Oxygen service

Cleanliness and purity

Oxygen - essential for life yet so dangerous, posing huge potential risk when utilised in industrial processes. To ensure the safety of plant and personnel, extreme caution is required to ensure that all systems used for handling oxygen are correctly specified, designed, manufactured and maintained because the smallest error at any stage can prove catastrophic.

Although oxygen itself does not burn, it supports combustion. The more oxygen present in a system the greater the risk of fire occurring and the lower the temperature at which ignition will occur until, in its purest form, it can cause the rapid or spontaneous combustion of most materials - even metals.

Oxygen bonds with all elements in the process known as oxidation. If this process occurs rapidly fire can result. It is therefore essential that materials which will oxidise rapidly are not present in oxygen processing systems. Contaminants such as oils and greases, including anything from lubricants to simple residue contamination from handling components with bare hands, are very capable of reacting with oxygen to cause fire and potentially an explosion.

In addition to ensuring cleanliness when working on oxygen handling systems all components, including sealing products such as gaskets and compression packings, must also conform to the same levels of cleanliness - containing no potentially reactive lubricants or materials.