Liquefied Nitrogen

Liquid nitrogen, produced by the cryogenic air separation process, finds wide use as a refrigerant in applications such as cryogenic grinding of plastics and food freezing. It is also used extensively by the electronics and metals industries for its inert properties. Nitrogen is also used for blanketing and purging (removing oxygen) equipment, vessels and pipelines. It is also used in the nuclear industry for scientific research

Process: Nitrogen is produced in large quantities at air separation plants which liquefy and subsequently distill air into nitrogen, oxygen, and usually argon. If very high purity nitrogen is required the nitrogen produced may need to go through a secondary purification process. The lower range of nitrogen purities can also be produced with membrane techniques, and medium to high purities with pressure swing adsorption (PSA) techniques.