Objective In view of the helium-containing natural gas with developed pipeline network and poor quality in some areas of China, based on the investigation of the status quo of crude helium extraction process at home and abroad, a new helium extraction process from natural gas is proposed.

Methods The process adopts low-temperature distillation method, and HYSYS software was used to simulate the process, and the thermodynamic analysis of the helium extraction process was carried out. Then, the influences of key parameters in the process on the helium recovery rate, crude helium purity, process energy consumption and exergy efficiency in the process was analyzed. The key parameters include the pressure of the helium extraction tower, the feed temperature at the top of the helium extraction tower, the feed temperature of the first-stage separator, the feed temperature of the second-stage separator, and the flow rate of the side draw stream.

Results The simulation calculation results show that the recovery rate of helium in the process is 99.06%, the product purity of crude helium is 80.39%, and the total energy consumption is 994.48 kW. The total exergy loss of the process is 713.27 kW, and the exergy efficiency of the system is 28.28%.

Conclusions This process can achieve ultra-high helium recovery rate and high crude helium purity, and can provide reference and data guidance for natural gas helium extraction process units.