Oxygen Generator — Applications

Oxygen is a gas without which life couldn’t be possible, but in addition to that, oxygen has many industrial applications as well. Most of it because of it being an excellent supporter of combustion. These industries which need a continuous supply of oxygen mostly have oxygen plants or generators on their facilities. Here are a few industries that require oxygen:
1. Paper and Pulp Industry: The paper and pulp industry requires oxygen for oxy-bleaching of wood pulp, to make it whiter. Then it is turned into paper. It is also used for delignification of wood (removal of lignin, a rigid tissue in plants).
2. Glass industry: Oxygen is used for furnace enrichment as it is a great supporter of combustion. Such furnaces are called oxy-fired furnaces. Oxygen is also used in other processes in the glass industry.
3. Metallurgical Industry: Oxygen is used for furnace enrichment in metallurgy as well as to remove impurities from metal ores (smelting), as it is highly reactive and causes oxidation. Oxygen is also used in welding, cutting (oxy-hydrogen and oxy-acetylene torches) and brazing in the metallurgical industry.
4. Chemical Industry: Oxygen is used mostly in chemical process that require oxidation reactions, as well as in chemical synthesis, like cracking of hydrocarbons (a refining process). This is normally done to produce hydrocarbons like acetylene, ethylene and propylene.
5. Medical Industry: The medical industry has a variety of uses for oxygen from increasing oxygen levels in a patient’s blood, decreasing resistance of blood flow in diseased lungs, easing work-load on heart to oxygen therapy which is used to treat conditions like emphysema, pneumonia and other diseases which diminish the body’s capability to use gaseous oxygen.
6. Water and Waste Treatment Industry: Oxygen is used to increase the rate at which naturally occurring bacteria break down organic waste materials. This process is also used to decrease the rate of eutrophication in lakes and ponds, useful when cleaning them.
There are innumerable oxygen plants in India as well as worldwide, due to such a large requirement of oxygen in so many areas. Oxygen has so many commercial, industrial, and other uses that it consistently ranks among the top five chemicals in volume of production in the world.
