Hacker News Reader

It's more a question of purity. If the gas pumped into balloons is actually only 99% helium and 1% miscellaneous gasses then that is not a problem. In many other applications that would make the gas unusable.

View on HN

Yes but it wasn't pure when we first pumped it out of the ground, either. I'd bet natural gas has a lower percentage helium than "balloon air." We are able to purify helium.

It costs energy to do that, which is reflected in the lower price of the impure balloon air, no?

It also costs energy to extract helium from natural gas. If running out of helium is our concern, then the balloon air is a source of helium we can exploit just as well as natural gas. It's not like we have helium wells pulling pure helium out of the ground.

I expect the difference is that when extracting helium from natural gas, the volumes are huge and therefore the purification process is economically feasible.

Trying to do the same for small amounts of helium collected here and there is possible but not economically feasible. It makes more sense to use it as balloon gas.

Indeed, as a diver we need medical grade, or better, helium. The helium you get for balloons is industrial waste, it is unusable for anything else.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com