Nitrogen is the largest industrial consumed gas in the world. It is found in abundance in the earth’s atmosphere comprising only 78% by mass. It is the seventh most occurring element in our galaxy, Milky Way. It is also used in the production of ammonia, nitric acid, organic nitrates & cyanides. Nitrogen is also valued for its inert properties because of its effectiveness in displacing oxygen, which is the cause of formation of moisture and germination of bacteria. Process for nitrogen production system mostly uses two techniques, i.e., cryogenic air separation and pressure swing adsorption (PSA).
Cryogenic air separation involves liquefaction of atmospheric air. It starts with taking the atmospheric air into an air separation unit and compressing it. This is considered th
e most efficient process of nitrogen production. It starts with taking atmospheric air into the air separation unit after which it is compressed. Thereafter, it is moved into a cleanup system where the air cleaned off of all impurities like carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and moisture. Then, the air is taken into a heat exchanger where it is cooled to extremely low temperatures. Now, the air is directed into the high pressure distillation column where the air separated in to its constituents, i.e., nitrogen, oxygen and other rare gases.
In this process of nitrogen production system, nitrogen is formed at the bottom of the distillation column. On the other hand, the process of nitrogen production relies on separating nitrogen molecules from compressed air stream and converts it to commercial specifications such as purity, flow and pressure. PSA plants can generate nitrogen with purity up to 99.9995%or 5ppm. PSA process is physical and does not require chemical input. Therefore, there is little expenditure on consumables. The process does not put too much pressure on the plant machinery & filter media allowing it to last for decades.
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