Traditionally, nitrogen has been produced by cryogenic distillation and commercialized in the form of bulk liquid and high pressure compressed gas cylinders.
Nowadays, uncontrollable vendor price increases, long term contracts, rental fees, etc. have motivated the development of onsite generation of nitrogen using alternative technologies like pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and membrane systems. Depending on required flow and purity, both can be far more cost-effective than bulk or high pressure cylinder sources.
Benefits
No need for vendors (you are your own supplier)
Adjustable flow and purity (from 95% to 99.999%)
Lower production and maintenance costs
Continuous operation (you only produce what you consume)
Modular and compact (easy to gradually increase capacity as required)
Less energy intensive than cryogenic distillation (environmentally friendly)
Reliable and safe operation
Eliminates transport cost
Applications
Blanketing - chemical, food, pharmaceutical, glass and metallurgical industries
Modified Atmosphere Packing (MAP) – food & beverage industries
Metal Processing & Electronics – protection against the formation of oxides
Continuous operation (you only produce what you consume)
Oil & Gas Extraction – for gas lift and blanketing
Medical – ie pneumatic pressure for instrumentation, powering medical devices