Nippon Gases
'An oxygen-safe partnership with The Gas Professionals'
Nippon Gases is a strategic partner for industrial and medical gases throughout Europe. They produce and blend various types of gases for a wide range of industries. With 195 plants and 150000 customers in 13 different countries, we can say that Nippon Gases Europe is a major player in the oxygen and gas industry.
The challenge of lubricating in oxygen environments
Safety is the number one priority for Nippon Gases. Therefore, oxygen compatibility is the main requirement for the lubricants Nippon Gases uses.
Nippon Gases processes cryogenic oxygen to gas, in smaller packages. They do this by pumping the liquid oxygen over an evaporator. These pumps need to be lubricated. In addition to oxygen compatibility, a wide temperature range is also a requirement regarding the lubricants. This is because cryogenic oxygen has a temperature of -298 degrees.
Vacuuming pressure containers that contained oxygen also requires the use of oxygen-compatible oil in the vacuum pumps. Furthermore, Nippon Gases place great value on service.
‘The most important thing is that the service is good. That they are there for us when we need them. Til now this has always been the case.’ Says Steven de Ron, technical manager at Nippon Gases.
The success of oxygen-safe lubricants
For Nippon Gases, we implemented our oxygen compatible lubricants Fomblin and Fomlube. Due to the unique composition of Fomblin and Fomlube, both lubricants are inert to oxygen and other reactive gases. The base oil PFPE ensures that both lubricants have an extremely wide temperature range.
This allows Nippon Gases to use Fomblin safely in the vacuum pumps, without the risk of explosion. Fomlube is used to lubricate the threads of the cylinders, without the danger of the grease being affected by oxygen or other reactive chemicals.
In this way, Nippon Gases can safely process oxygen. ‘The products are good, they work for our equipment’ says Steven de Ron.
'Reliable, friendly and good communication
Dat is hoe Steven de Ron FenS als leverancier omschrijft, ‘betrouwbaar, vriendelijk en goede communicatie’. Als het gaat over leveranciers is goede service een eis, voor de technisch verantwoordelijke bij Nippon Gases. En onder goede service verstaat hij feedback op vragen, duidelijke communicatie en het nakomen van afspraken, ‘tot op heden is dat zo en zijn we tevreden met FenS’ aldus Steven de Ron. Bij FenS streven we altijd naar heldere communicatie om onze klanten zo goed mogelijk te informeren.
We doen net even dat stapje extra, bijvoorbeeld tijdens een spoedlevering. ‘We zijn tevreden met de huidige levertermijnen. Maar als we een spoedje hebben is dat ook mogelijk bij FenS’ aldus Steven de Ron.
