Got your liquid gases? Want mixed gases? We do the bit in the middle….

Even those without a day-to-day technical knowledge of Gas Distribution Systems can appreciate what a high-pressure gas cylinder is. They may not know the complexities, dangers and exact background of what it is and how it is produced and exactly what high pressure really means, but most people have seen one somewhere. They are very common in pubs, bars and restaurants. Fast food restaurants and swimming pools and of course most manufacturing facilities. People also see smaller units in their homes for oxygen for example and more recently now, many have a greater understanding of the importance of oxygen cylinders in hospitals.

Gas cylinders are of course available in many different sizes and weights and are filled with all sorts of gases and increasingly, all sorts of gas mixtures. Mixtures of CO₂, Nitrogen and sometimes Oxygen for the beer, beverage and food packing applications. Mixtures of CO₂, Argon, Helium and hydrogen for fabrication applications, welding, heat treatment. Mixtures of Helium for blowing up balloons and leak detection in pipelines.  Just a few examples of the many common everyday uses for gas cylinders or bottles as they are sometimes referred to.

For those businesses that begin small and evolve organically, industrial gas cylinders are a relatively simple starting point to early production. They are convenient to begin with and readily available from several of sources. And the chances are that the mix you need is already a common mixture supplied to many others. But as businesses grow, they may be fortunate to reach a point where gas cylinders don’t quite fulfil their new needs. And this can be for a few obvious reasons.

• Cost is possibly the first factor users begin to question. With gas cylinders you generally pay for the gas inside the cylinder of course. But there are also costs associated with rental of the cylinders all the time you have them. There are most commonly charges associated with delivery of the cylinders and the removal of spent cylinders and so on. And you need to know that you have available to you back-up cylinders and a steady supply so that you don’t run out.
• Convenience is possibly the next factor to wrestle with. There is the convenience of matching gas cylinder orders against production demand or need. There is the convenience of handling each gas cylinder and getting each cylinder to its point of use. And there is the convenience of trying to control the safety aspects of handling, connecting and disconnecting. The cylinders are heavy, they must not be dropped or damaged, they must be secured, and handlers should have some basic training in these aspects.
• Choice is also a significant factor. Whilst there are many gas cylinder suppliers, they have their own restrictions, and it is not always possible to obtain the exact mix you need. And sometimes if you can get hold of it, you cannot always get hold of it without paying a premium.
• Continuity also is an issue. Being able to continue to grow the business using gas cylinders as the source can simply become too difficult, too cumbersome and too labour intensive. The process of supplying cylinders can begin to be a bigger issue than other, more important parts of the process.

These factors are greatly over- simplified of course, but, whatever the combination of events or reasons, as gas demand increases, there will be a point at which it becomes interesting to consider being supplied with liquid gases, delivered into your liquid gas tanks. There are again several suppliers that can deliver liquid gas supplies reliably.

Liquid gas supplies are generally delivered on a pre-determined delivery schedule in much larger volumes directly into liquid tank storage systems.

The cost basis is quite different from cylinder delivery of course, so this needs to be understood, however the unit costs for gases is much less, the more you use. And importantly a lot of the pressures mentioned earlier become much easier for the end user. Often the liquid tanks are away from the main factory or process and much more clearly the responsibility of the gas supplier. So, if the costs stack up for you, liquid gas supplies take a lot of the day-to-day handling away from the end user.

Of course, that still leaves one or two other factors such as choice and continuity to contend with.  But having a liquid gas supply of each gas available makes those things easier too.

Once you have your liquid supplies in place, they are either supplied to the plant as they are. Or they can be mixed together, to create the exact mix or mixtures you need for your process.

This is where a Gas Mixer from BSL Gas Technologies Ltd comes in to play to help with continuity and choice.

• Mixed gas choice – Unlike with premixed gases in cylinders, the BSL Gas Mixer provides the opportunity to choose the gas mix needed for the process. The process can be presented with a pre-set gas mixer or with an adjustable mixer. Some gas mixtures are common. In the beverage/beer industry for example 30% CO2 in nitrogen and 60% CO2 in nitrogen are mixes you can often obtain in cylinder format. 

Anything else is very difficult to obtain cost effectively. But the BSL Gas Mixer will give you a much wider range to choose from. If you need anything between 20% and 80% CO2 in nitrogen for your beers for example, the gas mixing valves will happily provide this, and the mixer cost is not affected by the mix required.

The benefit of a BSL pre-set gas mixer is that there is great control over the process integrity. Whilst even a BSL pre-set gas mixer can be adjusted. It is deliberately difficult for unauthorized changes to be made. There are often tamper evident labels over the gas mixing valves also.

The benefit of a BSL adjustable gas mixer is that the end user can change the mix as they desire to meet different process demands. Food packing companies for example often ask for adjustable gas mixers for different packed products, although even in this situation often a food packing plant packs a range of similar products with similar mixed gas requirements.

And when designing a process plant, how you deliver mixed gas variation but at the same time still keeping control over the integrity of that installation can be accomplished using BSL Gas Mixing modules in a clever way. BSL can help you to figure this out exactly.

• Continuity and growth of the process – This is an important element of any mixed gas distribution system. Whilst there will be a predictable flow requirement to begin with, it is often more difficult to predict future growth and demand. This part of the planning process is difficult because it has a knock- on affect to any equipment installed including the pipelines, valves and regulators, liquid tanks and the gas mixer also. 

With liquid gas supplies, tank sizes can be increased over time and additional pipelines can be added from them to the process as needs require it. The BSL gas mixer can also be easily upgraded. 

BSL have developed a very modular approach to designing gas mixers. Deliberately simple, it is possible to add mixing valve modules into existing gas mixing panels. And it is equally easy to add mixing panel modules to work alongside existing mixing panel modules.

That way you can install BSL mixing panels equipment as you require it. No need to purchase something much bigger now, for a guessed much bigger flow later. It is very common for our customers to simply extend their installations, when they feel they need to.

BSL Gas Technologies Ltd have been designing and making Gas Mixers and Gas Analysers and Gas handling equipment for more than 30 years. A significant leap forward in BSL designs was our ability to take the electrics and buffer tanks out of the system for you. Simplifying installations, reducing the number of things that can fail and making systems very easy to look after. And we know we have been very successful at that by the number of imitators we have.

The simplest of systems take your pure gases, vaporize them into gases or they may already be gases if they are from cylinders or MCP, and provide a regulates and protected supply to feed a BSL gas Mixer. The mixer in turn, mixes the gases proportionally as a pre-set mixture or as an adjustable mixer to give you the mixed gases you need.

If you’re interested in our products or need help with any of your manufacturing and engineering needs, please get in touch with us today. Even if you can’t find what you’re looking for on our website, we can still help you with your project. Simply give us a call or send us an email with your requirements or brief and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. 

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