NASA SBIR 2002 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
PHPK Technologies, Inc.
535 Enterprise Drive
Westerville , OH   43081 - 8846
(614 ) 436 - 9114

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Ken Kreinbrink
kkreinbrink_phpk@ameritech.net
535 Enterprise Drive
Westerville , OH   43081 - 8846
(614 ) 436 - 9114

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The continuing rising costs of helium justifies the construction of an economic system that will separate helium gas from gas streams that would normally be considered waste gas. These waste gas streams are typically generated from operations where helium purging of hydrogen storage or propellant equipment is performed. As a result of these operations, helium contaminated with hydrogen, nitrogen, and small amounts of air is vented to the atmosphere where it is not recoverable in a practical or economic manner. The system proposed will recover helium and could be designed to also recover hydrogen from these waste gas streams and purify it to a level where it can be recycled for usage. Cryogenic processes as well as other gas separation techniques will be incorporated into a complete integrated system to accomplish this gas recovery. The Phase II system will be a practical system for helium recovery in both commercial and NASA related programs where helium is routinely used and vented in significant quantities. The Phase II unit could be made to handle the full scale helium separation for recovery for some specific helium use applications at NASA/KSC.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Since almost all of NASA's launch and other propellant related test operations use helium and hydrogen, this system would be capable of recovering these valuable gases to the point that they could be separated and recycled for the next operation. Since some propellant densification operations will exhaust waste streams comprised of helium and hydrogen, this gas separation system would be a major economic benefit in these operations. The use of this gas recovery system operating in conjunction with the NASA's gas usage operations could result in substantial cost savings that is realized over a relatively short period of time.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Companies that develop and test hydrogen fueled rocket engines at large testing complexes have large quantities of cryogenic storage and other volumes that require helium as a purge gas or pressurizing gas for the high pressure liquid hydrogen propellant supply vessels. The helium gas used in these applications becomes mixed with hydrogen and possibly other gases and is typically expelled as waste gas to atmosphere after use. The proposed system would be capable of separating the helium or hydrogen from waste gas streams instead of venting these two gases to atmosphere. Substantial cost saving could be realized by recycling these expensive gases in the test facility instead of buying additional helium.