Oxygen, industrial

Industrial oxygen is produced mainly in cryogenic air separation process where air is cooled and pressurized until it becomes a liquid. Then, the oxygen is extracted through fractional distillation. Other technologies (such as pressure swing absorption or membrane separation) are also being used.

Energy consumption for oxygen production has been estimated at 555.6 kWh/tonne.

Source: Lawrence Berkeley Labs

Impact of one pound
of "Oxygen, industrial":
Overall impact (CEII): 95.82
Depletion (DI): 59.4Pollution (PI): 96.25Entropy (EI)): 0.14
How the environment impact was calculated:
Production:
Requires:
Resource or ItemAmountUnitDepletion (DI)Pollution (PI)Entropy (EI)Total Impact (CEII)
Electricity, average0.25kWh59.496.250.0795.82
Releases:
Resource or ItemAmountUnitDepletion (DI)Pollution (PI)Entropy (EI)Total Impact (CEII)
Dissipation0.25kWh000.070