Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the life sciences – though this only represents a very small percentage of the greater merchant market, it is an interesting and valuable area of the industry. In the life sciences sector, cryotherapy, cryosurgery and cryopreservation are all interesting topics which can use CO2.
The range of interesting applications includes subjects such as freezing a wound closed, removing lesions and moles from the skin, keeping open cavities in the body while performing surgery, the preservation of gametes, chilling organs in transport for subsequent transplant, and respiratory stimulation. More and more applications are being developed over time too.
Reference is made to USP (US Pharmacopoeia) grade CO2 in this article, which is the grade used in medical applications (predominantly in North America). The gases industry has specific plants designated for this grade of product, for example, Linde North America has about three strategically located USP capable plants which supply this demand. The merchant CO2 industry is enjoying growing usage in broad biomedical applications for CO2. This grade of product is critical to public health, and is quite expensive to produce, which is good for the gas company in terms of name recognition, and the ability to demand significantly stronger selling prices.
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