yosemite_sam
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We are about to buy a new set up for producing nitrox has anyone any advice on the best options
Advice on new set up
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What method are you interested in to produce nitrox? Partial pressure, continious blend/stick, membrain, etc...
Is this for a commercial operartion or just your personal setup? Are you in a remote location or do you have a ready supply of bottled oxygen?
Give us a little more information about your operation an people could make some good suggestions.
Is this for a commercial operartion or just your personal setup? Are you in a remote location or do you have a ready supply of bottled oxygen?
Give us a little more information about your operation an people could make some good suggestions.
Scuba Duck
Contributor
Some information on this website about producing Nitrox, the various methods, and associated costs...
Different Methods to Make Nitrox
What is best for you depends largely on the number of tanks you will be filling, and the specific content of those tanks.
Membrane systems are the most cost effective for large volumes of tanks. They fill at the rate of your high pressure air compressor. Also the highest initial costs.
Nitrox Stiks are good all around systems, also fill tanks at your compressors flow rate, but require bottled oxygen.
Membrane systems or oxygen generation systems (coupled with a Nitrox Stik) are your best bet if you have trouble obtaining oxygen (live aboard, remote location, etc)
Partial Pressure blending is the only real option for deco mixes, but are slow and require a great deal of labor for any quantity of fills.
So the answer to your question really depends on your format...
Different Methods to Make Nitrox
What is best for you depends largely on the number of tanks you will be filling, and the specific content of those tanks.
Membrane systems are the most cost effective for large volumes of tanks. They fill at the rate of your high pressure air compressor. Also the highest initial costs.
Nitrox Stiks are good all around systems, also fill tanks at your compressors flow rate, but require bottled oxygen.
Membrane systems or oxygen generation systems (coupled with a Nitrox Stik) are your best bet if you have trouble obtaining oxygen (live aboard, remote location, etc)
Partial Pressure blending is the only real option for deco mixes, but are slow and require a great deal of labor for any quantity of fills.
So the answer to your question really depends on your format...
OP
yosemite_sam
Registered
We have looked at Partial pressure but it looks to be very time consuming, the continious blending looks to be the most sensible option.
If from Ireland your choice is limited to a compressor that can supply air and nitrox gas to two breathing standards. One standard is for breathing Air and is BS EN 12021
The other is for breathing mixed gas including Nitrox and is BS EN 8478
With respect, non of these American methods listed in the above posts are suitable for Nitrox and IMHO never have been.
For example: The simplest breathing Air EU standard allows up to 500ppm C02. By comparison these cobbled together American Nitrox membranes produce in excess of 1000ppm C02. More than twice the maximum limit for air alone. Iain Middlebrook
Continuous blending, as described above in the link, is by far the easiest and safest method to produce Nitrox up to EANx40.
You don't need an expensive commercial mixing stick. All you need is something that will mix the incoming air and oxygen feed so that it is thoroughly blended before it gets to the compressor manifold. You don't want to have spurts of pure oxygen feeding into your compressor. But you also do not want too much resistence to flow that your compressor has to work extra hard.
You'll need some gas analyzers to measure your gas for oxygen content and, IMHO, a carbon monoxide analyzer to ensure your product is free of this deadly gas. Furthermore, you'll need an analytical lab to sample your air once of twice a year to confirm the quality of your product.
The benefit of a Nitrox "mixing stick" is that you can leave the oxygen feed OFF and pump plain air without changing anything else in your system. And you don't need to have the scuba cylinders oxygen clean, as you do with PP blending methods. No worries about blowing up yourself.
You can also make Trimix with a continuous blending system, with a few simple additions.
If you want gasses richer than EANx40, you can't use continuous blending.
You don't need an expensive commercial mixing stick. All you need is something that will mix the incoming air and oxygen feed so that it is thoroughly blended before it gets to the compressor manifold. You don't want to have spurts of pure oxygen feeding into your compressor. But you also do not want too much resistence to flow that your compressor has to work extra hard.
You'll need some gas analyzers to measure your gas for oxygen content and, IMHO, a carbon monoxide analyzer to ensure your product is free of this deadly gas. Furthermore, you'll need an analytical lab to sample your air once of twice a year to confirm the quality of your product.
The benefit of a Nitrox "mixing stick" is that you can leave the oxygen feed OFF and pump plain air without changing anything else in your system. And you don't need to have the scuba cylinders oxygen clean, as you do with PP blending methods. No worries about blowing up yourself.
You can also make Trimix with a continuous blending system, with a few simple additions.
If you want gasses richer than EANx40, you can't use continuous blending.
No disrespect intended, but no compressor in the world that is oil lubricated will produce breathable air/nitrox/trimix. The produced gas must go through a filtration system in order to reach standards for breathing gas. Therefore, if the compressor is already equipped with filtration to meet the EU standard, then nitrox production through the same filtration will meet those standards as well. As with any system, the gas produced will only be as good as the maintenance provided to that system.
I assure you that the systems I have built, membrane and PP Blending are not "cobbled" together. I believe, that if you do some research, you will find that the majority of deaths/sickness from "bad" gas are attributed to CO and not CO2.
Craig
Yes, sorry, I assume that everyone filters their breathing gas. My post above should have made that clear.
For continuous blending I'd suggest the Tri-Hunter 6000. It's reasonably priced and does a great job. You can check it out here:
Tri-Hunter 6000
...and no, I'm affiliated with them. Just a good product well thought out.
Tri-Hunter 6000
...and no, I'm affiliated with them. Just a good product well thought out.
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