Oxygen Concentrator - Industrial Oxygen Concentrators

Industrial Oxygen Concentrators

Industrial processes may use much higher pressures and flows than medical units. To meet that need, another process, called vacuum swing adsorption (VSA), has been developed by the Air Products company. This process uses a single low pressure blower and a valve that reverses the flow through the blower so that the regeneration phase occurs under a vacuum. Generators using this process are being marketed to the aquaculture industry. Industrial oxygen concentrators are often available in a much wider range of capacities than medical concentrators.

Industrial oxygen concentrators are sometimes referred to as oxygen generators within the oxygen and ozone industries to distinguish them from medical oxygen concentrators. The distinction is used in an attempt to clarify that industrial oxygen concentrators are not approved medical devices by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and they are not suitable for use as bedside medical concentrators. However, applying the oxygen generator nomenclature can lead to confusion. The term, oxygen generator, is a misnomer in that the oxygen is not generated as it is with a chemical oxygen generator, but rather it is concentrated from the air.

The use of the oxygen generator terminology can also be a problem in shipping in the wake of the crash of ValuJet Flight 592. Non-medical oxygen concentrators can be used as a feed gas to a medical oxygen system, such as the oxygen system in a hospital, though governmental approval is required, such as by the FDA, and additional filtering is generally required.