How Does PSA Nitrogen Generator Work?

The generators that produce Nitrogen gas from atmospheric air by using Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology are known as PSA Nitrogen generators. This is a reliable and simple technique that separates Nitrogen from the compressed atomic air through adsorption of oxygen over Carbon Molecular Sieves (CMS) bed. This bed has infinite number of small pores. When CMS is used in the process of PSA, the Oxygen molecule gets trapped in the pore and hence, the Oxygen gets adsorbed and Nitrogen gets recovered to a high degree. 

The entire process is fully automatic and controlled by a combination of quick change over valves and sequence programmer. A PSA Nitrogen generator is most suitable for applications that require medium to high purity of 99.9% or more. The generator guarantees the purity of Nitrogen gas and there are no fluctuations during the process.

ADVANTAGES

Some of the advantages are:

1.        The maintenance cost is extremely low.

2.        The minimum life span of CMS is 10-12 years.

3.        The supply of Nitrogen is always under the user’s control.

4.        These generators are highly reliable for running un-attended for months.

USAGE

These generators are often used in,

A.        Military Application

B.        Nitrogen Tire Inflation

C.        Jewelry Manufacturing

D.       Cold Storage

E.        Food Packaging Industry

F.         Oil Extraction

G.       Cement Plants

H.        Aircraft Fuel Tank Inerting

Nitrogen Generator vs Nitrogen Cylinders

The basic differences between the two are listed below:

1.        Nitrogen Generators are more economical as compared to Nitrogen Cylinders.

2.        There are no hidden costs with Nitrogen Generators while there are many in the later one, such as labor cost, cylinder cost and so on.

3.        The gas purity is very reliable and steady in case of generators while this is not with Nitrogen cylinders.

4.        The gas supply is continuous and hence the production doesn’t suffer due to the fluctuating demand of Nitrogen. On the other hand, the dependency increases in the case of Nitrogen cylinders.

It is hence evident that Nitrogen Generators are more useful and economical than Nitrogen Cylinders.