High-purity nitrogen applications

IMPORTANT NOTE Use high-purity nitrogen only, otherwise impurities of 02 will oxidize the lipids (see Critical Parameters). A multiport nitrogen evaporator equipped with a distribution manifold and water bath is highly recommended for this application (Fig. Dl.2.1). 

Our Polymers Division needs a supply of moderately high purity nitrogen for its production applications. We would like to study the feasibility of incorporating new nitrogen plants with a minimum capacity of 5,000 SCFH (to handle current production) with the possibility of expansion to 40,000 SCFH. This plant is projected for 2005 when we expect the polymer market to expand significantly. 

The most important large application of carbon membrane seems in the production of low cost and high purity nitrogen from air. Other examples are separation of hydrogen from gasification gas, purification of methane [3]. In addition, it is used to recover a valuable chemical (H ) from a waste gas stream without further compression of the feed gas while rejecting a substantial portion of the hydrocarbons [4]. 

The most important application for carbon membranes is in the production of low cost and high pirrity nitrogen from air. Membranes can produce N2 with purity of up to 99.5%. It is estimated that membranes crrrrently produce 30% of all gaseoirs N2 because many irrdustries and commercial apphcations do not reqirire irltra high purity nitrogen [6,22]. It is expected that carbon membranes will offer an effective way of prodncing N2. 

The technique has been widely applied to analyses for lighter elements such as carbon, oxygen, sulphur, nitrogen and boron in high purity metals and semiconductor materials 86-88,90-92) Neutron activation techniques for these elements do not provide sufficient sensitivity for many applications. In addition, the high neutron capture cross sections of many metals prevent the use of neutron activation techniques in the determination of trace impurities in the high purity metal matrix. 

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