Having access to high purity oxygen and nitrogen is important for many industries. Often an economical choice for smaller plants to get this gas is to generate it from the air around us on-site using a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) generator. PSA generators can vary from small packages that can fit on a skid, all the way to exceptionally large installations. They can be used to generate either oxygen or nitrogen gas.
PSA generators take advantage of the fact that under high pressure, certain gases tend to adsorb, or stick, to certain materials. For example: to generate oxygen, air is compressed and passed over zeolite which adsorbs nitrogen and leaves behind more oxygen-saturated air. When the zeolite is fully saturated, the pressure is reduced to desorb, or separate, the nitrogen from the zeolite so it can be vented. To generate nitrogen, a carbon mol sieve is used in place of zeolite. Vacuum PSA (VPSA) generators function inherently the same, but they use vacuum blowers to reduce the desorption pressure to improve the amount of waste gas vented.
Oxygen sensing is crucial to the operation of (V)PSA generators, as it is necessary to know that the gas you are producing is up to the quality you desire. We offer state-of-the-art, reliable electrochemical sensors that can measure down to parts-per-million or low percent oxygen for nitrogen generation, or up to 100% oxygen for pure O2 generation. Our analyzers range from the 19” rack mount OMD-675 and OMD-775, to the compact OMD-507 to fit all stages of gas generation and all sizes of PSA generators.
