Helium Recovery

Helium leakage testing 

Helium's natural properties make it perfect as a tracer gas for leakage testing. It is  

• non-toxic;
• lighter than air and poses no health risk in an open system due to oxygen displacement;
• inert, i.e. non-reactive (non-flammable, non-explosive);
• of sufficiently low concentration in the ambient air (important for the helium-based test method).

As a test gas, helium is used primarily in integral leakage testing of tank systems (e.g. hydrogen tanks for fuel cell vehicles). By adding helium or helium-based mixtures, the tanks can be tested reliably for even the smallest leaks using a sniffer probe and a mass spectrometer. After testing, the valuable helium can be recovered and reused for further testing.