Laboratory gas generators deliver purified gas directly to specific instruments in the laboratory including gas chromatographs and environmental chambers, to name a few. Various systems are available in the market for different gases including hydrogen and nitrogen.
While up-front costs of gas generators are high, they are considerably safer compared to gas cylinders as they limit the amount of flammable and compressed in the lab. Replacing gas cylinders with gas generators can lead to increased convenience and a decrease in overall laboratory costs.
Though used predominantly for analytical applications like gas chromatography, gas generators also keep laboratories disinfected and sterilized. This is achieved by delivering gases including chlorine dioxide, ethylene oxide, and vaporized hydrogen peroxide for fast and robust surface disinfection and sterilization compared to manual cleaning.
Altogether, gas generators are a valuable addition to a laboratory. There are many factors to consider when choosing which gas supply option is best for your laboratory and application:
- What type of gas do you require for your application?
- What gas purity do you require?
- Which analytical instrument will the generator be paired with and is it compatible?
- How much space will the gas generator take up?
- Does the generator meet all relevant regulations (CSA/ETC, EC, EMC, etc.)?
Download this resource guide to learn more about gas generators, why they are a safe choice, and how to choose the right option for your laboratory’s workflows and needs.
LM-Gas Gen - Updated Refresh - Final
? Questions to Ask When Buying a Gas Generator
? Why Lab Gas Generators Are a Safe Choice
? How to Prolong the Lifespan of Your Gas Generator
? Helium Shortage 4.0: How to Adapt
? Hydrogen and Nitrogen Gas Generators in
GC-MS and LC-MS
GAS GENERATORS
RESOURCE GUIDE
Questions to Ask When Buying Gas Generators
There are many factors to consider when choosing which gas supply option is best for your laboratory and application
by Lab Manager
Gas generators deliver particular gases to specific instruments in the laboratory. Systems are available for many different gases including hydrogen and nitrogen. Though the up-front costs of gas generators can be high, replacing your gas cylin- ders with a gas generator can lead to increased convenience and decreases in overall costs. Gas generators are also safer
as they limit the amount of flammable and compressed gas in your lab. For a list of gas generator manufacturers, see our on- line directory: LabManager.com/gasgenerator-manufacturers
6 Questions to Ask When Buying a Gas Generator or Specialty Gases:
Thhat type of gas do you require for your application?
Thill you require more than one type of gas?
Thhat gas purity do you require?
Thhich analytical instrument will the generator be paired with and is it compatible?
How much space will the gas generator take up in your lab?
Thhat validation testing does the manufacturer perform before delivery?
Other Applications
In addition to being used with analytical equipment, a gas generator may be used for other applications. For example, in a lab that deals with biohazardous substances, gas-such as chlorine dioxide or ethylene oxide-or vapor-such as vaporized hydrogen peroxide-can be used for disinfection and sterilization.
Green Considerations
Apart from reducing a lab's carbon footprint by eliminating frequent deliveries of gas cylinders and reducing waste by only supplying the amount of gas a lab needs, today's gas generators have a number of features that help reduce their environmental impact. These features include technology that helps make modern gas generators more efficient, reduc- ing both monetary and environmental costs.
Gas Generators Resource Guide
Why Lab Gas Generators Are a Safe Choice
Is it time to toss the tank?
By Mike May, PhD
Many lab devices-including a gas chromatograph, ion mobility spectrometer, and so on-require an ongoing supply of gas. A laboratory gas generator creates a specific kind of gas, such as hydrogen or nitrogen, and eliminates the need for compressed gas tanks, which must be replaced when empty.
A gas generator can be a safer alternative and can be used in many ways-beyond supporting analytical instruments.
Instead of storing a dangerous gas in a tank, a generator makes the gas as needed. Consider hydrogen. It's highly combustible, which creates the potential for a fire or explosion. Rather than putting a high volume of hydrogen under pressure in a tank in a lab, a hydrogen gas generator holds very little gas. Still,
a gas generator needs safety features, because any gas under pressure poses a potential danger.
Safe production
A manufacturer can add various safety features to a gas generator. Some generators, for example, include sensors that monitor and control the pressure of the gas. Then, if a leak occurs, the generator shuts down automatically, which limits the amount of gas that is released.
For added safety, a gas generator might use ventilation tech- nology that prevents gas from building up, even during a leak.
Such technology can also be designed to sound an alarm and shut down a generator if needed.
Beyond an explosion or fire, the kind of gas in a tank might create other safety hazards. For instance, a nitrogen leak can deplete the oxygen in a lab. A nitrogen gas generator, though, can be designed to produce only as much gas as an instrument requires, which reduces the risk to lab personnel.
Keeping a lab clean
In addition to being used with analytical equipment, a gas generator may be used for other applications. For example, in a lab that deals with biohazardous substances, gas-such as chlorine dioxide or ethylene oxide-or vapor-such as va- porized hydrogen peroxide-can be used for disinfection and sterilization. "Hand decontamination of laboratory equipment is very labor-intensive, can result in equipment damage, and is prone to error," says Chris Manuel, associate director of the Office of Laboratory Animal Resources at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. "Handsfree disinfec- tion/sterilization of equipment by gas or vapor gets where the human hand cannot spray disinfectant or reach."
According to Manuel, the main drawback to creating the necessary gas with a generator is the upfront cost of the gen- erator, as well as service contracts. He adds that "the access restrictions and safety requirements of biohazardous work often require dedicated infrastructure." By creating a place where a gas generator gets used by multiple scientists, though, "the upfront cost and maintenance become more manage- able," Manuel says.
The particular application often determines the best type of gas supply for the lab. However, regardless of the application, scientists should consider safety features when purchasing a generator to keep lab processes as safe as possible.
Gas Generators Resource Guide
How to Prolong the Lifespan
of Your Gas Generator
Regularly changing filters and maintaining consistent operating temperature and humidity are critical
by Andy Tay, PhD
Commonly used instruments such as gas chromato-
graph-mass spectrometers (GC-MS), electron microscopes, and gas analyzers require a reliable source of clean, dry gas for optimal function. High-pressure cylinders are tradition- ally used to supply laboratory gases, but there are safety hazards associated with handling and storage.
Gas generators are considered a safer alternative, and they can provide various types of gas including nitrogen, hydro- gen, and zero air at desirable compression, flow rates, and operating temperature. They provide an uninterrupted gas supply, and unlike pressurized cylinders or tanks, do not have to be replaced once the gas runs out. Below are some tips to prolong the lifespan of your lab gas generators.
Regularly change your filters
Lab gas generators purify nitrogen gas from atmospheric air by filtering it through membrane filters to remove water vapor and particulates while using activated carbon as molecular
sieves to remove oxygen. Hydrogen gas is purified through electrolysis of water using a metallic electrode or ionomeric proton exchange membrane (PEM).
A PEM membrane allows hydrogen ions or protons to flow through, but not the resultant hydrogen and oxygen gas- es generated from water splitting. Hydrogen gas is finally
extracted and purified by flowing the resultant gases through a series of membranes, desiccants, and activated carbon. De- ionized water should be used to extend the longevity of PEM and gas generators.
As membrane filters are crucial to generating pure gases, it is recommended that they are inspected on a regular basis, depending on how frequently gases have to be generated and at what volume. Most manufacturers and service providers are able to recommend a maintenance schedule.
Maintain consistent operating temperature and humidity
Most lab generators are designed to work between 10-35°C. Temperatures outside this range may lead to increased pres- sure. To ensure that the operating temperature is kept in the recommended range, adequate airflow should be maintained around the generator to facilitate good ventilation. The vents should not be obstructed so that waste gases that are generat- ed can be removed without any buildup of internal pressure. The gas generator should also be placed away from direct sunlight and in an air-conditioned room.
Gas generators are also designed to work at an appropriate humidity. Thhen the humidity of atmospheric air is too high, it means that the various filter mechanisms such as desiccants have to work extra hard to remove water vapor. Users can use a hy- grometer to check for humidity or place the gas generators in an air-conditioned room so that the air humidity is always kept low.
Gas Generators Resource Guide
Gas Generators Resource Guide
Compared to pressurized gas cylinders, gas generators have distinct advantages, such as being safer to use, easier to main- tain, and cheaper. They provide uninterrupted gas supply and less batch-to-batch variation in gas quality for reproducible data collection. Simple maintenance, such as regular filter changes, can prolong the life of your gas generator.
Choosing
the Right Gas Generator for Your Laboratory
Key factors to consider
The purchase of a gas generator should be considered an investment, as it will serve your laboratory for many years. The right gas generator can provide a reliable, safe, low cost,
maintenance-free supply of highly purified gas with a minimum of operator interaction. It is important to consider the following factors when selecting a gas generator for your lab.
How to find a gas generator that will meet your laboratory's needs:
Choosing the Right Gas Generator for Your Laboratory
Key factors to consider
Lab Manager 5
The purchase of a gas generator should be considered an investment, as it will serve your laboratory for many years. The right gas generator can provide a reliable, safe, low cost, maintenance-free supply of highly purified gas with minimal operator interaction. It is important to consider many factors when selecting a gas generator for your lab.
Download the full infographic, compliments of Lab Manager
Helium Shortage 4.0: How to Adapt
As supply lines become strained, consumers may need to ration their helium supply or find alternative options
by Ian Black, MSComm, MSc and Scott D. Hanton, PhD
Thanks to a convergence of several factors, many research labs around the world find themselves in yet another helium shortage, the fourth in the last 20 years. A critical material for scientific research, space travel, and medical testing, this ele- mental gas is a non-renewable resource and, unfortunately, in short supply. This shortage is caused by a handful of overlap- ping events that have been worsened by the current conflict in Ukraine and it seems unlikely that the shortage will get better for at least several more months. Under these circumstances, lab managers and industry leaders need to take steps to wisely use their current supply of helium.
Why we need helium
The two biggest needs for helium in the lab environment are as a cryogenic liquid for superconducting magnets, most no- tably in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instruments, and as a carrier gas for gas chromatography (GC) experiments.
For the NMR instruments, cooling to liquid helium tempera- tures is required for the instrument to function. Tharming
of the magnet can lead to a quench event, which will render the instrument useless and can cause significant (and expen- sive) damage.
For GC experiments, the ease of use of helium and its inher- ent safety provides a high-performing and relatively low-cost carrier gas (prior to the shortage). Since helium has been the carrier gas of choice for GC experiments for decades, most of the historical methods with long-lasting trend data have been produced using helium and most gas chromatographers were trained on instruments using helium.
The current state of helium
Referred to as shortage 4.0 by Phil Kornbluth, a helium indus- try consultant, the current drop in the supply of helium is not caused by one single factor, but rather by a mixture of several. The first major contributor is the unplanned shutdown at the Cliffside crude helium enrichment plant, which was caused by an unexpected leak that occurred in mid-January. The facility, operated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), processes raw helium gas collected from the Bush Dome reservoir in Texas. The enrichment plant typically provides roughly 14.2 million cubic meters of helium per year and this temporary loss has affected many helium suppliers across
the country.
Ordinarily, the temporary shutdown of Cliffside wouldn't be so detrimental as to lead to a global shortage, but it came at a time when other helium suppliers were suffering from disrup- tions to production. The new natural gas processing plant at Amur in Russia suffered from a fire in October 2021, as well as a later explosion in January. As a result, the Amur plant has been shut down indefinitely and therefore cannot provide the 49 million cubic meters of helium per year that was estimated.
Additionally, two of the three helium-producing liquefied natural gas plants in Qatar were shut down for scheduled maintenance in February. Thhile these facilities should be back to full production shortly, if they aren't already, their shutdown has added to the depletion of helium stockpiles. Finally, while it hasn't had an immediate impact on helium
Gas Generators Resource Guide
Gas Generators Resource Guide
production yet, the conflict in Ukraine has resulted in a faster depletion of gas in the region. All of which has caused many of the major helium suppliers to declare a "Force Majeure," and are being careful to ration their supply to customers.
What lab managers can do to address the shortage
There is little that lab managers can do about insufficient liquid helium for their NMR instruments. For facilities with multiple instruments, a wise course of action might be to take an instrument offline with a controlled quench. The benefit to doing this is the protection of a very valuable lab asset, but the downside is the absence of that tool in the capabilities
of the lab.
For GC users, there are other options besides shutting down the instruments. Alternate carrier gases like hydrogen or nitrogen have been implemented with success. Previous he- lium shortages caused new methods to be developed that can address most concerns around GC separation and detection. Hydrogen has the benefit of producing even faster separations than helium and can increase the performance of many GC methods. The key concern of shifting to hydrogen is lab safe- ty. Many of the safety risks can be mitigated using hydrogen generators, rather than cylinders of gas. The generators create the needed gas on demand, so no large volume of hydrogen is ever available to create a fire or explosion hazard. Thhile the costs of hydrogen generators are an extra expense for the lab, their cost may be a good investment based on the rising costs of helium cylinders and the scarcity of sustained supply.
An additional consideration for GC users is the need to rede- velop and potentially revalidate GC methods after the change over to hydrogen as a carrier gas. The time required to
complete the implementation of these new methods must also be considered in the decision to switch away from helium as a carrier gas. Another potential issue is that historical data from helium as a carrier gas won't match the retention times from experiments using hydrogen as a carrier gas. The impact on trend data and product quality testing must also be evaluated.
Moving forward
In the past, some industry and scientific communities have encouraged the recycling of helium to help alleviate the burden on the supply chain. Unfortunately, this isn't always a feasible option for smaller labs who will likely have to stick to rationing as best they can until either production rises again to meet demand, or demand drops enough to account for the delays in supply.
Eventually, both the BLM facility and the operations in Qatar will resume production and start to replenish supplies. How- ever, without the boost from Amur, it is likely that the helium supply will still struggle to meet the demand for a large part of 2022 and possibly into 2023. There is some good news on the horizon in the form of the cancellation of ExxonMobil's planned maintenance at their Shute Creek plant, which is a facility that accounts for more than 20 percent of the global helium supply. Thhile this development inspires cautious optimism, few experts expect the current shortage to end anytime soon. There is, fortunately, an expectation that the situation should gradually become less severe, barring any major changes. Regardless, it seems clear that the landscape around helium supply is going to be strained for the remain- der of this year.
Product Spotlight
Parker Lab Gas Generators are the gold standard for quality and reliability
Designed for a variety of analytical applications including LCMS, GC, FTIR, and NMR, these industry-leading gas generators offer price stability and a continuous supply of consistent purity, on-demand. Built for performance you can depend on; Parker lab gas generators eliminate the expense of high-pressure compressed gas cylinders while improving your lab's safety and productivity. All Parker gas generators exceed NFPA 50A & OSHA 1910.103 regulations and are the first gas generators to meet the toughest laboratory standards worldwide: CSA, UL, CE and IEC 1010. If you've been considering making
the switch from undependable, dangerous, bulky gas cylinders. A Parker gas generator is a safe, convenient, and inexpensive solution to handling and storing hydrogen cylinders.
LEARN MORE
Hydrogen and Nitrogen Gas Generators in GC-MS and
LC-MS
Both analytical methods require a reliable supply of highly purified gas, of one kind or another based on preference for the sake of variables such as efficiency, expense, and safety
by Brandoch Cook, PhD
The expanding roles of proteomics and metabolomics in precision medicine and drug discovery highlight the power of mass spectrom- etry (MS)-based techniques to identify, define, and quantify novel biomarkers, molecular interactions, and expression patterns. The popularity of these fields has consequently brought the associated technology to the individual laboratory both in terms of accessibility and cost. A prerequisite to an accurate analysis of the proteins in
a sample is thorough separation, which is most frequently accom- plished via gas chromatography (GC) or liquid chromatography (LC). Both methods require a reliable supply of highly purified gas, of one kind or another based on preference for the sake of variables such as efficiency, expense, and safety.
In GC, the mobile phase consists of a carrier gas through which the solute can move from the stationary phase. Several gases are appropriate-including hydrogen, nitrogen, and helium-but each
has intrinsic diffusivity and viscosity properties that make it more or less ideal as a carrier. The comparatively low diffusivity of nitrogen
impacts efficiency and therefore throughput, while the high viscosity of helium necessitates high inlet gas pressure and therefore longer separation columns. Additionally, although helium is atmospherically abundant, it is largely released as a by-product of commercial natural gas exploration and dissipates rapidly upward into space unless purposely sequestered. As the Federal Helium Reserve curtails its operations, a worldwide shortage is becoming dire and its price is becoming dear, while nitrogen and hydrogen are all around us, all the time, for the taking.
Hydrogen also serves as a fuel gas for flame ionization detection in GC-MS. A small laboratory intermittently running a single GC-MS setup can often justify using a single, interchangeable hydrogen cylinder. In larger operations that dedicate significant space, time, and resources to multiple GC-MS devices running simultaneously, the use of cylinder gas requires concurrent employment of multiple bundled tanks. Such elaborate setups necessitate automatic mani- fold-based switching mechanisms. They are often subject to zoning laws and principles of common-sense self-preservation placing them outside the laboratory space, making them prone to leakage and oth- er disruptions that require the input of professional repair services. Bundling several hydrogen tanks under high pressure can be disas- trous because of the potential for explosion or rapid displacement of ambient oxygen and possible asphyxiation.
Operational costs even for one apparatus can add up quickly. For example, if a 100-liter hydrogen cylinder lasts 10 days and costs $200, then replacement costs alone will exceed $7,000 per year, without factoring in equipment rental and delivery. Moreover, supply is dis- rupted when a cylinder empties, potentially affecting experimental planning and results.
Hydrogen generators mitigate many problems with cylinder-based supplies. They retail from around $10,000 upwards, potentially realizing savings within a year of use, even to replace a single tank. Generators can run constantly, producing an uninterrupted and highly pure source of hydrogen, usually
Gas Generators Resource Guide
with minimal operational and repair costs beyond the continued use of an electrical outlet and a supply of deionized water. Additionally, they produce and store only small amounts of hydrogen at compara- tively low pressures, eliminating the catastrophic hazards associated with cylinders. Finally, a diminutive footprint allows them to be maintained within the laboratory space, often on or under benchtops.
Hydrogen generators function via water electrolysis or methanol-re- former processes, although most commercially available units for GC applications use electrolysis. The essential engine of the generator is an electrolysis cell, across which a constant voltage drives a reaction that removes electrons from water at the anode and adds them back to hydronium ions at the cathode across a proton exchange mem- brane. This membrane is approximately worth its weight in gold because it is most often composed of palladium, a transition metal listed on commodities exchanges. Additional use of a platinum cata- lyst increases the purity of the resulting H2 gas to levels above 99.999 percent, a baseline for many GC-MS applications.
If hydrogen generators can improve GC-MS in terms of cost, effi- ciency, and safety, then what about gas supply solutions for LC-MS? Although LC-MS is used to examine liquid or solid analytes, a gas source is required to eliminate solvent in a sample before it enters
Gas Generators Resource Guide
the detector from an ion source. Nitrogen most frequently serves this purpose and acts as an ionization aid in both electrospray and atmospheric pressure-based LC-MS setups, and serves as a curtain gas to enclose nebulized ions at high temperature as they enter the detector. In a nitrogen generator, N2 is purified from ambient air, which is compressed and subjected to pressure swing adsorption. This procedure functions on the principle that gases are attracted to adjacent surfaces under high pressure. After adsorption, swinging the system to low pressure releases the collected gas of interest. Because different surface materials have intrinsic attractions for different gases, constituent gases can be selected using different adsorbents.
Because the volumetric demands for nitrogen in LC-MS can exceed a cylinder per day with constant use, switching to a generator system can provide a savings benefit within less than a year after purchase, similar to a hydrogen generator for GC-MS. Nitrogen generators cost more, however, starting at around $15,000, and often come separate from attachments such as air compressors. There are several leading suppliers that offer a range of generators of both types, in ad- dition to zero air generators, which remove hydrocarbon impurities from ambient air. Zero air has common applications in both GC-MS and LC-MS, especially in the analysis of aromatic hydrocarbons.
Featured Manufacturer
Parker Hannifin Corporation is the recognized leader in filtration, purification and gas generation technology. Through significant investments in research and development, Parker's laboratory gas generators have become the industry benchmark for quality and reliability. Not only do these gas generators exceed NFPA 50A & OSHA 1910.103 reg- ulations and are the first gas generators to meet the toughest laboratory standards worldwide: CSA, UL, CE and IEC 1010, they empower scientists to generate laboratory gases on-demand. Parker's comprehensive range of gas gener- ation solutions meet laboratory requirements while delivering convenience, stability, reliability, and cost benefits you won't get using gas cylinders. With over 50,000 global installations, Parker is the lab gas generator supplier of choice.