[labnetwork] N2 grade for blow guns

[Weaver, John R]

Iulian -

As with the answer to most of these questions, it depends. :)

In the BNC, we have a high-purity N2 tank that supplies our gaseous nitrogen to the building through stainless-steel tubing. Inside the facility, we split the line between utility and process nitrogen. The process nitrogen remains in UHP stainless tubing with certified welds, etc. The utility nitrogen goes through backflow-prevention devices then converts to oxygen-grade copper tubing. The primary difference in the nitrogen quality is moisture - ionics are very low in both streams. For blow-off guns, moisture level is a non-issue. I use utility nitrogen and am very happy with the quality.

If your utility nitrogen is of a significantly lower quality, then the answer might be different, but for a situation where moisture is the primary contaminant utility nitrogen is perfectly adequate.

As an aside, if you run your nitrogen to your blow-off guns through Teflon tubing (and who doesn't?), then you will be picking up moisture in your nitrogen stream anyway. If you are using UHP nitrogen, you will most likely be backstreaming moisture into your UHP system when the nitrogen is not flowing, thus contaminating your UHP line. That is a strong argument for using utility nitrogen wherever you are using Teflon tubing.

John

John R. Weaver
Facility Manager
Birck Nanotechnology Center
Purdue University
(765) 494-5494
jrweaver at purdue.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu [mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Iulian Codreanu
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 11:41 AM
To: Fab Network
Subject: [labnetwork] N2 grade for blow guns

Dear Colleagues,

Would it be overkill or a good idea to supply high purity nitrogen (instead of utility nitrogen) to the blow guns located in cleanroom fume hoods?

Thank you for your help.

Iulian

--
iulian Codreanu, Ph.D.
Director of Operations, UD Nanofab
149 Evans Hall
Newark, DE 19716
302-831-2784


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