Nitrogen, the seventh most abundant element, is a colorless, odorless and nonreactive gas that makes up about 80% of our atmosphere. This chemical element is almost everywhere we look and has a ton of different uses, such as preserving food and making common medicines in the pharmaceutical industry. At nexAir, we will continue to use our years of industry experience and KnowHow in order to educate our customers and employees on all of the products and services that we offer – gases included. While nitrogen has many different uses, here’s four that we think are important:

Food Preservation

One of the most common usages of nitrogen is in the food industry for packaging. This gas allows the foods to stay fresh by preventing oxidative damage, leading to spoilage. The nitrogen creates a man-made atmosphere for the food items to keep fresh and reduces the chances of the food going bad before it gets to its final destination.

Pharmaceuticals

Did you know that nitrogen gas is present in every major drug class? Nitrogen gas is actually widely used in the pharmaceutical industry including antibiotics and anesthetics. This may be a lesser-known fact, but nitrogen can also be used to preserve biological specimens.

Manufacturing and Construction

Nitrogen can also be used during a process called “shrink fitting”, where the inner part of the metal is cooled by using liquid nitrogen, further making it shrink. Another common use of nitrogen is in the construction industry for tunnel construction. This process consists of pumping the liquid nitrogen through pipes, and once the nitrogen is deposited through the soil, it vaporizes – eliminating the heat and freezing it.

Electronics

This may be surprising to some, but nitrogen plays a pretty big role in the electronics industry. Nitrogen is typically used in the manufacturing and production of electronics, to create an inert atmosphere while preventing oxidation. This gas helps to prevent any kind of electrical failure or issues that could potentially arise.

Here at nexAir, we are committed to providing our customers with the highest quality products, services, gases and training. It is our top priority to share our applied KnowHow and help our customers Forge Forward in every project that they take on. Our team is able and ready to answer any questions that you may have when it comes to nitrogen and every other gas and product that we offer. Please feel free to give us a call to get started today, we’d love to chat! Thank you for choosing nexAir to be your educator and gas provider.