Although often referred to as laughing gas, the use of nitrous oxide is a serious subject as it has a fundamental role to play in the healthcare industry and beyond.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is one of several oxides of nitrogen. Colourless, non-toxic and very stable, on average it resides some 120 years in the atmosphere before being broken down by ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere.
Nitrous oxide has many uses, ranging from anaesthesia and pain-killer in medicine and dentistry (where it’s known as laughing gas due to the euphoria it can induce) to high-performance racing engines, where it can be used to boost combustion. N2O should not be confused with nitrogen dioxide, which is generated during internal combustion processes and forms a toxic brown haze in many urban environments.
Production
Nitrous oxide is produced by heating ammonium nitrate to a temperature of 250°C. Ammonium nitrate is decomposed in the process to give a mixture of nitrous oxide & super heated steam. At the same time impurities are produced including ammonium nitrate fumes, nitrogen & other oxides of nitrogen. The steam & impurities are removed by scrubbing with water, caustic soda and sulphuric acid in sequence. Nitrogen present in traces is removed by bleeding from the top of storage vessels where nitrous oxide is stored, after compression by a compressor.
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