Having worked during the past 25 years with carbon dioxide (CO2) safety, it has been a fantastic trip within one of the most expanding industries that I know. The different applications and uses of CO2 are of a magnitude that is hard to match within the gas industry, while the revenues are tremendous.
It is for this reason that it is time for the industry to consolidate the safety aspects before too many accidents happen that will undoubtably throw question marks over its use. The press naturally has a tendency to write and report everything about accidents, but often forgets about all of the many fantastic qualities of CO2.
These include applications across the whole drinks dispensing industry (soft drinks and beer), greenhouses, refrigeration, swimming pools, wastewater treatment, dry cleaning, quick freezing, and the hundreds of new applications deriving from the research of super critical CO2. But one also has to be very aware that CO2 is also used to ‘put the animals to sleep’ in the slaughter house – the Immediate Danger to Life and Health (IDLH) is at just 4% CO2.
... to continue reading you must be subscribed
