Countless industries such as oil and gas, electronics and pharmaceuticals, as well as applications such as chemical manufacturing, food and beverage processing and packaging, laser cutting and wastewater treatment, rely on nitrogen as an integral part of the production process.
“The key requirement is a reliable nitrogen supply, and the gas purity must be high and stable. Nitrogen is the fourth largest demand after natural gas, electricity and water,” says Zandra van der Westhuizen, Business Unit Manager, Atlas Copco Compressor Technology Industrial Air. “Atlas Copco’s range of nitrogen generators meets both requirements.”
“But to really understand the true added value of on-site nitrogen production, let’s compare using a nitrogen generator to buying or renting a tank of liquid nitrogen. First, bulky nitrogen containers require transportation (CO2 emissions), shipping, storage and management costs. Additionally, moving heavy cylinders creates safety risks for personnel, and new orders must be placed to ensure new supplies before the cylinders run out. Stock shortages, supply chain and transportation issues are all real possibilities, which can disrupt production and have costly consequences.”
On the other hand, on-site nitrogen generation significantly reduces the cost per unit of nitrogen by eliminating the logistical challenges and hazards associated with pressurized cylinders or liquefied gases in the workplace. “As a result, on-site nitrogen generation is highly competitive in terms of cost effectiveness, efficiency, total cost of ownership, employee safety, and environmental impact.”
Installing an Atlas Copco nitrogen generator on site gives you complete peace of mind as it means the plant will almost never run out of nitrogen. These plug-and-play gas generators do not require expensive installation to operate. The nitrogen generator is a compact machine, has a low environmental impact, operates silently, and is easy to install in production areas.
All that is required is a supply of compressed air, so by simply connecting the generator to an existing compressed air installation, the end user has an independent, reliable, safe and cost-effective 24/7 supply of precision grade nitrogen. “In short, the customer switches the generator on when they need nitrogen and switches it off when they no longer need it,” explains Van der Westhuizen. Atlas Copco nitrogen generators can also help reduce customers’ carbon footprint. By combining on-site nitrogen production with the ability to recover energy in the compressor, customers can produce truly green nitrogen themselves.
Atlas Copco’s on-site nitrogen generators can use pressure swing adsorption (PSA) or membrane technology. PSA technology is ideal for the electronics, chemical and pharmaceutical industries where purities and flow rates of up to 99.999% are required – our standard installation is 1,300 Nm³/h. “However, Atlas Copco can provide higher flow rates with our specially designed solutions,” notes van der Westhuizen. The PSA generator consists of two interconnected towers that produce a virtually continuous flow of nitrogen. Pressure swing adsorption captures oxygen from the compressed air stream through adsorption, thereby separating the nitrogen molecules from the oxygen molecules. Adsorption occurs when the molecules bind to the adsorbent, in this case the oxygen molecules are attached to carbon molecular sieves;
Nitrogen generators with membrane technology can achieve purity levels (adjustable) in the range of 95-99.5% at flow rates up to 500 Nm³/h, making them ideal for fire protection, plastic injection molding and food preservation. Membrane nitrogen generators extract nitrogen from air supplied by a compressor. Compressed air is forced through a membrane filled with hollow fibers. Oxygen and water vapor dissipate through the fiber wall and are exhausted, leaving only very dry nitrogen inside the fiber, which is expelled from the other end of the membrane, ready for use.
For PSA and membrane generators, the air intake is the key to ensuring clean nitrogen air on site. Compressed air entering the nitrogen generator must be clean and dry. An air dryer must also be installed between the compressor and the nitrogen generator on site to control the temperature and pressure of the incoming air.
Atlas Copco draws on more than a century of experience and cutting-edge technology to develop its own nitrogen generators. “Our continuous technological innovations enable us to offer complete air solutions that help optimise production processes with minimal operating and ownership costs, and achieve a rapid return on investment,” concludes Van der Westhuizen.
Post time: Nov-20-2024
