Nitrogen gas
Inert nitrogen from air protects chemicals, food, chips and oil wells from oxygen, and every tonne of ammonia locks in 0.82 t of it.
Commodity chemicals · Industrial gases · No. 15
- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Air
- not published for industrial (inert) nitrogen; about 157 Mt a year of N2 is fixed into ammonia (2024)
- 0.1 t CO₂e per t
- HS 280430
The gas that makes up 78% of every breath is prized for doing nothing, protecting chips, food and fuel tanks.
Chart: Illustration: Nitrogen gas
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Nitrogen is pulled from air by cryogenic distillation, or on site by PSA sieves and membranes that give 95-99.999% purity.
Three things to know
- About 157 Mt of nitrogen a year is fixed into ammonia, far more than all its uses as an inert gas.
- Chip fabs need nitrogen with parts-per-billion impurities, while oil fields and food packers can use 95-99.5% purity.
- Asphyxiation in confined spaces is the main way nitrogen kills, because the gas gives no warning.
The journey
- 1 Air compressionAbout 1.3 t air per tonne
- 2 SeparationCryogenic columns, PSA sieves or membranes
- 3 On-site supplyPiped to chemical plants and fabs
- 4 Liquid nitrogenTrucked at -196 C for freezing
- 5 CylindersSmall users supplied by distributors