Nitrogen is widely used in the food & beverage industries. Its main application is prolonging the shelf life by providing an oxygen-free environment which prevents bacterial growth. It is mainly used in food packaging and controlled atmosphere storage as well as purging and blanketing. Common purities needed for this industry is 98-99.5 % which can be produced by onsite nitrogen generators.
Nitrogen is used in the medical industry to provide pressures for medical devices (instrument air), in making gas mixtures, and inerting & blanketing. If purities higher than 99.999% is not required, (necessary for the process) onsite nitrogen generators can be used to produce nitrogen on demand in a cost-effective process.