Monday, November 11, 2024
Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | egosney@okstate.edu
After a period of uncertainty and shortages, such as when consumers stocked up on toilet paper and hand sanitizer, things were returning to normal in 2022. But around that time, another shortage began plaguing Oklahoma State University’s chemistry department.
As the shortage widened, helium suppliers across the country reduced the amount of helium consumers typically could purchase. Because liquid helium is essential to conducting chemical research at OSU, Drs. Margaret Eastman and Jimmy Weaver challenged themselves to think outside the box to continue the department’s work. The result is Oklahoma’s only helium recovery system (HRS), which liquefies recovered helium gas.
HRS allows OSU helium users to recycle helium output on-site, reducing the amount of gas that evaporates into the atmosphere and becomes useless. This increases the supply of helium available to campus systems.
“There’s only so much helium on Earth,” Weaver said. “You can’t make it. It’s one of the most abundant elements in the universe, but it’s all in space, floating out of the atmosphere. Only through nuclear decay will we make more of it. You can get it.”
Without the usual amount of liquid helium, faculty were forced to evaluate their work and make decisions about future work.
“When we faced this crisis, we either found a way to build the system and move toward sustainability by reducing the use of external helium, or we collapsed,” Eastman said. “If it had collapsed like other programs, that would have been a huge bummer for the future.”
Among the department’s needs is the use of liquid helium to cool nuclear magnetic resonance instruments (NMR spectrometers), which use magnetic fields to study the structure of molecules. The only way to obtain high magnetic fields is to cool the magnets to extremely low temperatures.
“The nucleus has rotation and charge, which is like a small magnetic moment, but you don’t really see it until you put it in a magnetic field,” Eastman said. “In a magnetic field, these small magnetic moments have different energy states and can be made to transition between those states by bombarding them with radiofrequency radiation.
“The reason this is so useful for chemists and molecular structure is because of chemical shifts.”
Because OSU’s HRS is the only collection system in Oklahoma, Eastman had to learn from other systems around the country how to connect magnets to the system.
“Fortunately, our spectrometer manufacturer had a manual from someone within their company that had some recommendations, so I searched online for information and recommendations,” Eastman said. I did. “So I took all of that information and put it together to create what we have now.”
Dr. Jimmy Weaver, Dr. Ed Wright, and Dr. Margaret Eastman worked to install a new helium recovery system in the basement of the Physical Sciences Building. Once the team developed a plan, 980 feet of piping was installed to connect the systems and machinery. The 2-inch diameter piping consists of 820 feet of medium-density polyethylene (MDPE) and 160 feet of copper.
This piping connects the recovery system to seven NMR magnets (four within the NMR facility and three owned by chemistry and chemical engineering faculty) and two rooms available to the physics department.
The helium recovery system can store up to 400 liters of liquid helium.
“The mother dewar holds 250 liters and the transport dewar holds 150 liters,” Eastman said, explaining that the dewar is an insulated container for liquid helium. “Since helium is constantly being passed through, it is unlikely to reach its maximum capacity.”
Weaver and Eastman said they are committed to sustainability and long-term cost savings by implementing a collection system.
“This system really pays for itself. The cost of helium has gone up about 400 percent in the last 12 years or so, hurting our ability to support research,” Weaver said.
“The systems are here and ready to go. This will allow us to move forward, continue to grow, and remain competitive in research.”
Without the support of the College of Arts and Sciences and university administrators, OSU will be forced to adapt rather than overcome.
“I really appreciate the wisdom of administrators in supporting this venture,” Weaver said. “The chemistry department contributed, but we had to make difficult budget choices. There was broad agreement among faculty that this was mission critical.
“About half of the chemistry department faculty use these instruments every day, and many more use them occasionally. Without NMR, many of us would not be able to conduct research at OSU. .”
Eastman added that OSU would not be the innovation leader it is today without Weaver’s support.
“Jimmy is the reason we have this system,” Eastman said. “Jimmy was the driving force behind it and knew early on that we needed this. He didn’t leave me alone to figure it out.”
Story: Erin Weaver | erin.weaver@okstate.edu