What Are Nitrogen Generators?
Nitrogen generators create high-purity nitrogen on-demand, eliminating the need to fill and exchange expensive and cumbersome nitrogen cylinders. They use either PSA or membrane technologies to convert standard compressed air into a reliable, cost-effective, safe and consistent source of pure nitrogen.
Nitrogen generators start with clean, dry compressed air from an air compressor and then use dryers and coalescing filters to remove oil vapor, water vapour and impurities.
Generate Nitrogen From Compressed Air
Nitrogen generators convert regular compressed air into a continuous flow of high-purity nitrogen for use in fire protection applications. They are a cost-effective alternative to purchasing bottled nitrogen from gas suppliers and can be easily installed at your plant or warehouse. They also require minimal maintenance. Most systems use high-efficiency coalescing pre-filters and sterile grade after-filters for optimum performance.
Nitrogen generation can be performed using two types of on-demand technologies: membrane nitrogen generators and pressure swing adsorption (PSA) nitrogen generators. Both are capable of producing a consistent supply of nitrogen and are suitable for most industrial uses.
They Displace Oxygen
Nitrogen generators work by stripping oxygen from compressed air using a bed of Carbon Molecular Sieve (CMS). The CMS material has small pores that allow only the smaller nitrogen molecules to pass. The larger oxygen molecules are adsorbed and exhausted to the atmosphere. When the CMS is saturated with oxygen, it can be regenerated by lowering the pressure, releasing the adsorbed oxygen to produce more high-purity nitrogen.
Nitrogen generators eliminate the need for deliveries of nitrogen bottles, saving breweries money and time. They also reduce the need to change out nitrogen cylinders, which can lead to production delays and waste.
They Displace Water
Nitrogen generators also eliminate the need for high pressure nitrogen cylinder deliveries and allow users to choose their own purity level. The membrane-based nitrogen generation technology is designed to last up to 20 years with normal use in the fire protection industry. This is significantly longer than the life expectancy of nitrogen cylinders.
Nitrogen Generators are easy to maintain and require no mechanical moving parts. They can typically be serviced within 30-60 minutes by a fire sprinkler technician. They are also more flexible than nitrogen gas cylinders.
Displacing Carbon Dioxide
Using a nitrogen generator allows you to replace carbon dioxide in beer production, and it also saves money on delivery costs. Nitrogen gas is cheaper to produce than carbon dioxide, and it has a neutral flavour that does not interfere with the beer’s taste. Additionally, brewing with nitrogen reduces carbon footprints.
PSA (pressure swing adsorption) nitrogen gas generators operate at near ambient temperature, and they use special adsorptive materials to preferentially adsorb the target gases. They then switch to lower pressure to desorb the adsorbed molecules and create high-purity nitrogen gas.
