PureAire Introduces New Dual Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Monitor

 PureAire Monitoring Systems is excited to introduce its new Dual Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Monitor, an important addition to our full line of Oxygen Deficiency Monitors, Carbon Dioxide Monitors, and Combustible/Toxic Gas Detectors.  Our new Monitor is designed for continuous monitoring of oxygen and carbon dioxide levels  across a wide variety of applications, including cryogenic facilities, breweries, food processing plants, cannabis grow rooms, pharmaceutical manufacturing operations, laboratories, hospitals, and universities.

Our Dual Monitor can sample O₂/CO₂ levels from up to 100 feet away and is ideal for facilities that use inert gases, including, but not limited to, nitrogen, helium, and argon. Its NEMA 4X/IP66 dust-tight and water-tight enclosure will protect the Monitor against dust, water, and damage from ice formation.

PureAire’s new Dual O₂/CO₂ Monitor continually measures oxygen levels from 0-25%, and carbon dioxide levels from 0-50,000 parts per million (ppm), with both O₂ and CO₂ measurements readily visible on the Monitor’s easy-to-read backlit displays. Depending on our customers’ specific requirements, the Monitor can be linked to a programmable logic controller (PLC), a multi-channel controller, or tied into building systems themselves.

The new O₂/CO₂ Monitor features dual built-in LED visual alarms, two alarm level set-points for both O₂ and CO₂, as well as two relays for each monitored gas. The Monitor responds in seconds to changes in oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, and it will remain accurate over a wide range of temperature and humidity levels.

PureAire’s Dual Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Monitor offers thorough air monitoring, with no time-consuming maintenance or calibration required. Built with durable, non-depleting, zirconium oxide sensor cells, and non-dispersive, infrared (NDIR) sensor cells to ensure longevity, PureAire’s Dual O₂/CO₂ Monitor can last, trouble-free, for 10+ years in normal working conditions.

Don't Throw Away Your Shot...the Cold Truth About Vaccine Handling and Storage

 

In modern times, vaccines have been widely used to keep people healthy by protecting them from serious illnesses and diseases. Worldwide, vaccines annually prevent millions of deaths, and their utilization is responsible, in many parts of the globe, for the nearly total eradication of numerous diseases, including polio, measles, and smallpox.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (the "CDC"), a vaccine for a specific disease stimulates an individual's immune system, causing it to produce antibodies to counteract the antigens associated with the disease in question, just as one's immune system would do if one were actually exposed to the disease. The concept is that, after getting vaccinated, the inoculated patient develops immunity to the disease without first having to contract it. Unlike medicines, which are used to treat or cure diseases, vaccines are intended to prevent them.

Handling and Storage of Vaccines

Developing a vaccine can take years before it is deemed safe for human use and, thereafter, manufactured and made available for widespread distribution and inoculation. Throughout the manufacturing and  distribution process, and up to the time of administration, a vaccine must be kept in strict climate-controlled environments, collectively referred to as the "cold chain." The CDC describes a cold chain as a temperature-controlled supply chain that includes all vaccine-related equipment and procedures. The vaccine cold chain begins with a cold storage unit at the vaccine manufacturing plant, extends to the transport and delivery of the vaccine (including proper storage at the provider facility), and ends with the administration of the vaccine to the patient. A breakdown in protocols anywhere along the cold chain could reduce the effectiveness of, or even destroy, a vaccine.

According to FedEx, while most vaccines have traditionally been transported in a cold temperature range of 2 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius, certain vaccine manufacturers and pharmaceutical firms require a much lower temperature range within the cold chain associated with specific vaccine products.

Dry ice, which is the common name for solid (i.e., frozen) carbon dioxide, is often used in cold chains to maintain the very cold temperatures required to keep certain vaccines viable. At a temperature of approximately -78.5 degrees Celsius (equating to  -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit), dry ice is significantly colder than frozen water (that is, conventional ice), making it ideal for transport and storage of those vaccines requiring an extremely cold temperature environment.

Safely Tracking Carbon Dioxide Levels When Working with Dry Ice

Safety precautions are critical when shippers use dry ice in the transportation and storage of vaccines. Unlike conventional ice, dry ice does not melt into a liquid. Instead,  dry ice "sublimates" (changes from a solid to a gas state), turning into carbon dioxide gas. In small, poorly ventilated spaces, such as storage rooms and closets, cargo vans, trucks, and airplanes, carbon dioxide can build up, creating a potentially serious health risk.

Carbon dioxide is an oxygen-depleting gas that is both odorless and colorless. As such, absent appropriate monitoring, workers involved with the transportation and/or storage of products frozen with dry ice likely would be unable to detect if dry ice were to begin to sublimate, with carbon dioxide gas levels possibly rising to unsafe levels. When there is not enough oxygen in the air, persons working in the affected area may become disoriented, lose consciousness, or even suffocate due to the lack of oxygen

Fortunately, by utilizing a top-quality oxygen monitor, also known as an oxygen deficiency monitor, vaccine transportation storage personnel can track oxygen levels and detect (and react to) dangerous carbon dioxide levels before employee health is jeopardized.

PureAire Dual Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Monitor

PureAire Monitoring Systems' Dual Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Monitor offers thorough air monitoring, with no time-consuming maintenance or calibration required.  A screen displays current oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, for at-a-glance reading by employees, who derive peace of mind from the Monitor's presence and reliable performance.

In the event that dry ice begins to sublimate, causing carbon dioxide levels to rise, and oxygen to decrease to unsafe levels, PureAire's Monitor will set off an alarm, complete with horns and flashing lights, alerting personnel to evacuate the area.

Our Dual Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Monitor is well-suited for industries where dry ice is used, such as in the handling, transportation, and storage of life-saving vaccines. The Monitor includes both a non-depleting, zirconium oxide sensor cell, to monitor oxygen levels, and a non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) sensor cell, to monitor carbon dioxide levels. Known for their dependability, PureAire's O2/CO2 Monitors can last, trouble-free, for over 10 years under normal operating conditions.

Brewers Safely Capture and Reuse Carbon Dioxide

 

Brewing beer produces carbon dioxide (CO₂), especially during fermentation (the process by which yeast converts sugars into alcohol). Estimates are that fermentation yields three times as much carbon dioxide as is actually needed to produce (including brewing, canning, and bottling) each batch of beer, with up to 15 grams of CO₂ generated per pint of beer brewed. According to the British Beer & Pub Association, over 8 billion pints of beer were consumed in the United Kingdom alone in 2019, contributing to the production of a whole lot of carbon dioxide.

While large, global breweries, with their vast financial resources, have been recapturing and reusing carbon dioxide for a number of years, most craft brewers have considered carbon recapture technology to be prohibitively expensive. They have treated excess CO₂ as waste, and vented it into the atmosphere, though that practice may make little sense, either economically or environmentally since, in order to produce subsequent batches, brewers must then turn around and purchase carbon dioxide to carbonate the beer, purge beer tanks and lines of oxygen, and to transfer the beer from tanks to bottles or cans.

And carbon dioxide purchase is a recurring line-item expense that eats into craft brewers’ profit margins.

Capturing and Reusing Carbon Dioxide

The good news is that recent technological innovations, driven in large part by companies working with NASA on space exploration and investigation, have led entrepreneurs to an awareness that CO₂ recapture may in fact now be seen as a relatively affordable, and certainly environmentally friendly, option for craft breweries. The technology involves capturing the CO₂ that has accumulated during fermentation and purifying the gas to make it suitable for reuse and/or sale.

The Washington Post has reported that Texas-based Earthly Labs has created a product called “CiCi” (for “carbon capture”), a refrigerator-sized unit that enables brewers to trap and reuse accumulated carbon dioxide. Captured CO₂ is piped from the fermentation tanks to a “dryer” to separate water from CO₂gas. The gas is next purified and chilled to a liquid for ease of storage and subsequent use.

Brewers can reuse their stored carbon dioxide to carbonate new batches of beer, as well as in the canning and bottling processes for the new beer. Craft Brewing Business, a trade website dedicated to the business of commercial craft brewing, reports that breweries can reduce monthly carbon dioxide expenses by 50 percent or more, and CO₂ emissions by up to 50%, via carbon capture technology.

Breweries that capture more CO₂ than they can use, may elect to sell the surplus to other breweries, bars, restaurants, and any other businesses that also use carbon dioxide. For instance, the State of Colorado, Earthly Labs, the Denver Beer Co., and The Clinic announced in early 2020 a pilot program in which Denver Beer Co. would sell its surplus CO₂ to The Clinic, a medical and recreational cannabis dispensary, which would then pump the carbon dioxide inside its grow rooms to stimulate and enrich plant growth.

Oxygen Monitors Can Mitigate Unseen Dangers of Carbon Dioxide

Brewers and others working around carbon dioxide need to be aware of the potential risks associated with CO₂. Carbon dioxide is an odorless and colorless oxygen-depleting gas. Since it deprives the air of oxygen, CO₂ use presents a potential health hazard for brewery personnel.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an environment in which oxygen levels fall below 19.5 percent is considered an oxygen-deficient atmosphere and should be treated as immediately dangerous to health or life. When there is not enough oxygen in the air, persons working in the affected area may become disoriented, lose consciousness, or even suffocate due to the lack of sufficient oxygen. Because CO₂ is devoid of odor and color, individuals working around it might well, in the absence of appropriate monitoring equipment, be unaware that a risk situation has developed.

As such, The National Fire Protection Association recommends that gas monitoring equipment be placed in storage areas or any place where carbon dioxide is used or stored.

PureAire Dual O₂/CO₂ Monitors

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PureAire Monitoring Systems’ Dual Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Monitor offers thorough air monitoring, with no time-consuming maintenance or calibration required. A screen displays current oxygen and carbon dioxide levels for at-a-glance reading by brewery employees, who derive peace of mind from the Monitor’s presence and reliable performance.

In the event of a carbon dioxide leak, and a decrease in oxygen to an unsafe level, PureAire’s Monitor will set off an alarm, complete with horns and flashing lights, alerting brewery personnel to evacuate the area.

PureAire’s Dual Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Monitor is well-suited for facilities where carbon dioxide is used, such as breweries, bars, and restaurants. Our Dual O₂/CO₂ monitor includes both a non-depleting, zirconium oxide sensor cell, to monitor oxygen levels, and a non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) sensor cell, to monitor carbon dioxide levels. PureAire’s O₂/CO₂ monitors can last, trouble-free, for over 10 years under normal operating conditions.

Saving money, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and ensuring employee safety...that is certainly something to which we can all raise a glass.

Consumers Have No Beef Eating Plant-Based Meats

Overview
How about meat without involving animals? Move over, veggie burgers; food companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, among others, have created plant-based meats that smell, taste, and look (imagine a thick, juicy hamburger) like the real thing. Unlike traditional veggie burgers, made from soy and bean paste, which have been marketed primarily to vegetarians, these companies are wooing and winning over a new group of customer-so-called “flexitarians”- consumers who do eat (or, at least, desire the taste and texture of) meat but, for health or sustainability reasons, want to reduce their meat consumption. According to Barclays Investment Bank, roughly one-third of Americans, or 100 million people, follow a flexitarian diet and that number is expected to rise.

Plant-Based Burgers
Impossible Foods, which makes the Impossible Burger, and Beyond Meat, the company responsible for the Beyond Burger, are perhaps the most well-known producers of meats whose ingredients are derived from plants. Although their ingredients and manufacturing processes are not identical, both companies seek to replicate the essential qualities of a hamburger derived from cows: texture (Impossible and Beyond both utilize various plant proteins); fat/marbling (both companies use coconut oil, as well as other cooking oils); coloring (Impossible relies on soy leghemoglobin, or “heme”, while Beyond uses beet and apple extracts); and flavor (both use natural flavors, and the “heme” that Impossible uses for color also enhances the flavor profile of its products.

Growing Availability and Popularity of Plant-Based Meats
For an industry that barely existed five years ago, the plant-based meat sector is experiencing spectacular growth, and over 50,000 grocery stores and restaurants, including Safeway, Whole Foods, Burger King, Subway, White Castle, KFC, and Carl’s Jr., now carry products from Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods.

And burgers are not the only choice when it comes to plant-based meats. Other options include chicken, pork, and sausages. In August of 2019, after a successful trial run in New York City, Dunkin’ Donuts announced it was rolling out a breakfast sandwich made with Beyond Meat sausages in 9,000 of its stores. Likewise, after selling out of the new plant-based Beyond Fried Chicken in Atlanta, KFC is introducing the product at other locations throughout the South.

According to the Good Food Institute, the value of the U.S. plant-based meat market was $801 Million for the year ending April 2019. Furthermore, investment firm UBS projects growth of plant-based protein and meat alternatives to increase from $4.6 billion in 2018 to $85 billion in 2030.

Gas Usage in Facilities Producing Plant-Based Meats
Food safety compliance is critically important in the food industry and, to continue to grow their sales and increase market acceptance, producers must ensure that their plant-based meats are as safe to consume as non-plant-based meats. Safety requirements dictate that plant-based hamburger, sausage, chicken, and other products be rapidly chilled and/or frozen during the production process and before they can be shipped to restaurant or grocery outlets. As such, modern freezing technology, including the use of tunnel freezers, is essential to the ongoing success of the plant-based meat industry.

Tunnel freezers work by rapidly freezing foods using cryogenic gases, such as liquid nitrogen (LN2) or carbon dioxide (CO2). The food items are placed on a conveyor belt, which carries them into the freezer, where an injection system (utilizing either liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide), together with fans circulating the gas-chilled air, ensures that all food products are quickly and evenly frozen.

Oxygen Monitors Can Improve Safety in Plant-Based Food Manufacturing

While the use of liquid nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide is important in the production of plant-based meats, it is not without risk. LN2 and CO2 are both oxygen depleting gases, and oxygen deprivation could put employees in real danger if there are gas leaks from freezer supply lines or exhaust systems, or from on-site gas storage containers. In the event of a leak, plant personnel could become disoriented, lose consciousness, or even suffocate from breathing oxygen-deficient air. Since LN2 and CO2 are both colorless and odorless, workers would, in the absence of appropriate monitoring, have no way of knowing that there has in fact been a leak. By utilizing a top-quality oxygen monitor, safety and production personnel can track oxygen levels and detect leaks before workers’ health is jeopardized.

PureAire Water-Resistant Dual O2/CO2 Monitors
PureAire Monitoring Systems’ water-resistant dual oxygen/carbon dioxide monitors offer thorough air monitoring, with no time-consuming maintenance or calibration required. A screen displays current oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, for at-a-glance reading by employees, who derive peace of mind from the monitor’s presence and reliable performance. In the event of a nitrogen or carbon dioxide leak, and a decrease in oxygen to an unsafe level, the monitor will set off an alarm, complete with horns and lights, alerting personnel to evacuate the area.

PureAire’s dual oxygen/carbon dioxide monitor is housed in an IP67 water resistant enclosure that will keep the electronics dry during wash-downs, and the monitor will remain accurate at extremely low temperatures. That makes it ideally suited for environments, such as plant-based food processing facilitiesthat use liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Built with zirconium oxide sensor cells and non-dispersive infrared sensor (NDIR) cells to ensure longevity, PureAire’s water-resistant dual O2/CO2 monitors can last, trouble-free, for over 10 years under normal operating conditions.

Fast, Frozen, Convenience-Tunnel Freezers

Frozen foods first became commercially viable in the 1930s, thanks in large part to Clarence Birdseye. He is credited with inventing the double-belt freezer, the forerunner to modern quick-freeze technology, which includes the tunnel freezers used by most major food processors in North America.

Frozen foods offer many benefits to today’s busy consumers, including convenience; minimal processing, with few to no preservatives; a long spoilage-free product shelf life; and, especially when compared with canned foods, superior taste, since the ingredients are quick-frozen at their peak of freshness. Seasonal foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are, once they have been frozen, now available year-round. In the same way, people living in landlocked locations can enjoy fresh-frozen seafood, no matter the distance from the coast. And, through the near magic of quick-frozen partially baked bread products, we can consume bakery-quality goods at home, straight out of the ovens in our own kitchens.

Still, even as Mr. Birdseye’s invention made frozen foods available to mass consumers in the first place nearly a century ago, so, too, have more recent innovations in freezing technology, including new freezer types, such as tunnel freezers using cryogenic gases, greatly improved the quality and, therefore, the market acceptance, of frozen foods. These freezers very quickly “flash freeze” foods at extremely low temperatures, such that the foods maintain essentially all of their original freshness, flavor, and texture.

How Tunnel Freezers Work

Tunnel freezers work by rapidly freezing food using cryogenic gases, such as liquid nitrogen (LN₂) or carbon dioxide (CO₂). The fresh food items are placed on a conveyor belt, which carries them into the freezer, where an injection system (utilizing either liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide), together with fans circulating the gas-chilled air, ensure that all food surfaces are quickly and evenly frozen.

Food products frozen in cryogenic tunnel freezers, including all manner of proteins, fruits, vegetables, and parbaked bread and dough items, are ultimately shipped to grocery chains and warehouse superstores; operators of quick service, fast casual, and fine dining restaurants; and school and hospital cafeterias, among other places, and they are enjoyed daily by millions of hungry people.

Monitoring Can Protect Food Processing Employees

While the use of liquid nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide is essential in that part of the quick-frozen food processing industry using tunnel freezer technology, it is not without risk. LN₂ and CO₂ are both oxygen-depleting gases, and oxygen deprivation could put employees in real danger if there are gas leaks from freezer supply lines or exhaust systems, or from on-site gas storage containers. In the event of a leak, plant personnel could become disoriented, lose consciousness, or even suffocate from breathing oxygen-deficient air. Since liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide are both colorless and odorless, workers would, in the absence of appropriate monitoring, have no way of knowing that there has in fact been a gas leak.

PureAire Water-Resistant Dual O2/CO2 Monitors 

PureAire Monitoring Systems’ water-resistant dual oxygen/carbon dioxide monitors offer thorough air monitoring, with no time-consuming maintenance or calibration required. A screen displays current oxygen and carbon dioxide levels for at-a-glance reading by employees, who derive peace of mind from the monitor’s presence and reliable performance.

In the event of a nitrogen or carbon dioxide leak, and a decrease in oxygen to an unsafe level, the monitor will set off an alarm, complete with horns and flashing lights, alerting personnel to evacuate the area.

PureAire’s dual oxygen/carbon dioxide monitor is housed in an IP67 water resistant enclosure that will keep the electronics dry during wash-downs and will remain accurate at extremely low temperatures.That makes the monitor ideally suited for facilities using liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide, such as frozen food processing plants with tunnel freezers. Built with zirconium oxide sensor cells and non-dispersive infrared sensor (NDIR)cells to ensure longevity, PureAire’s dual O2/CO2 monitors can last, trouble-free, for over 10 years under normal operating conditions.

Taste the Difference with Nitrogen Packed Coffee Grounds

When it comes to flavor, coffee purists prefer whole beans, which retain their flavors longer than ground coffee. Yet there's no denying the convenience factor of ground coffee, which is why it's so popular in offices. Ground coffee has a short shelf life -- hence the push to use airtight containers, which keep the flavors in the coffee -- and off flavors may develop if the coffee grounds are left on the shelf too long. Some coffee companies are trying a new trick to add shelf stability to their ground coffee: a nitrogen flush.

How Nitrogen Flushing Preserves Coffee Grounds

Oxygen is the enemy of ground coffee: When coffee grounds come into contact with oxygen, they go stale faster. This is why coffee grounds are sold in vacuum-sealed containers, and why consumers are encouraged to use airtight containers. For best flavor, coffee beans should also be stored in dark containers (so light does not pass through).

Some amount of oxygen is produced (in the form of CO₂) as the ground coffee degasses, a naturally occurring process. To release these gases and preserve coffee flavor, many coffee bags contain a one-way valve. Oxygen escapes through the valve, but cannot come back into the bag.

Some coffee companies are taking it one step further by flushing the bag with nitrogen gas during the coffee packaging process, which ensures that no oxygen is in the bag with the coffee where it would cause spoilage. Nitrogen gas is heavier than oxygen, so when it is pushed into the empty coffee bag, it displaces oxygen. The bag is then filled with coffee grounds and sealed with no ambient oxygen in the sack. This preserves coffee flavor.

Since nitrogen gas has no color or odor, it does not affect the taste of the coffee. What consumers get, months later, is grounds that are as fresh as they were the day the coffee was roasted and ground.

While this is beneficial for the consumer, nitrogen flushing may prevent problems at the packaging plant. Just as nitrogen gas flushes oxygen out of the bag, so can it displace oxygen from the room. If a leak were to occur, employees would not be able to tell (remember, the gas has no smell, odor, or color). A leak could push so much oxygen out of the air that staff could suffer respiratory problems, death via asphyxiation being the worst-case scenario.

How an Oxygen Sensor Can Protect Your Employees

Since nitrogen displaces oxygen, it's easy to detect a leak by tracking the levels of oxygen in the room. Oxygen sensors -- also known as oxygen deficiency monitors -- continually monitor oxygen levels. As long as the room air remains stable, there's no leak. When the levels of oxygen in the air fall to the OSHA threshold of 19.5 percent, where a health threat is imminent, the sensor will go off. Employees will see a flashing light and hear a loud alarm that warns of the low levels of oxygen. Staff can exit the packaging facility without suffering adverse health effects; they also enjoy peace of mind every day by checking the O₂ monitor.

PureAire supplies coffee manufacturers with oxygen sensors that help them offer a higher-quality product without placing workers at risk. PureAire's oxygen deficiency monitor requires no maintenance and calibration once installed, thanks to a hardy zirconium sensor. Once installed, the O₂ monitor will provide accurate readouts and leak detection for 10 or more years. PureAire's oxygen deficiency monitors function properly despite changes to barometric pressure, thunderstorms, and other weather events. Suitable for use in freezers, basements, and other confined spaces, PureAire's monitors perform in temperatures from 55 Celsius to -40 Celsius.

To protect worker safety, an oxygen monitor should be used wherever nitrogen gas is stored or used. Learn more about PureAire's products at www.pureairemonitoring.com.

Nitro Beer Tastes Better

If you've ever remarked on the smooth creaminess of a pint of Guinness, you've picked up on the key difference in its carbonation: Nitrogen rather than carbon dioxide. Such "nitro" beers have become a trend in recent years, with major U.S. breweries and small startups alike offering nitro products. Nitrogen keeps bitterness in check and balances out the hops to make drinkable craft brews, but it also increases the risk for breweries. 

How Nitro Beer Works 

CO₂ is a natural byproduct of the beer brewing process, occurring when the yeast consumes the natural sugars in the wort. Breweries often add additional CO₂ when kegging or bottling the beer. The carbon dioxide gas adds flavor, aroma, and those bubbles that fizz against your tongue. CO₂ is also slightly acidic, so it can intensify the bitter flavors in a brew. While this might be desirable in a hop-bomb IPA or citrusy hefeweizen, it isn't always complementary to the flavor of the brew. 

Nitrogen gas adds carbonation without the bitterness, allowing the beer's natural flavors to remain. It delivers a new drinking experience with favorite brews. Nitrogen is harder to dissolve than carbon dioxide, so the resulting bubbles of carbonation are smaller. The mouth feel of a nitro beer is smoother or creamier. Dark beers -- stouts and porters -- pair well with nitrogen gas, but the nitro technique can also present a new take on a classic IPA or wheat ale. 

While the process of adding nitrogen to beer is similar to carbon dioxide, breweries must take some extra precautions. Nitro beers must be stored in tanks rated to a higher psi, 25 rather than 15. Breweries must also take precautions to ensure that nitrogen isn't leaking out of the supply lines or canisters and onto the brewery floor. Nitrogen gas displaces oxygen from the air, so if it did leak, the room would soon become oxygen deficient. Breathing oxygen deficient air causes confusion, dizziness, respiratory distress, and death via asphyxiation. Since nitrogen gas has no color or odor, breweries need a tool to check for leaks by measuring ambient oxygen levels. 

How an Oxygen Monitor Protects Brewery Staff 

Since staff cannot tell if there is a leak -- there's nothing to see or smell -- there is no way they can protect their health if a leak occurs. Oxygen monitors provide a safeguard against respiratory distress by measuring oxygen levels. As long as there is no leak, the oxygen in the brewery should remain constant. If nitrogen gas starts to leak, oxygen levels will fall. Before oxygen levels fall to a critical threshold, an oxygen monitor will sound an alarm. There's also a flashing light to get the attention of staff. 

When the alarm goes off, workers can exit the brewery floor before the lack of oxygen poses a threat to their health. Emergency personnel can then come and contain the leak. 

PureAire offers a robust oxygen monitor with two alarm levels: 19.5 percent and 18 percent, a 90 db alarm, and a bright flashing light. The oxygen deficiency monitor is designed to mount on the wall and features an easy-to-read digital interface, so workers can tell at a glance whether there's a problem.

PureAire's monitors use zirconium sensors, which deliver reliable performance even during thunderstorms, sudden barometric shifts, and other weather incidents. These O₂ monitors are designed to last for 10 or more years with no maintenance or calibration, unlike other products that need regular maintenance to remain effective.  

Breweries should place one oxygen monitor in the area where beer is bottled and kegged and another where nitrogen is stored. This ensures the entire facility is protected from leaks. 

Left Hand Brewery, a pioneer of the nitro beer trend, relies on PureAire products for workplace safety.  Learn more about the oxygen monitor form PureAire at www.pureairemonitoring.com.