Why there is the shortage of oxygen cylinder when oxygen is already present in nature?

 SHORTAGE OF OXYGEN CYLINDER

 

We all are well known with the Corona virus pandemic. During this, the patient have to isolate himself to prevent the spread of virus. Not just isolation, patients also needs some medical care to protect themselves. One of the most important element to save them is oxygen cylinder. Many patients are dying just because they are not getting the oxygen cylinder. Not only in India but in other countries also. Their is oxygen all around us. We are also breathing the oxygen. Despite having free oxygen in nature, there is a shortage of oxygen cylinder. Why? 

I will explain why the corona patient needs oxygen cylinder as well as why there is the shortage of oxygen cylinder.

This question is related to science as well as technology. The air we are surrounded, contain only 21% of oxygen. Left are pollutants like CO2, So2, etc which is about 1%. And the most part of surrounding contains Nitrogen. The air in Earth's atmosphere is made up of approximately 78% of nitrogen. 

The oxygen for industrial use it medical use is a different type of oxygen. Or we can say that it is prepared differently. And this process is known as fractional distillation.

WHAT IS A FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION?

Fractional distillation  is a process of  separation of mixtures based on the difference in their boiling points. So, oxygen and nitrogen can be separated by fractional distillation because they have different boiling points. 

 In the atmosphere, their are so many of gases with their different boiling point. The gases are treated with their boiling point. Means, they are separated step by step with different processes i.g. if we separate CO2 and other polutants from the air then we will separate them by using filters. And after that argan is separated by using another filter. At last, only oxygen and nitrogen have to be separated. To separate oxygen and nitrogen, we have to cool them. At the fixed freezing point, oxygen changes its state from gas to liquid. And it is easy to remove from the container. Finally, we get the liquid oxygen. If we cool oxygen at the freezing point of -183°C  then we can use oxygen as a rocket fuel and for combustion also. After all, liquid oxygen is compressed to store in a cylinder. Oxygen present in the cylinder is distilled or it is the purest form of oxygen. Not the almost pure form but it is 99% pure form of oxygen which is stored in the oxygen cylinder. 

During the surgery, treatment or any accident, human body is treated with this pure form of oxygen.  But this corona virus pandemic duration, patient is also treated with this form of oxygen. Human body needs more and more amount of oxygen but becomes weak and it is not possible for them to inhale the impure oxygen from the atmosphere.  So for them oxygen cylinder is very important. Their are many oxygen distillation plants to separate the different types or air molecules. 

In America, oxygen is transferred thought a pipeline in many different hospitals where the separate from a gas separation plant and oxygen is separated by doing many different methods. And the purest form is transferred to all the hospitals. They are also transferred in different industries for the industrial uses. 

Oxygen is used for combustion and rocket fuel, sometimes it is used by cooling, sometimes by boiling, etc. 

 

There are 2 types of oxygen cylinders. And they are D type and B type. D type cylinder contains 46.7 litres of liquidoxygen whereas B type cylinder contains 10.2 litres of liquid oxygen and gas capacity is 1200 litres. Both are having the same working pressure of 150 bar. 

There are many more methods for separating oxygen from the Earth's atmosphere. But fractional distillation is one of the most used method used in the world. 

You will get shocked by knowing this weird fact. When Thomas Alva Edison was dying, test tubes were places on his mouth after his death. This was because people wanted to capture his last breath. It is one of the most weird fact which is unknown to many of us. The reason is still a mystery. We don't know that why a person is capturing the last breath of a person or what is did with that test tube. It was a reason for controversy also. People started arguing. The question was that "Was there no vacuum in the tube"? Because their maybe some other molecules excepting his last breath. Was it pure or not? Was it really the last breath of Sir Thomas Alva Edison? No one knows the reason why people captured the last breath of a great scientist. After many years, an American scientist Henry Ford got this test tube. Henry took care of the test tube till he was alive. After the death of Henry Ford, this test tube is still present and it is placed in a museum. 

Now I hope that you all understood the process of fractional distillation. Stay home and protect yourself.