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In the sixties and seventies, big explosions
ruptured oil tankers and oil platforms, causing
severe damage. The tragic events were often
caused by explosive gas forming and igniting in
the presence of oxygen. Just like CO2, the single
most important ingredients for photosynthesis
and human life, now dubbed the worst threat
to human kind ever, oxygen is a two-faced gas.
Essential for human survival, but turning highly
dangerous in the presence of flammable gases.
“We are market leaders in separation of gases.
Our membrane technology, developed in the
eighties, allows for separating air into nitrogen
and oxygen. We don’t care much for the oxygen;
it’s the nitrogen that we’re after”, explains Tom
Cantero, managing director of Air Products.
The membrane technology was developed in the
early eighties on the back of the oil bonanza in
the North Sea that required innovative safety
solutions for curbing explosion risk. Air Products
membrane-based nitrogen generators represented
a major breakthrough in safety management. The
success that followed eventually turned the
company into a global market leader in gas
processing systems, with a reputation for
supplying high-quality products backed by 24/7
support services.
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Technically, nitrogen is used to curb explosion risk
in oil tanks and other environments were gases
might mix to form highly potent combinations
by replacing the oxygen. Nitrogen is produced
on location in a generator that uses a membrane
technology to separate oxygen and nitrogen from
the air.
Although its inception was formed out of the oil
industry’s needs, most nitrogen generators have
been delivered to vessels. On ships, nitrogen is
used to prevent explosions during loading and
unloading LNG.
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Air Products has an impressive market share of
95 percentages in the LNG-ship market and just
landed a landmark contract with Shell Prelude to
equip the world’s first floating LNG facility with
nitrogen generators. There has been an increased
demand for natural gas following the worries
over nuclear energy that arose after the tragic
Special advertising supplement
The nitrogen generator.
Compact and lightweight.
Managing Director Tom Cantero
of Air Products AS.
Nitrogen, a little-known lifesaver
earthquake in Japan last year, and the market for
Air Products’ systems is expected to surge in the
coming years.
“We are obviously quite proud to deliver our
membrane to the world’s first floating LNG facility
and see this as an appreciation of the quality of
our products”, says Cantero. The LNG ship will be
the world’s largest vessel, nearly 500 meters long
and 74 meters wide.
Moreover, the membrane technology have proven
to be very successful in other areas as well, such
as treatment of ballast water, conservation of food
during transportation as well as conserving the
vessels tank systems.
Cantero and his colleagues have also been busy
exploring new markets for its compact nitrogen
generators, and found use for it in fruit transport.
When transporting apples or bananas weeks across
the world, controlling the ripening process has
become important. Nitrogen delays the ripening
process. At last, nitrogen adds a particular taste to
the English lager or pint, used as propellant when
beer is tapped.
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