Because of its inertness (not easily reacting with other substances), nitrogen has become a commonly used auxiliary gas in the petrochemical industry. Introducing nitrogen into oil storage tanks or chemical reactors can displace the air inside (especially oxygen and water vapor), thereby preventing the formation of explosive gas mixtures or oxidation reactions. For example, nitrogen blanketing technology continuously injects nitrogen into storage tanks to isolate the stored medium from air generon.comgeneron.com. This approach significantly reduces the risk of explosion and fire while preventing moisture or oxygen from degrading chemical materials. Nitrogen is also commonly used for pipeline purging (blowdown). During equipment maintenance or pipe replacement, nitrogen is used to flush out residual reactants or air from pipelines, ensuring internal cleanliness and eliminating potential hazards from volatile gas residues zjseqt.comgeneron.com. In solvent recovery or distillation units, nitrogen inerting can also improve separation efficiency and prevent product oxidation.
In addition, during periods when production units require shutdown maintenance or reactor cleaning, high-pressure nitrogen is used to purge and clean pipelines, tower bottoms, and reactor inner walls, thoroughly removing organic residues and preventing hazardous chemical reactions between cleaning agents and residual substances. In the event of an emergency fire or equipment leakage, nitrogen can also be used for fire suppression and safety protection. For example, the IG-100 system uses 100% pure nitrogen to reduce the oxygen concentration within the protected area to extinguish fires. Nitrogen is non-toxic, residue-free, and harmless to human safety inertgasfiresystems.cominertgasfiresystems.com. In summary, nitrogen — due to its inertness, non-toxicity, and non-conductivity — is widely used in the petrochemical industry for fire suppression and emergency response, providing a safe and reliable means of protection inertgasfiresystems.cominertgasfiresystems.com.
Examples of typical application scenarios:
- Tank Inerting (Blanketing): Nitrogen is injected into oil or chemical storage tanks to remove oxygen and moisture, preventing explosive oxidation reactions generon.com.
- Pipeline Purging and Replacement: Nitrogen is used to displace air or residual liquids inside pipelines, keeping the system dry and oxygen-free to prevent fire hazards zjseqt.com.
- Reactor / Equipment Cleaning: During maintenance or raw material switching, nitrogen is used to purge residual substances inside the reactor, ensuring safe operation afterward.
- Emergency Fire Protection: Nitrogen reduces the oxygen concentration within enclosed tank rooms over a large area to achieve fire suppression, while posing almost no harm to personnel inertgasfiresystems.cominertgasfiresystems.com.
- Laser Cutting: Nitrogen is used as a protective gas in laser cutting to prevent oxidation at the processing area and reduce weld porosity zjseqt.com.
- Scientific Laboratories: Provides an inert environment — for example, in petrochemical new material or catalytic reaction experiments, nitrogen is used to isolate oxygen, preventing sample contamination or unexpected reactions. At the same time, analytical instruments such as gas chromatographs require a constant flow of high-purity carrier gas pneumatech.compneumatech.com.
Scientific research and experimental applications
In the field of scientific research and laboratories, high-purity nitrogen is even more indispensable. Because of its extreme inertness, nitrogen is commonly used to provide an inert protective atmosphere. For example, in petrochemical materials research or catalyst reaction testing, trace amounts of oxygen or moisture remaining in the container can interfere with reaction results or damage catalytic activity; therefore, laboratories introduce high-purity nitrogen to purify the atmosphere pneumatech.com. Similarly, in gas chromatography analyzers, nitrogen is used as a carrier gas to maintain a stable flow rate and as a calibration/auxiliary gas for mass spectrometers to ensure analytical accuracy pneumatech.compneumatech.com. According to Pneumatech’s report, chromatographic analysis often requires high-purity nitrogen above 99.99% to ensure sensitivity and reproducibility pneumatech.com. Therefore, research institutions typically use professional nitrogen generation systems to provide a continuous supply of stable high-purity nitrogen, further advancing innovation in fields such as petrochemical new materials and catalytic mechanism studies pneumatech.compneumatech.com.
Shenger Gas (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. and technical equipment
Sheng Er Gas (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. is a professional manufacturer with EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) capability for air separation systems. The main products include cryogenic air separation units, PSA nitrogen generators, oxygen generators, VPSA oxygen generators, dryers, and gas purification systems shengerhk.comshengerhk.com. With years of experience in air separation technology, the company has served more than 5,000 industrial clients worldwide shengerhk.com, becoming a trusted partner in the chemical, petrochemical, and energy sectors. Sheng Er Gas provides nitrogen generation equipment designed to flexibly meet diverse application needs: PSA-based nitrogen generators can produce nitrogen with purity ranging from 97% to 99.999% shengerhk.com; while cryogenic air separation units handle large air volumes to produce substantial quantities of high-purity liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen, ensuring long-term stable operation and reduced operating costs shengerhk.commathesongas.com. The equipment is highly modularized and equipped with advanced automation control systems, enabling fully automatic continuous operation while ensuring that the produced gas remains pure, dry, and stable in flow mpi-tech.com.twshengerhk.com.
Key technical advantages include:
- High-Purity Gas Production: The PSA nitrogen generator operates continuously and is equipped with dual adsorption towers working alternately, along with a nitrogen buffer tank. This design effectively eliminates pressure fluctuations during the adsorption process, ensuring a stable output of high-purity nitrogen above 99.999% mpi-tech.com.twshengerhk.com. Cryogenic air separation technology can simultaneously produce ultra-high-purity oxygen (>99.5%) and nitrogen (>99.99%), meeting extremely high purity requirements for industrial and scientific applications mathesongas.comtewincryo.com.
- Stable Flow Output: In the PSA nitrogen generation system, two adsorption towers operate alternately, working together with a nitrogen buffer tank to ensure continuous stability of pipeline pressure and flow during switching mpi-tech.com.tw. The advanced SCADA/PLC control system enables full automation and real-time monitoring; once configured, the system can operate unattended, ensuring high reliability.
- System Automation: Both the nitrogen generators and air separation units are equipped with automatic pressure, flow, and purity control valves, allowing remote monitoring of operating parameters for intelligent management mpi-tech.com.twshengerhk.com. The nitrogen generation process is clean and non-polluting, requires no condensation adsorption, and involves minimal maintenance — ensuring safe and stable gas supply.
- EPC Solutions: Sheng Er Gas possesses full EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) capabilities for gas engineering projects and can provide comprehensive turnkey solutions tailored to customer requirements shengerhk.comshengerhk.com. With a manufacturing facility spanning tens of thousands of square meters and multiple patented technologies, the company offers fully integrated services covering design, fabrication, installation, commissioning, and after-sales support — ensuring high-quality project delivery and long-term operational reliability.
Practical application cases and technical features
Sheng Er Gas (Hong Kong) has provided nitrogen solutions for multiple petrochemical enterprises, with typical projects involving pipeline purging and storage tank inerting. For instance, an oil storage and transportation company adopted Sheng Er Gas’s PSA nitrogen generator to inert large crude oil tanks, rapidly reducing the oxygen concentration in pipelines and tank zones. Post-testing confirmed zero residual oxygen, effectively eliminating explosion risks. Other petrochemical plants utilize cryogenic air separation units to produce liquid nitrogen for purging catalytic cracking reactors at ambient temperature, replacing external liquid nitrogen supply models and significantly improving gas cost efficiency. Sheng Er Gas has also developed customized systems for the laser cutting industry: high-pressure nitrogen generators provide a stable nitrogen flow for metal processing, preventing oxidation at the workpiece edges and reducing cutting porosity with remarkable results zjseqt.com.
In terms of technical features, Sheng Er Gas products are characterized by high gas purity, stable supply, and a high degree of automation. The PSA nitrogen generators continuously produce clean and dry nitrogen with a typical purity of up to 99.999%, meeting the strict requirements of precision catalysis and analytical applications mpi-tech.com.twshengerhk.com. Meanwhile, the cryogenic air separation units can stably supply large quantities of high-purity nitrogen and liquid nitrogen, making them ideal for large-scale petrochemical production lines shengerhk.commathesongas.com. All equipment is equipped with PLC-based automatic control and intelligent pressure relief safety systems, enabling nearly unattended operation while ensuring long-term stability and reliable gas supply.
In summary, nitrogen — with its inertness, cleanliness, and high reliability — is an indispensable gas for safety and production assurance in the petrochemical industry. Sheng Er Gas (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., leveraging advanced nitrogen and oxygen generation technologies, a complete product portfolio, and professional EPC service capabilities, provides customers with one-stop nitrogen application solutions to meet diverse needs from industrial production to scientific research shengerhk.comshengerhk.com. The company’s products cover key equipment such as PSA nitrogen generators and cryogenic air separation units, widely used in storage tank inerting, pipeline purging, reactor cleaning, emergency fire suppression, and laboratory analysis. Proven project cases demonstrate Sheng Er Gas’s significant advantages in enhancing operational safety and ensuring production efficiency.
