Be very careful, it most certainly does. LN2 releases more gas than LC02. Both are dangerous, but LN2 takes the cake for being more statistically dangerous. Remember this?
6 Likes
Agreed that it does displace oxygen. It is still dangerous, but does not behave the same as co2 in a closed room. It definitely takes more nitrogen in a given space to kill someone than co2, so I’d still argue that it is safer than co2 regarding suffocation risks.
You can taste CO2 when it gets into high concentrations, n2 will just have you black out
3 Likes
Agreed. I’m not claiming either is without its dangers. However, the likelihood of dangerous concentrations of co2 are higher in most situations considering it is heavy and pools at low spots. Most exhaust is drawn from the top of a room.
Regardless, either of the gases should be vented directly out of the room instead of dumping into it. Both need caution. Both are easy to manage in terms of keeping a safe atmosphere…
3 Likes
I freeze things solid with Liquid nitrogen, Co2 has some flexibility in temperatures. With higher pressures you get higher temperatures which are better for the draw down cooling.
2 Likes
It’s just a needle valve from the liquid outlet of a Dewar, no power or moving parts for the refrigeration. The pump I use for the tincture is a magnetic drive pump with a explosion proof pump.
1 Like
Conveniently hydrocarbons also pool down low and c1d1 areas have low ventilation for this purpose.
My lco2 lines go into my fan in my booth, so there isn’t much risk as opposed to liquid nitrogen which has a terrible cooling capacity before it turns to a gas and goes into the air, I’d argue co2 is safer as it’s more controlled.
4 Likes
Good points that can be argued all day if we consider oxygen displacement, toxicity levels, aero/hydrodynamics. However, it’s not in the top reasons why I would choose it over co2. It’s just an opinion that I hold because I’ve used co2 and ln2 cooling and have only experienced dangerous conditions with unmanaged dry ice off-gassing. Not all processes are performed in a c1d1 booth.
I may be biased because ln2 can be used in the lab or factory much easier and more affordably than co2. Ln2 can be used on Chinese centrifuge and Brite tank jackets with no extra pumps or heat exchangers. You can’t do that with co2.
4 Likes