Illustration 1.

4: Underground Storage of Helium:

Diffusion through a Spherical Surface
Helium is present in air at a concentration of about 1 ppm, which is far too
small for the economical recovery of this gas. It also occurs in natural gas
(methane CH4), where its concentration is considerably higher, of the order
of 0.1 to 5%, making economical extraction possible. Because helium is a
nonrenewable resource, regulations were put in place starting in the early
1960s which required all shipped natural gas to be treated for helium recovery. With supply by far
outweighing the demand, ways had to be found to
store the excess helium. One suggested solution was to pump the gas into
abandoned and sealed salt mines where it remained stored at high pressure.
The problem here will be to estimate the losses that occur by diffusion
through the surrounding salt and rock, assuming a solid-phase diffusivity
D
s of helium of 10–8 m2/s (i.e., more than three orders of magnitude less than

the free-space diffusivity in air). The helium is assumed to be at a pressure

of 10 MPa (~ 100 atm) and a temperature of 30°C. The cavity is taken to be
spherical and of radius 100 m (see Figure 1.6a). Applying Fick’s law,
Equation 1.4a, and converting to pressure, we obtain
(1.8a)


Some Basic Notions: Rates of Mass Transfer 15

Separating variables and integrating yields
(1.8b)
and, consequently,
(1.8c)
(1.8d)
Comments
This is an example of some practical importance, which nevertheless yields
to a simple application and integration of Fick’s law. Two features deserve
some mention. The first is the formulation of the upper integration limit in
Equation 1.8b. We use the argument that “far away” from the spherical cavity
(i.e., as r ), the concentration and partial pressure of helium tend to zero
FIGURE 1.6
Diffusional flow from (a) a spherical cavity and (b) a hollow cylinder.
r

RT
827


.
N 0 05. mol / s
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16 Mass Transfer and Separation Processes: Principles and Applications

(i.e., we assume that the cavity to be embedded is an infinite region). The
second point that needs to be examined is the assumption of a constant
cavity pressure. We compute for this purpose the yearly loss and show that
even over this lengthy period, the change in cavity pressure will be negligibly
small. Thus,
Yearly loss = 0.05 (mole/s) 3600 24 365 = 1.58 106 moles/year
that is, about 100 kg per year.
By comparison,
Cavity contents:
and, therefore,
% loss/year = 1.58 106/(1.7 1010)100 = 1.3 10–2%
We will examine this problem again in Illustration 2.9. The recently
introduced process of “sequestering” CO2 in exhausted oil wells yields to
a similar analysis.