Gases of many sorts are useful for many applications across the United States, and there are also industries built around providing it, shipping it, and ensuring that gas is pure enough for its intended purpose. Unfortunately, leaks or impurities may sometimes impair the purity and function of specialty gas, even natural gas. This means that calibration gases may be used to test suspected gas of any faults, and this can save a workforce time and money by diagnosing the problem early and trading in the faulty gas. Natural gas standards can be maintained this way, and these natural gas standards may be an industry standard. These natural gas standards are critical since the United States makes generous use of natural gas as a power source, and those natural gas standards may help prevent damage to utilities due to rough and impure gas being used. What else is there to know about gas in the workplace? When is it time to order calibration gas cylinders?
Natural Gas
One of the fossil fuels, natural gas is highly efficient and is often considered a relatively low-emission alternative to coal and oil for today’s power needs. This is not truly a “clean energy” source like solar and wind farms, but solar and wind are still developing, and for the time being, natural gas is often the most practical choice for large-scale energy needs. Natural gas is extracted from the wilds when drilling machinery fractures (or “fracks”) the ground, and the natural gas issues from that fault. The gas is then collected, refined, and added to public utilities that make use of it. Many American homes are powered partially or completely with natural gas, and some household appliances are powered with it, too. One may take a gas-powered stove in the kitchen as an example of this. In some other industries, meanwhile, specialty gases of very high purifies are used instead, and this is a big business.
Specialty Gases Today
The market for various specialty gases is robust, and worldwide sales are growing. In fact, it is believed that the world’s specialty gas market may reach a value of $14 billion or more by the year 2026, and there are good reasons why gas is being used even more. According to Grand View Research, improving yields, cost reduction, and performance optimization are likely to drive the specialty gas market to ever-increasing sales from 2014 to 2020. This market is divided into six particular categories for its applications: electronics and semi-conductors, refrigeration, analytical and calibration use, medical and healthcare use, manufacturing and all others as the sixth category. Different work sites call for different particular gases.
The gases themselves are expected to be extremely pure so that they can do their job correctly, and very high standards are set for this industry. Today’s specialty gases range in their grade of purity, but all grades are over 99% pure. For example, high grade gas is 99.998% pure at minimum to ultra-high purity at 99.999% all the way to research grade gas (99.9999% pure at minimum). Some canisters contain pure gases, and others contain mixed gases. In either case, purity is essential, and leaks or impurities in the container may ruin performance. But there are ways to know if this gas is compromised.
This is where calibration gas is used. Calibration gas is carefully made to have an extremely high purity, and it is used as a metric against which other gas canisters in the workplace are compared. These canisters are used only for that purpose, and are not actually used in factories or elsewhere for ordinary work. Employees who work with gas may suspect that their gas canisters are faulty somehow, so they need a comparison to be done. The manager will reach out to calibration gas providers, and once the calibration gas canister arrives, the suspected gas canister may be compared with it (the gases are used in the same application and the results are compared). Since the calibration gas is (by design) a known quantity, any irregularities are the fault of the other gas canister, and this alerts the workers of the need to replace it. A new gas canister may be ordered from the manufacturer, and the faulty one may be sent back.
