Both nitrogen (N2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are commonly available in the form of compressed gas in cylinders. In food storage, CO2 is mainly used in the form of dry ice (see above) which is often easier to acquire with much less equipment needed to use it. Because of this, I'll be limiting this section to the use of compressed nitrogen. If for some reason you prefer to use compressed CO2 the information given below will work for it as well, though cylinder sizes may differ.
In the U.S. there are about eight principal suppliers of compressed gasses: Air Liquide, Airco, Linde, Air Products, Matheson, Liquid Carbonic, MG Industries, and Scott. One or more of these producers should have compressed gasses available in virtually every area of the United States and Canada.
Locating a source of compressed nitrogen is probably as easy as looking in your local phone book under the headings "compressed gas suppliers", "gasses", or "welding supplies". Other sources might be automotive supply houses, university or college research departments, vo-tech schools, and medical supply houses.
Nitrogen is generally available in a number of forms ranging from gas intended for welding, to various purity assured types, to gas mixtures where N2 would be one of the components.
Unless you are very knowledgeable about compressed gasses and the equipment needed to use them it is strongly recommended that you not use any gas mixtures in your food storage, but rather to stay with pure nitrogen gas. Use of compressed gas mixtures requires knowledge and equipment beyond the scope of this FAQ.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Welding nitrogen is essentially a pure gas, but it has one important caveat. When a cylinder of welding gas is used there is an unknown possibility that some form of contaminant may have backfed into the cylinder from a previous user. Possibly this could happen if the tank was being used in an application where the cylinder's internal pressure fell low enough for pressure from whatever the tank had been feeding to backflush into the cylinder. Alternatively, the tank pressure may have become depleted and was repressurized using ordinary compressed service air. The most likely contaminants will be moisture, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen and hydrocarbons, but there is the remote possibility of something even more exotic or toxic getting into your cylinder. Welding gas cylinders may not be checked by the gas supplier before being refilled and sent back out for use. It is this remote, but unknown possibility of contamination that causes me to recommend against the use of welding grade nitrogen in food storage. If your supplier is willing to certify that welding gas cylinders are checked before refilling then they would be OK to use.
The varying types of purity assured nitrogen gas are slightly more difficult to find and slightly more expensive in cost, but I believe this is more than made up for by the fact you know exactly what you're getting. Air Liquide, as an example, offers seven types of purity assured nitrogen ranging from 99.995% to 99.9995% pure with none having a water vapor content over 1 part per million (ppm) or an oxygen content over 3 ppm. Any of them are eminently suited to the task so the most inexpensive form is all you need buy.
As you might expect, compressed gas cylinders come in a number of different sizes. For the sake of simplicity I will address only the most common cylinder sizes since they will almost certainly be the most inexpensive as well.
Again using Air Liquide as an example, it is their size 44 and 49 cylinders that are the most common. There are other cylinder sizes of smaller physical dimensions and capacities. However, the logistics of compressed gas production and transport being what they are, they frequently will cost as much or even more than the larger, more common sizes. The actual gas inside the cylinder is fairly cheap. Filling and moving the heavy cylinders around is not.
Table 1 Air Liquide most common cylinder sizes. Cyl Capy Filled Wt Ht Dia Size Cu Ft PSIG lbs. In In -------------------------------------------------- 44HH 445 6000 339 51 10 44H 332 3500 225 51 10 49 304 2640 165 55 9.25 44 234 2265 149 51 9 16 77 2000 71 32.5 7
Legend:
The "H" suffix means high pressure.
PSIG = Pounds per Square Inch on the Gauge, this does not reflect atmospheric pressure which would be Pounds per Square Inch Absolute (PSIA). PSIA is the absolute pressure of atmospheric and internal cylinder pressure combined.
Although it is not a very common size, I left the #16 cylinder in the above table in case someone really wants or needs to use a smaller cylinder.
Table 2 Cylinder Size Comparison. Abbreviated table. (Alphagaz in Column 1) Cyl Air Liq MG Size Airco Prod Linde Carb Math Ind Scott [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] ------------------------------------------------------ 49 300 A T J 1L 300 K 44L 200 - K H 1A 200 A 44 200 B - - - - - 44H - BY 3K - 1H 2HP - 44HH 500 BX 6K - 1U 3HP - 16 80 C Q M 2 80 B
Legend:
[1] Alphagaz (Air Liquide)
[2] Airco
[3] Air Products
[4] Linde
[5] Liquid Carbonic
[6] Matheson
[7] MG Industries
[8] Scott
Reference: High Purity Specialty Gases and Equipment Catalog; copyright 1995, Air Liquide America Corporation, Houston TX USA; pages 6 and 7.
As you can see, the size 49 cylinder from Air Liquide has an equivalent from all eight manufacturers. This size is the one commonly seen being used to fill helium balloons at county fairs and ball games.
B.2.2 OBTAINING THE GAS AND NECESSARY EQUIPMENT
Although you can purchase your own cylinder the most inexpensive way to use nitrogen is to rent a cylinder from your gas supplier. This may require filling out an application, paying a refundable cylinder deposit and buying the gas contained in the cylinder. Tank rental periods can vary, but the most common is for thirty days.
Having rented or purchased the cylinder you must now get it home. Delivery by the supplier can often be arranged or they may assist you in getting the cylinder into your vehicle. The preferred method of transportation is for the cylinder to be chained, clamped or otherwise solidly secured in a vertical position in the transporting vehicle with the cylinder cap in place. Transportation requirements vary from nation to nation, state to state and even city to city so your best bet is to inquire of your gas supplier to find a safe and legal means of moving the tank.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The major expense in using compressed gas is not the cost of obtaining the gas itself, but in the equipment needed to safely handle and control it. Unless you can borrow the appropriate mechanisms they will have to be purchased, new or used, and even the cheapest regulator and gauge are not inexpensive. There is a temptation to forgo the expense and not use a regulator, but I must caution strongly against this. As table 1 above shows, a full cylinder of compressed gas will have an internal pressure of 2000+ PSIG. Normal atmospheric pressure is about 15 PSIA. If the cylinder valve was opened only slightly too far a great deal of very high pressure gas will flow through the delivery hose and metal wand and the potential for serious injury when it began to whip around would be very great. For your safety, get the necessary equipment. If you purchase your own regulator/gauge cluster and/or your own cylinder, there is necessity for periodic maintenance. Regulators and gauges need to be calibrated (using a water deadweight calibrator) and cylinders need to be hydrostatically tested, typically every ten years for both. Your gas supplier can provide you with more detailed information.
The only equipment that will come with your cylinder is the cylinder cap. "Don't leave home without it" and they mean it. All of the common cylinder sizes will use the CGA-580 (Compressed Gas Assembly) cylinder fitting. The downstream side of this fitting can be obtained with different threads, but a 1/4" NPT (National Pipe Thread) nipple is normally needed to mate with the regulator body. The nipple is really nothing more than just a short length of high pressure pipe. The CGA fittings come in a variety of metal compositions such as carbon steel, stainless steel and brass. The best choice is one which matches the composition of the regulator body. If the CGA fitting and regulator are to be used only with dry, non-oxygen gasses, in a dry environment then galvanic corrosion can be disregarded so the most inexpensive metal composition can be used even if it is not the same as the regulator. If it is to be used in a wet area, or with oxygen containing gasses then matching metal composition becomes very important.
When the tank is to be returned there must be some residual pressure still in the cylinder or the renter may have to pay a surcharge or lose their deposit. This is particularly true of purity assured gasses because the residual gas composition will be analyzed. This is done for the safety of all cylinder users.
The regulator/gauge cluster should be carefully removed using the same procedure that is described below to put it all together. Care should be taken not to damage the cylinder valve threads. Replace the cylinder cap and transport in the same manner as you brought it home.
Misc.Survivalism FAQs maintained by Alan T. Hagan, athagan@sprintmail.com
Copyright ©1996, 1997, 1998, 1999. Alan T. Hagan. All rights reserved.
Excluding contributions attributed to specific individuals all material in this work is copyrighted to Alan T. Hagan and all rights are reserved. This work may be copied and distributed freely as long as the entire text, my and the contributor's names and this copyright notice remain intact, unless my prior express permission has been obtained. This FAQ may not be distributed for financial gain, included in commercial collections or compilations or included as a part of the content of any web site without prior, express permission from the author.