Natural gas is a flexible fuel with a lot of uses, not just for heating or cooking, but in mixes with other gasses for instrument calibration. They make a great choice for monitoring the PPB and PPM levels in the air, and calibration gases are used to protect workers from unknown air toxicity hazards in the workplace or other confined spaces.
How Calibration Gases Are Used
Special disposable gas cylinders are filled with a calibration gas. Gas regulators are used to lower the pressure within disposable gas cylinders so it can be put at a lower pressure more suitable for us. The calibration gases are of a known concentration and can be used to test the accuracy of those instruments being used to test and protect air quality. The ISEA recommends that more instruments be tested more frequently with gas calibration testing whenever there are environmental conditions that can lead to suspect performance. Certain environmental issues can cause sensors to fail or misread. When the environment is not an issue, calibration verification does not need to be done so often, but it should be done no less than every 30 days.
How Common Are Calibration Gases?
Research from Technavio on specialty gases market analysis predicts that the market will grow by more than 6% by 2021. By 2026, the specialty gas industry is expected to be worth $14 billion globally. Grand View Research predicts that the specialty gas industry will be able to bring down costs, improve yields, and optimize performance over the next few years, which will drive the global market.
What Types of Specialty Gases Are There?
Specialty gases, which typically come in disposable gas cylinders of varying sizes, is normally either a pure gas or a gas mixture. All manufacturers who provide specialty gases that are pure do so in grades. Research grade is 99.9999% minimum purity, while high purity is 99.998% minimum purity. THere is also ultra-high purity with a minimum purity rating of 99.999%. Sizes of disposable gas cylinders vary as does the value of what’s inside so that some cylinders can run $100 and others up to $3,000.
What Markets Use Specialty Gases?
There are six applications for disposable calibration gas. These are the refrigeration market, medical and healthcare needs, manufacturing, electronics and semiconductors, and analytical and calibration uses. Specialty gas suppliers can provide high quality pure and mixed gases in a variety of disposable gas cylinders to specification when ordered.
Gas purity can have a great effect on safety and the outcome of any procedure, so it’s important to source gases from a reliable manufacturer of specialty gases. Sourcing pure and reliable gases and gas mixtures is a crucial element for the success of many industries.