Nitrogen is a versatile gas used in food freezing and chilling, heat treating metals, providing inert atmospheres for chemicals and electronics industries

Nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and nonflammable gas which makes up 78% of our atmosphere. Yet this common and versatile gas also has an incredible range of industrial applications. Nitrogen in liquid form can be used to chill, freeze, and package many of our favorite foods and beverages. Nitrogen in gaseous form can be used in flammable furnace atmospheres for metal heat treatment or for inerting chemical reactors. Nitrogen is even indispensable to the fabrication of the semiconductor devices that drive our increasingly digital world.

Messer’s high purity nitrogen, available via bulk truck delivery, pipeline, or on-site production system, is used across a broad variety of industries. Our team has experience working with some of the most challenging applications around.

What are safety hazards associated when working with liquid or gaseous nitrogen?

Hazards associated when working with liquid or gaseous nitrogen include oxygen deficiency and asphyxiation, cryogenic burns, pressure build-up, and material embrittlement. One critical safeguard when working with nitrogen is the use of oxygen monitors to detect an oxygen deficient atmosphere.

Safety is a core value and embedded in everything we do at Messer. We are committed to the safe use of our products and set working standards that protect the safety and health of our customers, our people, and our communities. Here are some resources to find out more information on nitrogen safety:

Why Use Messer for Your Nitrogen Applications?

Across all of these industrial applications, we support our customers with a robust network of production facilities, a nation-wide distribution fleet, and advanced equipment solutions. We provide:

Over 120 years of proven experience in the safe, dependable production and delivery of nitrogen and other industrial gases.
Innovative, turnkey equipment solutions that help improve safety, efficiency, and throughput while reducing labor and carbon footprint.
Deep understanding of industry-specific standards earned from working on hundreds of technical industrial gas projects freeing you to focus on other priorities.

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Liquid Nitrogen Specifications

Liquid Nitrogen Specifications

Do you need additional specifications? No problem. Simply Contact Us.

“We increased production from 4,500 lb/hr average production to rates to 6,600 lb/hr, with peaks of up to 8,000 lb/hr. These production increases help give us the flexibility to respond to demand increases and tight labor markets.”

Wesley Simpson, Plant Manager, Tyson Foods

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“With the support of Messer’s engineering team and industry expertise, we’ve been able to run these [spiral] freezers not only more efficiently to get more throughput, but also at a lower cost per pound while maintaining quality.”

Vince Nasti, VP of Operations, Nation Pizza & Foods, LLC

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“We can run at full capacity and at the same time shorten our workday. Employees originally assigned to the freezer line have been repurposed to preparation… Our partnership with Messer goes back to my early days in the business, if we run into a problem, we contact Messer and get prompt support.”

Gianni Guglielmetti, Pierino president and Chief Operating Officer, Pierino Frozen Foods, Inc.

Technologies and Applications Using Nitrogen

Beverage

Undercover gassing with beverage-grade nitrogen removes oxygen from can or bottle headspace to help preserve product quality.

Liquid nitrogen dosing improves rigidity to enable more efficient polymer use by pressurizing non-carbonated beverage containers.

Biopharmaceutical

Pharmacopoeia-compliant nitrogen is used in applications like inerting, volatile organic compound (VOC) abatement, and reaction cooling.

Messer’s Ice-Fog technology uses sterile liquid nitrogen-based lyophilization (the technical term for freeze-drying) to extend the useful life of perishable pharmaceuticals.

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Chemical

Liquid nitrogen is widely used in chemical processing operations. Messer’s CRYOSOLV™ Cryocondensation System helps safely recover volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and reuse (or resell) the nitrogen gas for inerting, purging, and blanketing.

Messer’s CRYOCONTROL™ system offers a high-efficiency, more environmentally friendly alternative for low-temperature batch cooling.

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Electronics

Ultrahigh-purity nitrogen is used to cool and purge semiconductor and electronics manufacturing systems, making it a key input in addition to rare and specialty gases.

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Food

Nitrogen-based freezing systems (including spiral, impingement, and wave impingement designs) can boost throughput and efficiency while reducing labor needs.

Nitrogen-based bottom injection chilling systems help improve batch-to-batch consistency for foods like ground meat, poultry, seafood, and bakery dough (and even achieve cutting-edge efficiency with the Messer KRYOJECTOR®).

By switching to nitrogen as a cryogen, food processors can also end their dependence on the volatile CO₂ supply to improve supply chain resilience.

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Manufacturing & Industrial Processes

Nitrogen supports clean, high-quality cuts in laser cutting applications by preventing oxidation and dross formation, while also playing a role in thermal coating processes to improve surface performance.

Controlled nitrogen cooling helps regulate die and profile temperatures in aluminum extrusion, enhancing surface quality, reducing scrap, and increasing output efficiency.

Liquid nitrogen enables precise cryogenic cleaning and cryogrinding of plastics, improving throughput and process control while lowering energy consumption.

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Metal Manufacturing

Nitrogen is widely used in controlled-atmosphere systems for metal powder production and sintering, helping ensure consistent quality and efficiency in advanced manufacturing.

Messer’s unique Sintering Atmosphere Control System provides comprehensive control throughout the sintering process, offering granular visibility of critical parameters such as oxygen and carbon potential.

Precise atmosphere control systems help improve efficiency and throughput for annealing processes, while high-speed nitrogen gas injection can enhance efficiency for metal hardening.

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Oil & Gas

Nitrogen is used in energized fracturing to enhance oil and gas well production while reducing fluid requirements and formation damage.

Nitrogen services help reduce downtime and improve safety during pipeline construction and plant turnarounds to provide faster, more efficient restarts.

Nitrogen plays a critical role in maintaining safe and efficient refinery operations, from purging and inerting systems to supporting continuous process reliability.

Nitrogen Safety with Messer

Nitrogen Safety with Messer

Safety is a core value at Messer. This video shows you how to safely work with nitrogen.

Watch nitrogen safety video

Industrial Nitrogen Supply Options

Industrial Nitrogen Supply Options

Bulk Trucks
On-Site
Pipeline

Featured Nitrogen Resources

Featured Nitrogen Resources

See our whitepapers, datasheets, case studies and more.

Visit our Resource Library

Watch "Gases for Life" video

Any questions?

Ask our team. We’re here to help.