How is oxygen wasted in cylinder?

The element oxygen is responsible for sustaining life on Earth and makes up 21% of the atmosphere. Oxygen in a purer state is required for a variety of uses that can be divided into two groups.

⦁ Industrial applications - Oxygen refined to at least 80% purity is used in a variety of sectors, from steel processing to cutting torches and fabrication.

⦁ Medical applications - Oxygen filtered to 90% or more is an important part of hospital infrastructure and is used in a variety of medical conditions to promote tissue oxygenation, assist patients in breathing, and so on. According to various estimates, pre-COVID total oxygen utilization was roughly 75-80 percent industrial and 20-25 percent medical.

Liquid oxygen storage tanks on the hospital grounds are the most efficient — liquid oxygen is carried in cryogenic containers to the liquid tanks, where it is transformed to gaseous form and piped to individual wards/ rooms/ operation theatres.

When smaller hospitals or medical centers lack liquid oxygen storage tanks, the only choice is to use oxygen cylinders, which leads to two additional issues:

⦁Significant oxygen wastage: As each cylinder empties, it loses about 5-10% of its oxygen due to a lack of pressure.

⦁Insufficient cylinder production capability to keep up with demand

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar have invented the first-of-its-kind Amlex Oxygen Rationing Device, which gives the needed volume of oxygen to the patient during inhalation and trips when the patient exhales CO2.

This technique conserves oxygen that would otherwise be wasted. During exhalation, the user typically pushes oxygen out of the oxygen cylinder/pipe along with the CO2. In the long run, this results in a substantial amount of oxygen being wasted. The continuous flow of life-saving gas in the mask allows a substantial amount of oxygen to escape to the environment during the resting interval (between inhalation and exhalation).

The gadget could be useful in preventing unnecessary oxygen waste, especially when demand for medical oxygen spikes, as it did during the second wave of the epidemic. Both a battery and a line supply can be used to power the gadget (220V-50Hz).

There's also oxygen wastage:

mild cases who don't require it are put on oxygen support, and leaks from oxygen pipelines are occasionally observed. A MoHFW expert committee set the oxygen supply in intensive care units at 40 liters per minute and 15 liters per minute in standard wards per patient per minute.

It is recommended that patients on oxygen assistance be monitored regularly and that those with oxygen saturation values below 94 be placed on oxygen support. According to the committee, 20 out of every 100 patients become symptomatic, with three of them becoming serious. This is the pool where oxygen may be required.

In an ideal situation, oxygen travels from a manufacturer to a patient's bed in 3-5 days. However, if even a single link in the supply chain fails, it can cause delays in transit to dealers, conversion to cylinders, and delivery to hospitals. Cryogenic distillation is used by India's major oxygen producers, such as Inox Air Products, Linde India, Goyal MG Gases, and National Oxygen, to compress air, feed it into distillation columns, and obtain liquid oxygen. It has a purity of 99.5 percent. This procedure could take up to two and a half days. The liquid oxygen is carried to smaller factories in the hinterlands, where it is transformed into gaseous form, fed into cylinders, and transported to the final destination – hospitals, in special cryogenic transport tankers that maintain a -180-degree centigrade temperature.

Oxygen is normally inexpensive; however, it has recently increased in price. Refilling a cylinder that used to cost Rs 100-150 now costs Rs 500-700. Hoarding has begun as a result. People are keeping oxygen cylinders at home in case they don't obtain a Covid bed in the hospital.

It used to cost Rs 1.5-2 to replace a cubic meter of oxygen before the pandemic. However, because logistical costs have increased, Delhi will now pay Rs 10-15 per cubic meter for refilling, while Mumbai will pay Rs 15 per cubic meter. The cost of replenishing has been set at Rs 17.49 per cubic meter by the government.

The industrial sector is also suffering. After the shutdown in March, oxygen consumption had dropped to 250 metric tonnes per day. Industries resumed operations after the limitations were relaxed. The current industrial demand is between 2,000 and 2,500 metric tonnes. However, there is a finite supply.

Let's discuss about Medkav’ s technology

Medkav is the most dependable medical oxygen generator company in India. It is more dependable medical equipment for the Indian environment.

The products of our parent company, Kavia, are elegantly designed, carefully tested, professionally produced, and set up at their Bangalore Research Centre, and are both safe and effective, as well as energy efficient and reliable. Medkav meets all national and international standards, including ISO13485, ISO9001, and others. Due to their technological superiority, great reliability, and competitive performance-price ratio, Medkav products are well-known and appreciated in medical institutions all over the world. We work with a number of reputable domestic and international vendors.

The most crucial necessity in any industry area is for the most up-to-date, efficient, and improved technologies. This may be a requirement of our time in order to secure our future. Creating a technological breakthrough could be a big achievement. Making a breakthrough in this area will help it break into the industry for practical use. Suiting oneself into the ocean of expectations is not easy, but it is not impossible. Within the healthcare industry, we are rapidly growing our presence. We provide both a safe environment and educational opportunities. This can bring hospitals closer to their patients as it becomes safer and healthier. Medical Oxygen is at the heart of the hospital, and Medkav's Medical Oxygen Gas Generator keeps it flowing.

Our mission is to help you get the most out of your industrial output while staying within your budget restrictions. Our products and services include cutting-edge oxygen generators that are appropriate for a wide range of business and industrial applications. We help hospitals save money by replacing oxygen cylinders with long-lasting, high-quality oxygen generators. Our products are built to survive the severe Indian environment, power shortages, and pollution problems.

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