An oxygen concentrator is a medical device that concentrates oxygen from ambient air. Atmospheric air has about 78 per cent nitrogen and 21 per cent oxygen, with other gases making up the remaining 1 per cent. The oxygen concentrator takes in this air, filters it through a sieve, releases the nitrogen back into the air, and works on the remaining oxygen. It's only a little bigger than a computer monitor, yet as cases surge and with oxygen cylinders in short supply across several states, the concentrator is among the most sought after devices for oxygen therapy, especially among patients in home isolation and for hospitals running out of oxygen.
This oxygen, compressed and dispensed through a cannula, is 90-95 per cent pure. A pressure valve in concentrators helps regulate supply, ranging from 1-10 litres per minute. According to a 2015 report by the WHO, concentrators are designed for continuous operation and can produce oxygen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for up to 5 years or more. And it can be called in many different ways like Household Oxygen Concentrator, Medical Oxygen Concentrator, Blood Oxygen Probe, Disposable Blood Oxygen Probe and Repetitive Blood Oxygen Probe.
Except for oxygen, hydrogen can be account for another important gas in the world. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe, although in its gaseous state it does not naturally occur on Earth and must be manufactured. In industry, H2(g) is produced on a large scale by a process called steam reforming, to separate carbon and hydrogen atoms from hydrocarbon fuels. Hydrogen is used in the laboratory for a variety of lab applications such as Gas Chromatography (GC) as fuel or carrier gas and ICP-MS as a collision gas, in the chemical industry to synthesise ammonia, cyclohexane and methanol and in the food industry for hydrogenation of oils to form fats.
Significant research and development has afforded safer, greener, more efficient and cost-effective means of generating on-demand hydrogen gas for laboratory, manufacturing and industrial applications. Safety has improved so much that Hydrogen gas is now being used in some transport vehicles as a clean ‘pollution-free’ fuel with the gas being generated from water with the by-product of its combustion being water.
Hydrogen energy produced by hydrogen generator or brown gas generator is being considered as one of the alternatives to the future energy options and a promising fuel source for the 21st century cars. Hydrogen is a highly flammable material and hence generates combustible materials which can potentially power gasoline and diesel engines. Due to high porosity, small pore size and large SVR, electrospun nanofibers exhibit photocatalytic activity in splitting of water/moisture for generation of more hydrogen as well as they provide very high hydrogen storage capacity. For example, CNFs and CNTs, as well as some core-shell nanocomposite fibers such as carbon-coated Lithium Nitride (Li3N) NFs, PMMA/ammonia borane NFs and polystyrene/ammonia borane NFs with tailored pore size and morphologies have revealed very high hydrogen storage capacity.
Just like oxygen concentrator, there are also different kinds of callings for hydrogen generator such as Portable Hydrogen Generator, Home Hydrogen Generator and Rich Hydrogen Water Cup.
