Ultra-high purity gases are a necessity in many industries, including fabrication of electronics, photovoltaic, and lighting components, as well as generation of high purity carrier gases for laboratory, medical and life science uses. In many cases, the end-users may be unaware of the risks associated with selecting, installing and operating a gas purifier.
The goal of this article is to introduce the concept of safer gas purification, and offer alternative solutions for creation of ultra-high purity gases.
Purification of industrial gases often requires use of highly reactive media. Select media may react exothermically with contaminates within the feed gas stream, when the concentration is too high for the selected purifier media, resulting in elevated temperature sufficient to melt stainless steel. Resulting damage may be localized to an analyzer, tool or laboratory, but when coupled with an on-site air separation plant, exothermic events may result in a shutdown of the entire manufacturing facility, with typical recovery time measured in months.
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