A wide range of industries utilize nitrogen for a variety of purposes. Some common areas of application are:
Laboratory Sciences
Due to its inert nature nitrogen is employed in a wide range of uses within laboratory sciences including, but not limited to, the following:
- Carrier or make-up gas for gas chromatography
- Inert environment for glove boxes and fume cupboards
- Test cell purging for mass spectrometry
Food Packaging & Food Processing
Nitrogen is an inert gas used for Modified Atmospheric Packaging (MAP), which increases the shelf life of foods without the use of chemical preservatives. Food packaging utilizing MAP includes that used for snack foods, fruits and nuts, vegetables, crackers, etc. Due to the very dry nature of nitrogen and its lack of oxygen, it helps maintain freshness and prevents discoloration.
Chemical Processing
To minimize the risk of combustion, reduce moisture contamination and control product quality, nitrogen is used as a blanketing medium during production, storage and handling by the chemical industry.
Pharmaceutical Processing
To reduce moisture contamination and control product degradation, dry nitrogen is used for blanketing, material transport and ingredient stabilization during the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.
Industrial Processes
Nitrogen is used in a wide variety of industrial processes to increase yield, improve process quality and reduce rejects including applications such as sparging, mixing, plasma and laser cutting, and annealing or hardening processes.
Electronics Manufacturing
Due to the very sensitive nature of many electronics manufacturing processes, high purity nitrogen has proven to be an ideal medium to control product quality and increase production yields by eliminating moisture and reducing the potential for oxidation or particle contamination.
