Nitrogen industrial gas

Nitrogen (N2) makes up the major portion of the earth’s atmosphere, accounting for 78.08% of total volume. It is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic and almost totally inert gas. It can be an asphyxiant in high concentrations. Nitrogen is produced in high volumes at air separation plants. A second purification process may be necessary if very high purity levels are required. Membrane techniques can also be used to recover nitrogen in lower purities. Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) techniques are suited to medium-to-high purities. One of the main applications of nitrogen is blanketing, purging and sparging in the food and chemical industries. It can also be found in modified atmosphere packages (MAP) for foodstuffs. In liquid form, it is an agent to shock-freeze food, store biological material, perform cryosurgery and cryogenically grind plastics and rubbers, for instance.