Nitrogen (N2)
Nitrogen is a ‘permanent gas’ that is colourless, tasteless, odourless, and non-combustible. It constitutes 78% of air by volume, is very inert in the free-state and incapable of supporting life. In its liquid state it is extremely cold at -196 ˚C. One volume of liquid nitrogen gives approximately 700 volumes of gas at ambient conditions. N₂ forms many important compounds, such as ammonia, nitric acid, cyanide and is a constituent of all organised living tissues, animal and vegetable.
Industry |
Usage |
Oil and gas refinery |
Pipeline, purging and pigging, tanks blanketing |
Food and beverage |
Cryogenic food freezing, Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP), liquid nitrogen dosing for beverages, metals fabrication, sparging and blanketing. |
Metals fabrication |
Heat treatment for various metals. |
Health care |
Cryo surgery, used for freezing and preserving blood, semen and other biological specimens. |
Environment |
Cryo grinding of plastics, rubbers, tyres and metals |
Automotive |
Tire filling with nitrogen increase the lifetime of the tires |
Electrical and semiconductor |
Nitrogen is used as carrier gas for overall protection against impurities and oxidation in semiconductor and soldering processes. In its cold and liquid form, N₂ is used as a cooling medium in the environmental testing of electronic devices. |
Lab and research |
Nitrogen is used as a carrier gas in gas chromatography for various industrial and hospital analysis and quality control. |
Concrete |
Concrete cooling |