Oxygen molecules are separated from the other molecules within a clean, dry compressed air stream. Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) is a simple, reliable and cost-effective technology that enables continuous, high-capacity oxygen flow at the desired level of purity (90% to 95%). Adsorption happens when atoms, ions or molecules from a substance (compressed air in this case) adhere to a surface of an adsorbent. PSA technology isolates oxygen molecules from other molecules (nitrogen, CO2, water vapor and trace gases) to leave high purity oxygen at the outlet of the generator. The process takes place in two separate pressure vessels (tower A and tower B), each filled with a carbon molecular sieve, that switch between a separation process and a regeneration process.

How a Nitrogen generator works

Nitrogen molecules are separated from other molecules within a clean, dry compressed air stream. Pressure Swing Adsorption technology is used here as well, to isolate nitrogen molecules from other molecules in compressed air to leave nitrogen at the desired purity at the outlet of the Nitrogen plant. For some applications, such as tire inflation and fire prevention, relatively low purity levels (between 90% and 97%) are required. Other applications, such as food/beverage processing and plastic molding, require higher levels of purity (from 97% to 99.999%).

RO and DI filters use different physical reactions to clean water. Reverse Osmosis (RO) is used to partially clean-up tap water to make it roughly 90% to 99% pure. Deionization (DI) filters exchange positive hydrogen and negative hydroxyl molecules for positive and negative contaminant molecules in water. DI filtering and other processes are sometimes referred to as "water polishing."