRAPH
RADON MONITOR
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Pipe lines Connecting Hot Spring with Gas Holders
at Tantloi, Jharkhand
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Helium Enrichment Plant based on
Cryo-Condensation at SINP/VECC, Kolkata
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Helium Purification Plant based on
Cryo-Adsorption at SINP/VECC, Kolkata
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Ref Anomalous fluctuation of He/CH4 ratio
prior to an earthquake. Nisith K. Das, Rakesh K.
Bhandari, Debasis Ghose, Prasanta Sen and Bikash
SinhaCurrent Science, (2005) vol 89, No. 8,
1399-1403
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Ref Anomalous fluctuation of gamma dose
emanating from a thermal spring prior to an
earthquake. Nisith K. Das, Rakesh K. Bhandari,
Debasis Ghose, Prasanta Sen and Bikash
SinhaCurrent Science, (2005) vol 89, No. 8,
1399-1403
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Ref Explosive helium burst in thermal spring
emanations Nisith K. Das, Rakesh K. Bhandari,
Debasis Ghose, Prasanta Sen and Bikash
SinhaAppl. Rad. Isotope (2006) vol 64, 144-148
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Pakistan Earthquake M 7.6 October 8, 2006
Ref Presented at International Workshop on
Electromagnetic Studies Related to Earthquakes
and Volcanoes, Agra Nov 20 22, 2006
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Cryostat assembly
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• Cryostat being assembled with Magnet Iron

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HELIUM GAS BUFFER TANKS
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PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION (PSA) TECHNIQUE FOR
HELIUM PURIFICATION

• Conventional helium separation from natural gas
• employs energy expensive gas liquefaction
  and
• cryo-adsorption techniques.
• Recent developments in materials have added a
• new low cost low energy technique for
  helium
• separation the PRESSURE SWING
• ADSORPTION (PSA) TECHNIQUE
• PSA relies on differing adsorption properties
  of
• gases on adsorbents to effect helium
  separation
• from natural gas components.

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ADSORBENT CONSTRAINTS

• ? The adsorbents are the proprietary
• items and owned by very few companies.
• ? Exact nature of the breakthrough curves
• are difficult to obtain experimentally.
• ? Intra-particle diffusivity crucial to the
• final stage of purification.

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• ENDEAVOUR
• For the past couple of years we are
• engaged in developing adsorption based
• helium separation technology exploiting the
• helium bearing spring gases. Recently, we are
• on the verge of commissioning a pilot scale
• helium purification plant at ONGC gas field,
• Kuthalam, based on Adsorption technique.
• A brief account of the plant is outlined
  here. The plant consists of four different stages
  as
• follows

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PURIFICATION STAGES OF A PRESSURE SWING
ADSORPTION (PSA) HELIUM PURIFIER

• ? Stage -I Removal of 99 mol CH4
• ? Stage -II Removal of gt 95 mol N2
• ? Stage -III He concentration attains 10
  mol
• ? Stage -IV Helium purity 99 mol

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FOUR - BED PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION UNIT
Light-Flash Product
Purge Tank
II
I
III
IV
Heavy rich Product
Purge Tank
Dry feed gas
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DESIGN BASIS OF PSA BASED PILOT PLANT FOR HELIUM
EXTRACTION FROM NATURAL GAS, KUTHALAM,
TAMILNADU(M/s ADSORPTION RESEARCH INC., DUBLIN
OHIO, USA)

• Feed gas intake 50 Nm3/hr
• Helium concentration - 500 ppm
• No. of PSA stages 4
• Helium yield purity - 99

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SECTION OF PSA BASED HELIUM PILOT PLANT
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FINAL STAGES OF HELIUM PILOT PLANT
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HELIUM PRODUCTION STATISTICS - USA
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OUTLOOKIt is expected that successful
operation of the PSA based helium separation
pilot plant at Kuthalam, Tamilnadu, will lead to
a full-scale commercial plant from natural gas in
India in near future.
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Thank You