Equipment: MRI:Track#3 Acquisition of a Partial Helium Recovery System

An award is made to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to enable the acquisition of a “partial” liquid helium recycling system. This partial system will capture nonrenewable helium gas used to maintain the high-field superconducting magnets of 600 and 500 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instruments in the Chemistry building and have the gas liquified by the liquid helium plant located in the NMR core facility within the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies building. This partial system will enable the inhouse production of over 900 liters of liquid helium annually thereby providing a reliable supply of exceptionally hard to source high-purity liquid helium that is critical for maintaining these NMR instruments that are fundamental tools in the education, hands-on training, and workforce development of undergraduate and graduate students. Campus tours, permanent poster displays, regional outreach programs, and annual “Open Houses” will also show and explain the system operation and the benefits to society from helium recycling and responsible stewardship. The helium recycling system provides the NMR instruments with a critical supply and onsite reserve of liquid helium thereby protecting the instruments from catastrophic failure due to limited liquid helium available from commercial sources. The provided security in liquid helium supply enables continuity in the research of 18 very interdisciplinary programs, representing four different Departments/Centers (Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Biological Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering) involving more than 100 RPI investigators who depend on helium availability as well as many additional researchers in NY Capital Region and beyond. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.