How Food-Grade Nitrogen Helps Package The Foods At Your Table

Proper packaging enables food to be bagged and transported long distances without spoiling. Often, food packaging is reliant on nitrogen for preservation purposes. Many foods are packaged with nitrogen inside, including dried fruits and chips. Whether you’re a curious consumer or starting a food packaging business, here’s what you need to know about food-grade nitrogen.

What Is the Benefit of Using Food Grade Nitrogen in Food Packaging?

Bacteria will grow and thrive on organic material when exposed to oxygen. When food is exposed for a long time to oxygen, it will deteriorate quickly. Its color, flavor, scent, and structural integrity will all begin to break down when exposed to oxygen. This means that any piece of food will spoil quickly if it is sealed into a package with oxygen.

When oxygen is eliminated from the package, the growth of bacteria slows down dramatically. To protect the food from spoilage, oxygen is replaced with nitrogen.

What Is Nitrogen Flushing?

Nitrogen flushing is a technique where nitrogen is blasted into a package containing food and oxygen. The nitrogen displaces the oxygen, then the package is sealed with the nitrogen inside.

Is Nitrogen Flushing Safe?

Nitrogen flushing is completely safe. Many foods are packaged this way. Nitrogen is a non-toxic gas that’s already found in the earth’s atmosphere. Nearly 80% of the air that we breathe is nitrogen. This odorless gas does not harm food, is safe to breathe once the package is opened, and prevents food from spoiling when it’s sealed in the bag.

Nitrogen Helps Protect Food In More Ways Than One

In addition to stopping food from going bad, nitrogen does one more thing to protect food when it’s sealed in the package. Delicate foods like chips are easily crushed in transit, but nitrogen creates a pillow inside the package to stop chips from being pulverized.

How to Produce Nitrogen Food Packaging

Generally speaking, there are two ways for food packaging companies to obtain nitrogen. They can either deliver their nitrogen through an outside source (often in cylinders) or generate their nitrogen with an on-site nitrogen generator.

Nitrogen cylinders have many disadvantages over nitrogen generators. Cylinders must be delivered regularly to keep up with production. When supply chain problems occur, cylinders may not be delivered according to the schedule. This can lead to a halt in production, resulting in lost profits. Cylinders can also take up a lot of space. In addition, pressurized cylinders can be dangerous when not properly handled.

Nitrogen generators, by contrast, produce a nearly limitless supply of nitrogen without any of the supply chain considerations that can occur with cylinder delivery. Nitrogen generators take up less space and, unlike pressurized cylinders, do not have the associated risks.

Benefits of an On-Site Nitrogen Generator for Food Packaging

There are many benefits of packaging food with nitrogen from a generator. Here’s what you should consider as you’re trying to decide whether to purchase a nitrogen generator for your food packaging business:

  • Cost-effective. Once the small initial investment is made for purchase and installation, nitrogen generators have very few associated costs. This is very different from nitrogen cylinders, which represent an ongoing cost. In fact, as the business increases production, the amount spent on cylinders also increases, naturally limiting business growth and taking a chunk from the profits that would otherwise be made.
  • Reliable. Compared to nitrogen cylinder delivery, a nitrogen generator is a reliable nitrogen source. Any time your business is dependent upon a third-party provider, you’re subject to whatever problems may affect that third-party provider. In the event that a cylinder delivery is delayed or even canceled, your business will be left searching for a new nitrogen source. By comparison, a nitrogen generator is always available and, if properly maintained, a consistent nitrogen source.
  • Energy-efficient and sustainable. Whereas nitrogen delivery from a third-party provider depends upon fossil fuels to deliver, a nitrogen generator is a clean and energy-efficient way to produce the nitrogen needed on-site.

Need Nitrogen for Your Food Packaging Company? Contact On Site Gas

On Site Gas is a trusted name in nitrogen generation. We provide quality nitrogen generators to businesses in food packaging, medical and chemical industries, and more. To learn more about obtaining a nitrogen generator for your food packaging company, contact us today.

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How Does Nitrogen Help Preserve Bottles Of Wine?

Wine-making is a centuries-old process that has evolved with modern innovations to improve the quality of the wine. Wine is sensitive to bacterial contamination, which can negatively impact the wine’s color, flavor, and quality. Chemical oxidation can take a similar toll on wine.

Nitrogen gas can help preserve wine by protecting it from oxidation. Whether you’re a winemaker or simply interested in how exposure to oxygen can affect wine, here’s what you need to know about using nitrogen as a wine preserver.

How a Wine Nitrogen Injector Can Improve Wine Quality

Nitrogen gas is a colorless, odorless gas that does not impact wine’s color or flavor. While nitrogen isn’t involved in traditional wine-making, it is used in modern industrial wine distilleries. It can be used for sparging, flushing, and blanketing wine.

Flushing

During the wine-making process, wine is moved through a series of vats and hoses from one fermentation stage to another. The more the wine is moved, the more oxygen it is exposed to. To prevent this exposure, the vats and hoses are flushed with nitrogen gas to eliminate oxygen and minimize the wine’s exposure.

Blanketing

The wine bottles are filled with nitrogen gas before and after being filled with wine. This displaces the oxygen.

Sparging

Wine can absorb oxygen through the various stages of fermentation. Just as oxygen impacts wine in the hoses and vats, it can also impact wine when absorbed directly into the liquid. To prevent this from happening, the wine is sparged with nitrogen gas, which means that nitrogen is bubbled through the wine to help the wine release oxygen.

When sparging with white wine, combining carbon dioxide and nitrogen is best. When sparging red wine, it’s acceptable to sparge with nitrogen alone.

Either way, sparging with nitrogen is a cost-effective and efficient way to prevent oxidation. Nitrogen has many benefits, including its low cost and its easy availability. Using a nitrogen generator for wine is one way to sparge wine inexpensively, as nitrogen generators produce a limitless and inexpensive nitrogen source.

How to Get Nitrogen Gas for Wine Production

Wine producers can get nitrogen from portable cylinders and nitrogen generators. Portable cylinders seem a natural choice because they have no high up-front costs. However, for any business with an ongoing need for nitrogen, cylinders have a variety of disadvantages.

Namely, nitrogen cylinders represent an ongoing cost that can add up over time. In addition, cylinders can take up a lot of space in a warehouse and, at times, may take up more space than at other times. Finding space for nitrogen cylinders can be a challenge. In addition, nitrogen cylinders can experience supply chain problems. At times, finding enough cylinders to continue production can be a challenge.

The alternative to nitrogen cylinders is a nitrogen generator. Nitrogen generators are preferable for businesses with an ongoing need for nitrogen. Compared to cylinders, nitrogen generators represent a higher upfront cost, but a lower one spread out over time. Once the purchase has been made, running and maintaining a generator costs relatively low.

In addition, generators can produce limitless and reliable amounts of nitrogen. Generators often take up less space than cylinders and never encounter the same supply chain problems that cylinders experience. Nitrogen generators are even more eco-friendly than cylinders because cylinders rely on fossil fuel-burning vehicles for transportation.

Need a Nitrogen Generator? On Site Gas Can Help

On Site Gas produces durable nitrogen generators. For more information about obtaining a nitrogen generator for your industrial wine facility, contact On Site Gas for a quote. We offer reputable gas generators for food and beverage preservation businesses, healthcare settings, and more.

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Nitrogen Tank Blanketing: What Is It And What Is The Purpose Of N2 Blanketing?

Nitrogen blanketing is a common manufacturing process that creates safe storage for certain liquids. Depending on what’s being stored in the container, nitrogen blanketing can prevent the stored item from degrading or deteriorating over time. Nitrogen blanketing is often used for storage tanks, and therefore, is sometimes called tank blanketing or tank padding.

What is Nitrogen Blanketing?

Nitrogen blanketing is the process of filling a storage tank with nitrogen to stop the storage material (usually a liquid) from coming into contact with oxygen. It can potentially mitigate the explosive condition created by having oxygen in the tank, and also extends the product life of the storage material.

Where is Nitrogen Blanketing Used?

Nitrogen blanketing is used in many industries, including:

Why Is Nitrogen Blanketing Important?

Nitrogen maintains stable conditions for the product being stored in the container. Whether it’s preventing discoloration, explosion, polymerization, or another unwanted change, nitrogen stops the stored product from interacting with nitrogen. Other benefits of nitrogen blanketing include:

  • Reduced potential for an explosion
  • Less chance of corrosion, which can lead to improved equipment life
  • Less chance of degradation of the stored item
  • Increased service life for the storage container itself, which could otherwise degrade due to the presence of liquid and oxygen
  • Increased safety due to the reduction of oxygen in the storage tank

What Size Storage Tanks Are Eligible?

Storage tanks of all sizes, from very large to very small, can be used for nitrogen blanketing.

What Is the Nitrogen Blanketing Procedure?

There are multiple ways of making nitrogen blanketing work. Most businesses that require this kind of work to be done have a nitrogen blanketing system. One way is through the use of a blanketing regulator, which helps control the pressure inside the tank.

With this system, the valve is mounted on top of the storage tank, and gas is pushed into the tank until the pressure inside the tank reaches a pre-determined point. When the pressure inside the tank is correct, the regulator stops the gas from entering the tank. Ultimately, the nitrogen blanket is created by decreasing the concentration of oxygen in the tank and increasing the amount of nitrogen.

What’s the Best Way to Get Nitrogen for Nitrogen Blanketing?

Nitrogen blanketing is an important storage practice in a variety of industries. If your business uses nitrogen blanketing as a method of storing chemicals, food products, or something else, your business will need a regular supply of nitrogen. There are multiple ways to acquire nitrogen for nitrogen blanketing.

Nitrogen Storage Tanks

Nitrogen storage tanks are a common source of nitrogen for businesses that use nitrogen periodically. While nitrogen storage tanks are serviceable for businesses that only need a small, infrequent nitrogen supply, there are many downsides to using nitrogen storage tanks for a constant and regular supply of nitrogen.

Namely, nitrogen storage tanks are subject to problems with supply and delivery. They require a lot of space to store, and shipments of tanks can sometimes be delayed due to weather, supply chain issues, and more. Maintaining a regular supply of nitrogen storage tanks can be administratively and logistically challenging. In addition, nitrogen storage tanks represent an ongoing cost that can add up over time.

Nitrogen Generator

A nitrogen generator is a good solution for a business that requires a regular supply of nitrogen for its operations. While a nitrogen generator does represent an upfront one-time cost, this cost is far less than the ongoing costs of nitrogen storage tanks. In addition, the nitrogen generator is always available to supply nitrogen, whereas nitrogen tanks are subject to availability.

Once the generator is purchased, the only ongoing costs associated with the generator are the maintenance and power to run the generator. This can save your business money over time. With a nitrogen generator on hand, your business will enjoy a steady supply of nitrogen for its business purposes year-round.

Need a Nitrogen Generator? Get Yours from a Reputable Manufacturer

A well-constructed, well-designed nitrogen generator can help your business save money and can also keep your business functioning. To purchase your nitrogen generator, contact On Site Gas. We design and build nitrogen generators that provide safe, continuous nitrogen gas for a variety of applications including nitrogen blanketing. Our reliable generators are designed to last.

To learn more about nitrogen generators for your business, see our FAQ page or contact us.

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