This simple question has a not-so-simple answer, as there are many factors that influence the cost of oxygen. Gas company prices vary significantly depending on where you’re located, whether you’re getting scheduled deliveries, and whether you have an annual contract. The amount of oxygen you use will impact the cost of compressed, liquid, and generated oxygen. To make the most economical choice, let’s examine your requirements.
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To quantify oxygen, you may use volume, weight, or flow rate. For volume, the common unit in the US is standard cubic feet (SCF), whereas Europe and elsewhere use standard cubic meters (M3). If your concern is weight, gas is commonly measured in pounds or kilograms. For flow, it’s typically SCFM (standard cubic feet per minute), SCFH (standard cubic feet per hour), or SLPM (standard liters per minute).
To understand the meaning of the word “standard” in these units of measurement, read this article. It’s pretty important. The short explanation is that the “S” in SCFM implies standard temperature and pressure, whereas CFM implies actual temperature and pressure.
It’s not easy to calculate your oxygen requirements accurately, as there are many variables to put into the equation. For this reason, I recommend setting up a simple test in which you measure oxygen usage with a flow meter such as the HVO Oxygen Tracker, and, if needed, a temporary oxygen source, such as a compressed tank. Find your actual flow rate by measuring usage in an isolated part of your system, e.g. one nano-bubbler or one diffuser. You can extrapolate from the test to calculate your overall requirements. See this article about the benefits of a flow sensor that can store data in the cloud.
If you use a large amount of oxygen, you may want to install a permanent, on-site LOX tank. For this privilege, the gas company will charge you $20,000+ for the tank, evaporator and other equipment. This setup requires a concrete platform that you must build. For the LOX itself, you’ll pay a price per 100 CF, as well as delivery and other fees.
To get a permanent, on-site LOX tank, you’ll have to sign a contract with the gas company that will lock you into a price for at least a year. Pay careful attention to the contract language, as these contracts typically renew automatically and may require you to cancel well in advance if you intend to renegotiate.
The price of delivered oxygen takes into account your distance from the gas company. They’re not going to haul those big steel tanks for free. You must schedule your delivery in advance or you’ll have to pay for expedited service. There’s always the possibility of a price increase, or being denied service because, for example, the tanks you own are deemed unsafe. If you don’t own tanks, you’ll pay a rental fee. During bad weather, it may not be possible for the delivery truck to reach you.
Before getting tanks delivered, check your local zoning ordinances. It may be illegal for you to use compressed or LOX tanks in your office building or home. For good reason, fire marshals are generally much less concerned about generated oxygen tanks that achieve a high pressure of 150 PSI vs. compressed tanks at PSI.
Also, make sure that you understand the coverages in your insurance policy pertaining to the use of oxygen in your home or business.
For many applications, the argument for making your own oxygen is hard to counter: it’s safer (low pressure tanks), easier (no tanks to lug), and much less costly than delivered oxygen. The cost per kilogram for HVO systems is in the range of 7-10 cents, depending on the scale, and larger systems are generally the most economical. The time to break-even is typically from 9 – 18 months.
Liquid oxygen tanks will periodically blow off pressure, which can be alarming if you’ve never experienced it. The pressure in the LOX tank builds until a safety blow-off valve achieves its release pressure. The resulting ejection of oxygen creates a loud sound like a steam locomotive coming to a stop. A LOX tank may blow off as much as 10% of its contents every day. That’s oxygen that you’re paying for, but getting no benefit.
With oxygen generation, you make what you need, so there’s very little waste.
If tanks are delivered and empties removed on a regular basis, people will be going in and out of your facility with hand-trucks and tanks. Both the delivery person and the tanks may be contaminated with a variety of substances. I’m not talking about poisons, necessarily, but detritus like mud and dust that may contain seeds, spores, bacteria, and viruses. If you’re running a clean, indoor facility, using generated oxygen will prevent those contaminants from entering your environment.
You can improve the situation somewhat by using medical-grade oxygen, which is delivered in clean tanks. However, this only strengthens the financial argument for generated oxygen, as medical-grade oxygen is even more costly than industrial grade.
For some businesses, the cost of running out of oxygen is perhaps higher than any other cost. If you’re using delivered oxygen to support the life of animals (e.g. in a vet facility), or aquatic life (in a fish farm), running out unexpectedly could result in a significant financial loss.
With generated oxygen systems, if you have power, you have oxygen. Having a backup power generator will ensure that you always have power. It may also be beneficial to keep backup oxygen tanks on standby in the event of an extended power outage.
There are two cases where I would say that delivered oxygen is a better alternative to making your own. First, if your consumption rate is greater than 10,000 SCF of oxygen per day, the economics may be better for LOX. Second, if you must have 99.99% pure oxygen, compressed tanks and LOX are your only alternatives. Generated oxygen systems produce 93-95% pure oxygen, which is enough for the majority of applications, but not for all. Laser cutters, for example, require 99.99% pure oxygen.
In November, I saw prices for a single 300 CF compressed cylinder as low as $12 and as high as $85 — a 7X difference. Interestingly, those two prices came from the same gas company, in the same location! The high price was for a drop-in refill. The low price was for multiple, regularly-delivered tanks in a one year contract.
For liquid oxygen, this particular vendor quoted about $200 for a 180 dewar, which contains 4,650 SCF.
From the responses I received in the TorchTalk and Concentrated Lampworkers forums on Facebook, I created a map of oxygen costs by location. The green markers are for compressed gas, while the blue ones are for liquid oxygen.
Below we’ll look at a 3-year return on investment model in which we compare an HVO system to compressed and liquid oxygen delivered by your local gas company.
In this scenario, assume that your usage is three K tanks per week, which is equivalent to about 750 cubic feet of oxygen. You work 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, and you get a delivery of three tanks every week. According to the data shown in the map above, the median price per K tank is $20. Using that number, your cost for delivered oxygen will be $60 per week plus delivery, tank rental, and hazmat charges that will amount to at least $40 per week. That’s $100 x 52 = $5,200 per year for K-tanks.
Let’s further assume that you require no more than 30 PSI of line pressure, and that your average flow rate is 15-20 LPM with short bursts of 30 LPM. For this application, we would recommend an HVO Classic 20-gallon system with two 10 LPM oxygen concentrators at a retail cost of $7,800 (keep your eyes peeled for sales).
For this usage pattern, the cost of electricity will be about $2.90 per day, or $754 a year, assuming an electricity cost of roughly 0.07 per kWh (which is the average national cost for industrial power). There’s also a maintenance cost, which we’ll assume is 1% of the purchase price per year (mostly for concentrator filter replacement), which averages $7 per month. Thus, the combined power and maintenance cost to run the HVO in this scenario would be $7 + $63 = $70 per month.
Here’s how it breaks down:
With an HVO system, your monthly costs will be lower, you won’t ever run out of oxygen, you won’t have to lug tanks or risk your life if you drop one, and your system will pay for itself in less than 27 months. At the end of three years you’ll have an extra $1,320 in your pocket. In 5 years, you’ll be ahead $4,840.
In this scenario, assume that you use a 180 dewar every day. That’s a massive amount of oxygen, but some applications (e.g. aquaculture, vertical farming) have very large consumption. In a 24 hour period, a 120 SLPM HVO system will generate about 24% more oxygen than is contained in a 180 dewar.
If your oxygen cost is $200 per dewar every day, that’s $200 * 365 = $73,000 a year for delivered oxygen vs. about $45,000 for an HVO 120 SLPM system that will keep on generating oxygen, year after year.
With this particular HVO system, you’ll pay about $418 per month for power and maintenance. Assume that you’re amortizing your HVO system over 36 months. Your monthly savings over delivered oxygen would be a whopping $4,415. Really. Let’s do the math:
With this savings, you’ll break even in less than 17 months.
Think about it. You can buy delivered oxygen for $73,000 every year. Or, you can buy a 120 SLPM HVO system for $45,000, save $83,885 in the first three years and $52,980 every year thereafter. Not a tough decision.
It would be great to see comments from those of you who are using oxygen for industrial applications. How much does your oxygen cost?
By Dennis Kornbluh, CTO, High Volume Oxygen
Abstract: This post explains the benefits of maintaining a historical record of minute-to-minute oxygen flow rates. It shows how time-series graphs reveal oxygen consumption patterns, and how these patterns may be correlated with specific activities and events. It explains how a summary of total oxygen usage by week or by month can help to reconcile gas company bills, or plan for the implementation of a new oxygen solution, such as transitioning from compressed cylinders to liquid oxygen (LOX) or an oxygen generator. A scenario is described that illustrates how the use of time-series measurements increases the accuracy of oxygen usage predictions.
Oxygen is a significant cost for many applications, from aquaculture to torchwork and scientific glass shops to veterinary clinics and hospitals. Oxygen prices rose significantly during the pandemic(1), and prices remain “sticky” even now in the spring of (2).
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With an expensive commodity such as oxygen, the cost of waste adds up quickly. For example, a three L/min line leak will blow off approximately 213 K tanks per year at a cost of $7-8K(3).
There are ways to economize on oxygen, e.g. by using less (e.g. finding and preventing leaks, training users to economize), purchasing an oxygen generator, or switching from compressed cylinders to LOX dewars or bulk LOX. However, before you choose an alternative, it’s important to have a good understanding of your current usage, which is likely to change over time. This may happen for a variety of reasons, such as seasonal business trends and special projects. The more you know about your usage patterns, the more accurately you can budget.
Gas company bills are a source of information that reveals the volume of oxygen that was purchased over a period of time. However, there are two issues with this source:
To get a more precise view of usage, it’s necessary to measure your oxygen flow rate at regular, sub-minute intervals, over a span of weeks or months. To reconcile oxygen bills, you must also have independent knowledge of the total volume of oxygen consumed over the billing period.
Velocity flow meters and mass flow sensors are commonly used to measure gas flow rates. A velocity flow meter provides a point-in-time reading, i.e. the current flow rate. Some flow sensors are capable of storing a limited amount of data in the device for periodic download.
A recent alternative is a mass flow sensor that is able to store flow measurements in the cloud for instantaneous analysis and automated notification when flow rates exceed expected norms.
A velocity flow meter measures the flow rate of gas by changing the height of a “float” (silver ball) in a graduated cylinder to indicate the approximate flow rate, typically in Standard Cubic Feet per Hour (SCFH) or Standard Liters per Minute (SLPM). You can also use a flow meter to set the flow to a desired rate.
For the purpose of recording flow measurements over time, a flow meter has several drawbacks:
On a velocity flow meter, the float may be viewed from different angles, which makes it difficult to take consistent readings. However, as a rough gauge of the flow rate, or to set the flow to an approximate rate limit, a velocity flow meter can be a useful tool.
A mass flow sensor (MFS) is an electronic device that provides accurate measurements of mass and volumetric gas flow rates. These devices use a hot wire mass airflow sensor to measure the volume of gas entering the device. Its operating principle is similar to a hot wire anemometer, which determines air velocity.
Measurements are collected and converted to digital form, then stored, either in the device’s local memory, or by communicating over a network to another storage device. Some devices support a USB interface, enabling data to be downloaded to a memory stick. Others use RS-232 or RS-485 serial interfaces and must be connected to a receiving device that is designed to collect such data. For specific details about the options available, consult the device documentation for the flow device you are considering.
Mass flow sensor products that store data on a USB memory stick or that transmit data over serial lines require technical skills to download, process, and format the collected data. This can be challenging for day-to-day use.
Keep in mind that mass flow sensors are designed with a set of capabilities, such as the maximum flow rate and maximum pressure. For example, if your line pressure is 50 psig and your flow rate can go as high as 100 L/min, ensure that the MFS device you choose can support those characteristics.
The HVO Oxygen Tracker is a mass flow sensor that provides a convenient alternative to labor-intensive and technically challenging flow devices that require data management. By storing flow measurements in the cloud every 10 seconds, the Oxygen Tracker prevents users from having to manually collect, store, and process data for viewing. Users with an active cloud subscription can access near real-time flow data displayed in a time-series graph on any web browser or mobile device.
The Oxygen Tracker is able to measure flow rates as small as 0.1 L/min and as large as 300 L/min with line pressures up to 100 psig. It can operate in environments where the temperature is 0 to 50 °C (32 to 122 °F). At 21.1 °C (70°F) and 14.7 psia (1 atm), the flow accuracy of the mass flow sensor is ±2% of the reading or 0.05 SLPM, whichever is greater.
Visualizing time-series flow measurements is key to understanding how oxygen is being used in a given setting. Using an Oxygen Tracker, flow measurements were taken in a glass studio(6) over a 12 hour period. The resulting graph is shown below:
Figure 1. Glass Studio Flow Graph
From the graph above, we can make the following observations:
Longer sample periods may make it possible to more accurately estimate oxygen usage.
While the glass studio flow graph illustrates a chaotic usage pattern, some applications have more static flow rates. The graph shown in figure 2 (see below) reflects oxygen consumption in an aquaculture operation. During a 6 hour sample period, there is a constant flow of oxygen to a series of fish tanks, so the L/min graph line is nearly flat.
In an aquaculture setting, oxygen gas is converted to dissolved oxygen (DO) so that fish can breathe. According to Henry’s Law(5), the temperature of the water has an inverse relationship to the solubility of oxygen. Thus, the higher the water temperature, the less dissolved oxygen the water can hold. That’s why large fish, which require more oxygen than smaller fish, are struggling to survive in natural settings as global temperatures rise.
Figure 2. Aquaculture Operation Flow Graph
Based on the data in figure 2, one might be tempted to conclude that a flow rate of 10-12 L/min would be sufficient for this application. In reality, the flow rate must be adjusted according to a variety of factors, such as water temperature, fish breed, stage of life (fry, fingerling, adult), and even feeding schedules, since the metabolic rate of fish increases significantly during feeding.
Assumptions about oxygen usage based on a small sample could lead to a significant budget miscalculation. Indeed, the aquaculture operation from which this graph was obtained has since adjusted their constant flow rate to 15 L/min due to rising spring temperatures. Operations managers must periodically measure the DO that’s present in their tanks and make adjustments to the oxygen flow rate in order to achieve the desired levels. With a means to measure the actual volume of oxygen used over time, one is able to create an accurate forecast of the required oxygen volume.
For this reason, the Oxygen Tracker maintains a count of the total volume of oxygen used since the counter was last reset. With an up-to-date cloud subscription, up to a year of flow measurements are maintained in cloud storage. The Seeing Eye™ cloud service sends a weekly usage report, a sample of which is shown in figure 3 below:
Figure 3. Weekly Oxygen Volume Report
There are several benefits to having detailed data for flow and cumulative volume. First, knowing your precise oxygen consumption over time takes the guesswork out of budgeting. It also makes it possible to determine the economics of alternative oxygen sources. For example, above a certain volume, compressed oxygen cylinders become more expensive per unit of delivered oxygen than LOX dewars. At an even higher threshold, it may be more cost-effective to invest in the installation of a permanent LOX tank. In many cases, an oxygen generator might be more economical. Knowing your oxygen requirements in detail makes it possible to confidently calculate the potential savings from using alternative oxygen sources.
In this section, we’ll analyze the oxygen used at a Connecticut-based glass studio(6). We’ll calculate the annual cost of oxygen based on monthly gas bills. For comparison, we’ll use measurements collected from a cloud-enabled mass flow sensor to compare predictions about oxygen volume to see how these predictions aid the studio in budgeting.
NOTE: It’s also possible to estimate oxygen usage based on the characteristics of individual torches found in the studio. However, in a large studio, this is rather more complicated, due to the number and types of torches commonly used. Actual measurements are preferable to calculations that rely on assumptions.
In , Stoked Glass was purchasing 230L liquid dewars at the rate of approximately one per week at a cost $320 per tank. Thus, they were paying about $320 * 52 = $16,640 per year for oxygen. One of the challenges they experienced was ensuring that there was enough oxygen. Since their oxygen consumption was inconsistent, there were times when they would run out unexpectedly. For unscheduled deliveries, it was necessary to wait 3-5 days before oxygen would be delivered. In these circumstances, the shop had to shut down, resulting in significant losses in production and revenue.
In mid-, the local oxygen supplier was acquired by AirGas, and prices immediately went up. This led to the glass studio’s decision to purchase an oxygen generator.
The gas bills reveal how much oxygen is being purchased by week, month, and year, and the cost in those time frames. However, they can’t be used to determine how much oxygen is wasted due to off-gassing, line leaks, or inefficient usage. Nor can they use them to correlate the approximate cost of oxygen for individual projects. More granular usage information is needed to gain these types of insights, which are an aid to economize.
At the end of December, , an Oxygen Tracker was installed at Stoked Glass. After a few days, they were able to look at graphs that show a profile of the specific oxygen flow rates they experience throughout the day. The graph below shows a 96 hour period, which provides some insight into daily usage patterns:
Figure 4. A time-series graph showing 4 days of oxygen flow rates
From the graph above, we begin to understand what a typical day looks like in terms of expected flow rates. Here are a few insights we have gained:
That’s quite a few valuable insights from a single graph. Visualization of flow data is an excellent way to understand the utilization of this valuable resource. Having a year’s worth of data could enable managers to budget more effectively, as well to be able to correlate projects with oxygen cost to better account for the shop’s own costs.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Horizontal Liquid Dewar Cylinder. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.