How Oxygen and Nitrogen generators are used in manufacturing companies

Last reviewed on 20.02.2023

Before understanding what a nitrogen generator is used for, it’s important to understand the importance of oxygen and nitrogen in the industry.

The air we breathe contains two gases that are extremely useful in the industry: oxygen (about 21%) and nitrogen (about 78%). Adding oxygen to a process enables better control of heating patterns, higher furnace efficiencies (for lower fuel consumption) and reduction in particulate and NOx emissions. It’s used with fuel gases to enhance processes including gas welding, gas cutting, oxygen scarfing, flame cleaning, flame hardening and flame straightening. Oxygen is a raw material in many oxidation processes and to regenerate catalysts. Nitrogen gas is used for purposes ranging from inerting and purging to flushing and sterilizing to product transfer and packaging. Many such processes remove undesirable oxygen from a manufacturing process or environment, preventing oxidation that can damage metal parts and sensitive electronics. Nitrogen is also used in refining and gas separation processes. Since oxygen and nitrogen occur together in the air, they must be separated before they can be used. A nitrogen and oxygen generator is the right tool for the job.

Oxygen molecules are separated from the other molecules within a clean, dry compressed air stream. Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) is a simple, reliable and cost-effective technology that enables continuous, high-capacity oxygen flow at the desired level of purity (90% to 95%). Adsorption happens when atoms, ions or molecules from a substance (compressed air in this case) adhere to a surface of an adsorbent. PSA technology isolates oxygen molecules from other molecules (nitrogen, CO2, water vapor and trace gases) to leave high purity oxygen at the outlet of the generator. The process takes place in two separate pressure vessels (tower A and tower B), each filled with a carbon molecular sieve, that switch between a separation process and a regeneration process. Here’s how it works.

Nitrogen molecules are separated from other molecules within a clean, dry compressed air stream. Pressure Swing Adsorption technology is used here as well, to isolate nitrogen molecules from other molecules in compressed air to leave nitrogen at the desired purity at the outlet of the generator. For some applications, such as tire inflation and fire prevention, relatively low purity levels (between 90% and 97%) are required. Other applications, such as food/beverage processing and plastic molding, require higher levels of purity (from 97% to 99.999%).

• Steel
• Food & beverage 
• Pharmaceuticals 
• Plastic injection moulding 
• Laser cutting 
• Semiconductors 
• Gold and silver mining/extraction
• Oxyfuel combustion
• Chemicals
• Pulp & paper
• Metal heat treatment
• Cable & optical fibre
• Glass 
• Fire prevention
• Fish farming
• Waste-water treatment

• Electronics
• Steel 
• Welding/metalworking
• Lighting
• Oil & gas
• On-Board Inert Gas Generation System (OBIGGS) 
• Ammonia production
• Helium purification
• Product transfer 
• Packaging 

This interactive guide on gas generation will teach you everything you need to know on both nitrogen and oxygen generation. 

Would you like to get in contact with an expert? Our team is happy to support you. Click on the button below and we will get in touch with you shortly.

A variety of systems are available for generating industrial oxygen and nitrogen, including all-in-one skids that combine a compressed air system (to supply the required stream of dry compressed air) with an oxygen generator or nitrogen generator. Ask an air system professional about the best solution for generating oxygen and nitrogen in-house.