r/ChemicalEngineering • u/davidsmithsalda • Mar 01 '25

Design Self Nitrogen Generation onsite vs. Purchased Liquid Nitrogen

Work in a small manufacturing facility in the New England area where the cost of energy and regulation is only matched by California. at the moment we are purchasing one truck load of liquid nitrogen a week from Messer, they own the tank and the evaporator and we don't have to deal with the operation of the unit. I am wondering if anyone has experience running a PSA container-size unit for onsite N2 generation. How often do you guys change the media, compressor parts, babysitting, and troubleshooting the unit? can you guys please spill the beans? we use N2 for tank blanketing, and purging process equipment and piping.

Thank you very much for the responses I have received so far. Real altruism!

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u/chejrw Fluid Mechanics & Mixing / 15 years experience Mar 02 '25

It's definitely going to cost you more to install a nitrogen generator. The only caveat is if you are at an industrial park or embedded plant site, you may be able to buy nitrogen from a neighboring plant for the cost of the tie-in. Otherwise I'd stick with your current system

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u/davidsmithsalda Mar 02 '25

We are literally a dinosaur in this part of the nation, all manufacturing has been replaced by life sciences lab scale facilities which I pressume they only buy N2 bottles.