During an oxygen shortage (like with Covid), could hospitals use a lower concentration, maybe 70-80%? From what I understand, the 99% gets diluted by different apparatuses, such as nasal cannulas (more dilution) and face masks (less dilution). I know quality control and having a reliable baseline is important too, but why is 95-99% the needed concentration?
In: Biology
Oxygen is often “made” by colling down air until the party you like to use becomes a liquid and you can remove it.
Before Oxygen in the air, it is Water and Carbon dioxide that becomes a liquid/solid. Oxygen condensate at −183 °C in normal atmospheric pressure and Nitrogen and argon that is the most and third-most abundant gas in the air with oxygen in between.
So the manufacturing process results in almost pure oxygen, so it would be a bad idea to deliver in any other concentration.
If there is oxygen storage what you would do is to reduce the flow rate or mix in when used with regular air and not in the production or transport stage in the hospital.
There is also not an oxygen production problem but one of the transport container or to get it into the hospital system. There is an enormous amount of oxygen made for industrial usage. Hospital usage is a minor part of all usage.
So it is a logistic problem, not a production problem so you like 100% oxygen in the system ad the amount you transport
Hospitals can have a production system on site that is used to the max. Then you need to transport oxygen there that is externally produce transported there or increase local procution.
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