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Altus Midstream Announces First Cryogenic Processing Train in Service at Texas Complex

Altus Midstream introduced the first of its three new cryogenic processing trains at the Diamond Cryo Complex in Alpine High TX. It is now processing rich natural gas and delivering natural gas liquids (NGLs) and residue gas for sale.

Department of Energy Announces $75 Million for High-Energy Physics Research

The US Department of Energy recently announced grants of $75 million in funding for 66 university research awards. The projects involve scientists at 51 US institutions of higher learning and include both experimental and theoretical research into topics like the Higgs boson, neutrinos, dark matter, dark energy and the search...

Blue Origin Test-Fires Moon Lander Engines

Blue Origin recently fired up a brand-new engine, the BE-7, which the company developed for its future moon lander. Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos claims the lander, equipped with the BE-7, will be capable of carrying robotic rovers to the moon or even a separate spacecraft that can take off...

Air Liquide Signs Two Long-Term Oxygen Supply Agreements with Marathon Petroleum Corporation

Air Liquide advanced Technologies (CSA CSM) has signed two long-term supply agreements with Marathon Petroleum Company for a total of up to 900 tons of oxygen per day for Marathon Petroleum’s Refineries on the American Gulf Coast.

Shaw Prize in Astronomy Awarded to Edward Stone

Former Jet Propulsion Laboratory director Edward Stone has been awarded the prestigious Shaw Prize in Astronomy for his leadership in the Voyager project. The Shaw Prize is awarded annually in three categories: Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences, and comes with a monetary prize of $1.2 million. Stone...

Cooling LSST, the World’s Largest Digital Camera

When it’s ready in 2022, LSST will image almost all of the sky visible from its vantage point on a Chilean mountain, Cerro Pachón, every few nights for a decade to make an astronomical “movie” of unprecedented proportions. To keep the camera cold enough, engineers needed to create a customized...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dilution Refrigerators

Dilution refrigerators are a common technique for reaching temperatures below 1K, particularly where continuous cooling at these temperatures is required. Helium exists in two stable isotopes: 4He and 3He. Naturally occurring 3He is extremely rare, constituting less than 1 part per million of helium gas. However, 3He can be manufactured,...

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards (ODH) are a significant safety issue in cryogenic facilities. ODH occurs when inert gases such as nitrogen, helium or argon displace room air and thus lower the percentage of oxygen in the space below that required for human life. OSHA defines an area as oxygen deficient if...

Kelvin Temperature Scale

The Kelvin temperature scale is the principal temperature scale used in cryogenics and science. The kelvin is also one of the seven base units in the Système International d’Unités (SI) and is the unit of thermodynamic temperature. Thermodynamic temperature is a fundamental physical quantity (like mass, length or electrical current)...

Latest in Cryo Central

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

Latest in Ask the Experts

An Issue of Pressure and Flow Rate in a Supply Tank

Please help solve this problem: A supply tank requires a vaporizer to generate sufficient pressure to pump stored fluid up into a vehicle or tank. The available head is limited as the tank level falls and it is important to minimize the system pressure drop to maintain the desired flow...

Using MLI on VJ Line Joints or Cryo Storage Tanks

When installing Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) blankets on VJ line joints or cryo storage tanks should they be wrapped and tied down tight or loose? These are usually pre-cut to size. Also should they have an access hole at the point of where the molecular sieve is installed to help...

Separated layers of ice over a pipe

I want to know that why there are different layers of ice over a pipe carrying a cryogenic fluid, each layer separated with clear marks / lines? What do these layers signify?

Using nitrogen as a cryogen

Is it possible to achieve -200˚C using nitrogen as a cryogen?

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