The „Welt“-balloon in Berlin powered by BAUER

It can be seen from almost every point in the city: The World Balloon, one of the largest helium ballons in the world, has been THE attraction in central Berlin for years. From a height of 150 meters, up to 30 passengers can enjoy a unique panoramic view of the city. Recently, there was an urgent need to replace the balloon envelope, which had aged over the years. To do this, the helium used in the balloon had to be removed.

The aim was to simultaneously recover and process a total of 3,750 m³ of this extremely expensive and difficult to obtain carrier gas. Over time, almost 100 kilos of water vapor had entered the balloon, which significantly reduced the its load capacity. Andrick, a Berlin-based engineering company specializing in compressed air technology, was commissioned to carry out the job. As a specialist in high-pressure applications and gases, they had the expertise to undertake this technically demanding task. In cooperation with BAUER KOMPRESSOREN, a sophisticated system was developed that made it possible to compress the removed helium to 220 bar and dehumidify it to prepare it for temporary storage until it could be reinserted. The complete system consists of a shipping container with a high pressure helium compressor VERTICUS G18.1, a P61 gas purification system, and a storage solution consisting of 6 cylinder bundles. The next step was cleaning and recovery using the circular principle. This project has proven to be so successful that it will be offered worldwide as a transporta-ble container solution in the future.