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It needs no over-emphasizing how important oxygen is to our life. Everybody knows it is impossible to sustain life beyond a few minutes without oxygen. In addition to its being critical for life, it is also used in various areas of everyday life. Whether it is used in ambulances for emergency applications, hospitals for treating numerous ailments and countless other industrial applications supporting our industrialized modern life-style, it is important for us to know about various aspects of life.
Steelmaking is an essential pillar of our modern civilization. Production of steel requires oxygen on a large scale. Naturally occurring oxygen has the purity of 21% whereas purity required for industrial and medication must have purity not less than 99%. Oxygen with such purity is produced through various industrial processes such as pressure swing adsorption (PSA), membrane separation and cryogenic distillation. In fact, steelmaking consumes around 55% of all industrially generated oxygen.
Similarly, there are other uses of oxygen in our everyday life supporting our lives. We are going to discuss oxygen and what makes it tick. It is because of oxygen that I am able to write to tell you how the applications of life in daily life are so commonplace that we do not even notice.
Snapshot of Oxygen as Element
Oxygen is a nonmetallic gas which is chemically represented with symbol O and has atomic number of 8 in the periodic table. Molecular oxygen O2 exists only in the atmosphere. It is O2 that we need to respire for staying alive. It is known to support combustion but is not in itself combustible. The nonmetallic element is valued for its high reactivity and ability to form compounds with most of the elements and compounds. It is said to comprise around 21% of Earth’s atmosphere by volume and 25% by weight. Moreover, the high reactive element is said to make 2/3rd of the human body.
Importance of Oxygen
Oxygen is essential for sustaining manufacturing processes across various industries due to combustion-supporting properties. It is used in various industries including manufacturing, chemical, biomedical and heating. Thus, one can see the role of oxygen in everyday life is not limited to just providing oxygen for respiration for animal and human life.
However, the significance of oxygen in human cannot be emphasized more as it constitutes around 65% of the body by weight. We breathe from which oxygen is absorbed into the blood stream from the lungs and is taken to every cell in the body oxidizing food to release energy and heat for performing everyday tasks of life. In order to get continuous stream of energy it is vital that we get constant supply of oxygen.
Important Uses of Oxygen
In the preceding paragraphs, we have discussed that biomedical and industrial uses of oxygen. These segments consume most of the industrially generated oxygen. In the present section, we will add one more important application—aerospace.
Industrial Uses or Applications of Oxygen
As already mentioned above, steelmaking is the industry consuming the most oxygen in a reaction converting carbon into carbon dioxide gas in the manufacturing of steel? The reaction is conducted in the blast furnace at very high temperatures. Content of iron oxides is diluted with the aid of carbon oxide produced in the reaction yielding purer compounds of iron. It is also used in numerous applications requiring high temperatures such as heating, brazing, cutting and welding.
Biomedical Applications or Uses of Oxygen
Oxygen is required for respiration for all living beings necessary as it is for generating energy from oxidization of food. Moreover, it is also vital for treatment of individuals struggling with low level of oxygen. Patients suffering from health disorders like COPD, cystic fibrosis, etc, require breathing supplemental oxygen in order to get adequate level of oxygen enabling them to go through the daily chores which need energy, generated at the cellular level through burning of ingested food.
Oxygen is needed in performing surgeries where O2 must be administered to the patient from an external so that vital function of the body goes on doing its work. It is also used in resuscitation and in numerous applications where breathing supplemental oxygen is a biological necessity. Mountaineers and other high altitude sports enthusiasts also need to carry oxygen cylinder as the oxygen pressure significantly dips at the heights.
Use of Oxygen in Aerospace Industry
Oxygen also finds numerous uses in the aerospace industry. It is used in the rocket propulsion systems in its liquid form. Liquefied oxygen is made to react with liquefied hydrogen for generating the thrust required for take-off. Astronauts wear space suits which are filled with pure oxygen.