Industrial gases are an important guarantee for the smooth operation of industrial production. Understanding the types, applications, production methods of industrial gases and choosing the right suppliers are of great significance for enhancing the production efficiency and cost control of enterprises. As a global supplier of industrial gases and cryogenic products, Fullcryo provides gas solutions for customers in various industries.
Industrial gases are a type of gas that is commercially produced and sold. At room temperature, they usually exist in gaseous form and are produced specifically for industrial use. For the convenience of storage and transportation, they can also be transformed into liquid or solid forms. For instance, dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. Industrial gases include both pure gases and mixed gases.
Industrial gases be classified many types, for example: argon, carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, butane, propane, etc., as well as mixed gases composed of multiple gases. These gases play unique roles in various industrial fields.
Under normal circumstances, industrial gases are separated and extracted from the air through low-temperature distillation in gas plants to obtain the required high-purity gases. For storage and distribution, some gases are transported through pipelines to storage tanks for storage, while others are compressed and filled into large gas cylinders for corresponding distribution.
The application scope of industrial gases is extremely wide, covering numerous industries such as oil and gas, petrochemicals, chemicals, power, welding, mining, steelmaking, metals, environmental protection, medicine, biotechnology, food, water treatment, fertilizers, nuclear power, electronics and aerospace, providing strong support for key processes in industrial production.
Carbon dioxide(CO2) is one of the most widely used industrial gases and can provide solutions for multiple industries. It can be used in solid, liquid or gaseous form. In food manufacturing area, it is applied in the production of carbonated beverages, adding a sparkling taste to soda water, beer and sparkling wine, etc.
What’s more,It is often used for refrigeration, reaction inhibition and cleaning operations. It is applied in welding, chemical synthesis, pH value adjustment and carbonization processes.
It is hard to imagine that CO2 is also an efficient fire extinguishing agent and is often stored in fire gas cylinders for fire suppression.
Oxygen (O2) is a gas essential for the survival of all living things, including animals and plants, and it is also one of the common gases used in many industrial and medical processes. O2 can support combustion, which makes it a key component in many oxygen-fired cutting processes.
In the industrial field, the application of oxygen is very extensive. Oxygen is essential in the processes of steelmaking, metal refining and manufacturing. Oxygen also important in the chemical, pharmaceutical, petroleum processing, glass and ceramic manufacturing, as well as pulp and paper industries. In addition, industrial oxygen is also applied in the environmental protection work of municipal and industrial sewage treatment plants, helping to improve water quality.
Nitrogen (N2) is a colorless and odorless inert gas in the Earth’s atmosphere. Due to its inert nature, nitrogen is widely used in industrial fields where an inert environment needs to be created.
It can be used as a covering agent to prevent oxidation reactions in key processes, and also helps to prevent fire and explosion accidents. Industrial nitrogen is mainly applied in fields such as food processing, chemical processes, metal manufacturing, laser cutting and welding. Many food processing enterprises use compressed nitrogen to replace oxygen in the packaging of perishable foods. By removing oxygen and adding nitrogen, the shelf life of the food is effectively extended. This inert gas can be safely stored and distributed through customized industrial gas cylinders.
Hydrogen is a colorless, odorless and non-toxic industrial gas, which is used as a power source in industrial processes such as oil refining, ammonia production and steelmaking.
In addition, hydrogen can also be used as a coolant for large generators, fuel for rockets, and a catalyst in the power generation process. It should be noted that hydrogen is a highly flammable and explosive gas, so it must be stored in industrial gas cylinders that are extremely safe and sturdy to reduce the risk of potential accidents.
Noble gases include helium, neon, argon, krypton and xenon, etc., and are also known as inert gases. They have important applications in multiple fields.
In the field of lighting, when inert gases are electrified, they emit light of different colors, and thus are widely used in the manufacturing of neon lights and diodes. According to their respective characteristics, inert gases also play a key role in production and scientific research. For instance, liquid helium is often used as a refrigerant in ultra-low temperature research and can also be employed as a refrigerant in atomic reactors. Although helium exists in nature, when it is used for industrial purposes, it is usually obtained by processing and extracting natural gas. Neon, krypton and xenon are also used in the manufacture of lasers. In the field of welding, high-purity argon, nitrogen and their mixtures can serve as protective gases to prevent critical processes from being oxidized due to reactions with the atmosphere.
The production process of industrial gases is not static; it usually depends on the type of gas required. The production methods and processes of different types of gases vary. The air separation unit (ASU) is a reliable and efficient method capable of producing gases of the required purity. The air separation process is characterized by economic efficiency and can be mass-produced, thereby achieving economies of scale and reducing unit production costs over time.
At this stage, the atmosphere is drawn into the air separation unit (ASU) and then its pressure is increased through a series of compressors. The purpose of doing this is to enhance the efficiency of the subsequent cooling and separation processes, and the typical pressure range is between 5 and 10 bar gauge pressures.
Before further processing, compressed air usually needs to be purified to remove impurities, including moisture, carbon dioxide and other trace pollutants. This step is of vital importance as it ensures that the separated industrial gas has high purity and at the same time prevents problems such as freezing or clogging of low-temperature equipment.
The purified compressed air will be cooled to a low temperature through a series of heat exchangers and refrigeration cycles. Because the principle of low-temperature distillation is to take advantage of the differences in boiling points of various components, air will be liquefied at this stage.
At this point, the cooled liquefied air is sent into the distillation column (or a series of distillation columns), where the air is separated into the main components based on the differences in boiling points of different components. The boiling point of nitrogen (-196°C or -321 °F) is lower than that of oxygen (-183°C or -297 °F), while that of argon (-186°C or -303 °F) is even lower. As the air rises inside the tower, the temperature gradually increases, and different components evaporate at their respective boiling points. For instance, oxygen-rich steam will rise to the top of the tower, while nitrogen-rich liquid will accumulate at the bottom. If argon is present, it is usually extracted as a by-product at the midpoint of the tower.
The separated gas is collected and then sent to storage tanks (pressure tanks or cryogenic tanks) for storage. Afterwards, depending on different purity requirements, these gases will be distributed to various industries to meet their application needs.
The operation of the air separation unit is of vital importance. It reflects the tight integration of the heat exchanger and the separation tower, which is the key to ensuring the efficient operation of the unit.
Fullcryo offers low-cost and efficient solutions for on-site industrial gas transportation. As a large industrial gas supplier, we have leading technologies in on-site gas production and cryogenic fields, which enables the company to fully understand the needs of customers and provide the most suitable on-site gas plant solutions based on their specific requirements. Fullcryo’s industrial gas solutions are flexible and can directly and continuously supply hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as electronic-grade industrial gases for the semiconductor field at the customer’s site, thereby maximizing the reliability and optimization of the customer’s process and reducing the overall consumption of industrial gases.
On-site industrial gas production plants can provide customized solutions to meet customers’ precise requirements for gas purity, pressure and flow during operation.
