Why Choose Onsite Nitrogen Generation over Conventional Nitrogen Supply?

Nitrogen gas is used for many different industrial applications like food packaging, chemical manufacturing and electronics manufacturing. When using nitrogen gas is essential to your manufacturing process it’s essential to have a reliable supply of nitrogen gas at all times. Most companies choose to order nitrogen gas cylinders, dewars or bulk liquid nitrogen from a conventional industrial gas supplier and have the product delivered to their plant.

Ordering conventional supplies of nitrogen can be a time-sensitive and expensive endeavour however. Not only do you need to place the order and pay for the nitrogen product delivered but you also have to pay delivery charges and rental fees. On top of that, relying on conventional nitrogen supplies could result in production delays or downtime if your nitrogen delivery is delayed.

Onsite nitrogen generation has several advantages over conventional nitrogen supply methods. Onsite nitrogen gas generators are cost-effective and convenient solutions that allow facilities to generate and manage their own nitrogen gas supply, typically at a fraction of the cost of conventional nitrogen supply. Since nitrogen generators produce nitrogen on demand, it eliminates the need to transport and store nitrogen on site.

Why Is Depending on Conventional Nitrogen Supply Problematic?

As mentioned above, relying on conventional nitrogen supplies could negatively affect the operations of your business. Below are some reasons why ordering nitrogen gas cylinders, dewars or bulk liquid nitrogen can be problematic.

Greater Need for Storage Space

Nitrogen cylinders and dewars take up space, can be costly to transport and present health and safety risks to employees when handling them. The installation of a bulk liquid nitrogen tank outside your plant involves obtaining permits, building an engineered pad to place the tank on and in many jurisdictions, a fence may have to be installed around the tank. This can be a costly process.

Onsite nitrogen generators don’t require large storage spaces or time-consuming permitting and construction. Installation is simple and nitrogen gas is produced on demand, meaning it can either be safely stored in a tank until required for future use or be used immediately as produced. Nitrogen generators typically take up significantly less space than nitrogen cylinders and given they are stationary, eliminate the need for cylinder or dewar handling.

Additional Charges for Cylinders or Dewars

Nitrogen cylinders, dewars and bulk liquid nitrogen tanks typically have costly rental fees. Onsite nitrogen generators, on the other hand, do not have this issue because you have the ability to generate nitrogen on the spot when needed. No delivery fees or rental fees are incurred.

Cylinder Handling Issues

Nitrogen cylinders and dewars are bulky and heavy to handle which can cause accidents. Nitrogen generators eliminate the need for nitrogen cylinders or dewars, which reduces the risk of workplace accidents.

Gas Wastage and Evaporation Loss

Many liquid nitrogen purchasers don’t know liquid nitrogen in dewars and bulk liquid nitrogen tanks have evaporation loss if demand for nitrogen is not continuous. The liquid nitrogen boils off and starts to evaporate into gas inside the storage vessel. Once nitrogen gas pressure reaches a certain point the built up nitrogen gas purges into the atmosphere. Evaporation loss in bulk liquid tanks can be as high as 1% of tank volume per day if nitrogen isn’t being used. This is a waste of money.

What Are the Main Advantages of Onsite Nitrogen Generation?

By investing in an onsite nitrogen generator, you can improve productivity and reduce costs. It also allows you to monitor and control your own nitrogen gas production and consumption. Here are some of the main advantages of onsite nitrogen generation.

Cost Savings

Onsite nitrogen generators supply the purity of nitrogen actually required for your specific process, typically at a fraction of the cost of conventionally supplied nitrogen. For example, nitrogen for food packaging can typically be generated at a cost $0.08 per 100 CF ($0.03 per m3) to $0.14 per 100 CF ($0.05 per m3) depending on the cost of electricity.

Conventionally supplied nitrogen will typically range in cost from $0.40 per 100 CF ($0.15 per m3) for high volume users to over $3.00 per 100 CF ($1.00 per m3) for companies purchasing cylinder gas or dewars. Typically, the return on investment in an onsite nitrogen generator is anywhere from 6 months to 24 months for this application. Most other nitrogen applications will have similar returns on investment with the purchase of an onsite nitrogen generator.

Increased Workplace Efficiency

With a nitrogen generator or nitrogen generation system, nitrogen is produced only when required on a demand basis. There is no lost gas to evaporation and therefore no wasted money. When you don’t have to worry about the logistics of nitrogen supply and the risk of running out of nitrogen you can focus on other operational issues which will assist your business to run more smoothly.

Increased Workplace Safety

Using an onsite nitrogen generator to generate nitrogen gas onsite eliminates the potential safety hazards of handling cylinders and dewars for your employees.

Environmentally Friendly

Making your own nitrogen uses less energy than having it manufactured at a central nitrogen production facility and delivered to your plant. You won’t have to return cylinders or dewars that can’t be completely emptied. Switching to onsite nitrogen generators for nitrogen supply is an easy and cost-effective approach to decreasing your carbon footprint if your business is striving to “go green.”

Greater Control over Nitrogen Purity Levels

Depending on the application, some industries require the highest purity levels for nitrogen to ensure the final product contains as little to no oxygen as possible. Many, many applications can tolerate nitrogen purities as low as 95% to 99.9% though. With onsite nitrogen generators you have better control over nitrogen purity levels and therefore the user only uses nitrogen at the purity actually required for their specific application.

This can lead to tremendous cost savings over conventionally supplied nitrogen which is only supplied at a nitrogen purity of 99.998%+. Membrane nitrogen generators can produce nitrogen purities from 95% to 99.5% and anything in between. PSA nitrogen generators can produce nitrogen purity from 95% to 99.999%+ and anything in between. Why purchase nitrogen at a purity of 99.999% if your application only requires a nitrogen purity of 99%? It’s waste of money!

Also Read: The Rise of Onsite Nitrogen Generation: Why Businesses Are Choosing Advanced Gas Technologies

Onsite Nitrogen Generating Systems at Advanced Gas Technologies

Advanced Gas Technologies Inc. has been designing, marketing, installing, and maintaining industrial gas generating systems, standard industrial compressor systems, and engineered compressor systems throughout North America since 1994. Over the years we have helped our clients reduce their industrial nitrogen and oxygen costs by utilizing leading edge technologies such as onsite nitrogen and oxygen generating systems.

Contact us toll-free at 1-(866) 725-7551 in North America or (905) 305-0094 local and overseas to learn more about our onsite oxygen and nitrogen generators, including our high-efficiency onsite membrane generators and PSA nitrogen generators.