IT'S up, up and away for the balloon opening of a new helium recycling centre at Eynsham.

The new plant will provide millions of litres of liquid gas a year for its main customer, Oxford Instruments - as well as supplying the helium for Richard Branson's attempt to fly round the world by balloon. A helium balloon used to test the Global Challenge equipment will feature at today's opening ceremony.

Balloons are not major consumers of helium - most of the Eynsham gas will be used to cool the superconducting magnets used in the medical scanners made by Oxford Instruments.

Demand for magnetic resonance scanners is expanding, because they give high-contrast images of the body without the risks associated with X-rays.

Before the new Eynsham plant was built, Oxford Instruments was losing millions of litres of expensive liquid helium as it evaporated during the manufacturing process. Now most of the escaped gas is recycled after travelling by pipeline to the new Linde plant from Oxford Instruments' two Eynsham companies, Oxford Magnet Technology and NMR Division.

The new plant will also receive lorry-loads of liquid helium from the USA and fill the giant vacuum flask cylinders called "Dewars".

The state-of-the art liquefiers are low maintenance, so that only eight to nine staff are needed.

The Eynsham plant will also supply liquid helium for optic-fibre cables, carrier gas chromatography, the aerospace industry, airships and manned balloons.

Linde also recycles helium at Oxford Instruments' Research Instruments factory at Tubney Woods, near Abingdon.

Linde UK managing director Tony Ingerson said: "At least 80 per cent of the reason for being there is Oxford Instruments. It's very much a joint effort."

He said demand for medical scanners had doubled in a year. "Despite problems with the strong pound we haven't seen any reduction in the demand for helium," he said.

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