Industrial Oxygen - Hypothetical Scenario

[Akimbo]

A fire / explosion in a High pressure Oxygen system does not require a seperate ignition source, adiabatic compression can cause an explosion.

Very true. This paper details the phenomenon.

Info - Oxygen Fires

Document Name: Flammability in Unusual Atmospheres Part 1 - Preliminary Studies of Materials in Hyperbaric Atmospheres Containing Oxygen, Nitrogen, and/or Helium Author: J. E. Johnson and F, J. Woods, Naval Research Laboratory See the attached file: Flammability in Unusual Atmospheres.pdf File...

scubaboard.com

 

[Germie]

All oxygen comes from the same source, the difference are the cylinders where it is pumped in. For welding they are officially not cleaned before a new fill. So there can be contamination in the cylinders. But most suppliers give you a fine if you drain the tanks completely. Another point to think about is: how strong is a weld made by contaminated gases? So if the oxygen is contaminated, it will not give the best welding.
I have dived on all kind of oxygen, went to over 100m on welding oxygen in my trimix.

 

[formernuke]

Ah yes. The more I read the more nuanced it becomes. With medical oxygen moisture is often added at the bedside BTW. Medical, Industrial, Aviation Oxygen all come from the same production sources using the same separation methods and the only difference is the cost and the paper trail.

This, same source different tracking and paperwork at least around here. Don't know about other places.

 

[Akimbo]

All oxygen comes from the same source, the difference are the cylinders where it is pumped in.

More precisely, virtually all pure O2 is produced from cryogenic distillation of air before it is selectively "boiled off" in fractionating columns and pumped into high pressure cylinders. All of the gas plants that I have seen use high purity diaphragm compressors. The same is true for most Nitrogen, Argon, Neon. Krypton, and Xenon.

The systems are designed to minimize contamination risk and high velocity gas flows. The vast majority of HP medical, laboratory, and industrial pure O2 applications reduce the pressure at the cylinder, or bank of cylinders, which dramatically reduces the risk of O2 fires.

 

[sea_ledford]

I never understood why medical and aviation grade Oxygen were still being sold. These days, "medical Oxygen" used at hospitals is 99.997% pure because it is delivered and stored as LOX (Liquid Oxygen). Of course that is the same LOX used in large weld shops and ship yards.

Commercial and military diving operations get their HP O2 in 6-12 packs, which I have never seen in any grade other than industrial. The same gas banks are used for metabolic makeup on sat chambers, O2 treatment for BIBS masks, and underwater burning rigs.

View attachment 753290​

Don't forget about "Diving grade"... whatever that is. More expensive is what it really is!

 

[L13]

... adiabatic compression can cause an explosion.

Also known as dieseling, because the diesel engine works on that principle.

 

[L13]

The latest issue of "Alert Diver" from DAN has an article about oxygen grades on page 62.

 

[AmberIszlerDC]

Supposed a diver in a remote location was suffering from a decompression Illness and all you had available was industrial oxygen... could you, should you, would you administer it to the diver?
Discuss.

Hopefully you are never left in this situation because you have done your research prior to arriving in the remote location and have made sure oxygen is available. However if it was the only option I think you let the person decide if they are willing to take the risk. If you are making the decision for the person then I think you weigh the potential harm/benefit and I would probably tend to lean towards using it. Oxygen needs to be fairly clean to be compressed.

 

[Lorenzoid]

The latest issue of "Alert Diver" from DAN has an article about oxygen grades on page 62.

I didn't find the article all that clear on the potential for use of "industrial oxygen (grade C)."

"The same process produces almost all pure oxygen gas, and the primary differences are simply the analysis certificates."

The article explains that grade A, which is "medical oxygen" (also known as "USP"), has the lowest purity requirement, at 99 percent. Grade C ("industrial oxygen"), grade E (Aviator Breathing Oxygen or "ABO"), etc., have higher purity requirements. This seems to be saying that all commercially available oxygen has a purity of at least 99 percent.

The article concludes with these two sentences, which I'm not sure how to read in context with each other:

"Oxygen is oxygen, and if the purity exceeds 99 percent, it is safe for use where pure oxygen is required. The critical consideration is if you need breathing gas, in which case only USP and ABO meet the requirement."

Do "where pure oxygen is required" and "breathing gas" include emergency treatment oxygen? If so, then because all commercially produced oxygen is certified at least 99 percent pure, then would it not be logical to conclude that all commercially available oxygen should be suitable for emergency treatment use?

 

[L13]

I didn't find the article all that clear on the potential for use of "industrial oxygen (grade C)."

"The same process produces almost all pure oxygen gas, and the primary differences are simply the analysis certificates."

The difference is the guarantee you paid for. The rest is noise.