Industrial Gases Vs. Speciality Gases: What’s the Difference?

Industrial and commercial gases have long been used for a range of purposes across a broad number of industries. So what are speciality gases, and how do they come into the picture? Today’s high-tech industrial processes now demand gases with higher levels of purity and more precise accuracies than what has ever been used before. These are known as speciality gases. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at what specialty gases are and how they differ from industrial gases.

Industrial gases Vs. Speciality gases

What are industrial gases?

Industrial gases, sometimes known as traditional gases, are most commonly used in tasks such as welding or metal cutting. Although new developments have also led to speciality welding gases being created for some welding use cases.

Industrial gases are fairly simple. Gas tanks are filled with the gas of choice, depending on its applications, and then shipped to the customer. The customer sends the tank back to their supplier who then refills the tanks and sends it back to them.

Industrial gases include oxygen, acetylene, argon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and propane.

So, what are speciality gases?

Specialty gases require greater accuracy and scrutiny than industrial gases. Gas supply companies create these gases, whether pure gases or mixtures, to correspond to the specific application that they will be used for. Speciality gases can be either pure gases or gas mixtures containing multiple components. In fact, it’s these two things that make speciality gases unique.

Purity is one of the most important differentiators that make a speciality gas ‘special’. In most industrial applications, gases can b used for applications at a much lower purity. With speciality gases however, purity can reach up to 99.99999% - meaning they have significantly lower impurities.Specialty gases can also be significantly more complex. While speciality welding gases may be composed of a mixture of two gases (such as argon and carbon dioxide), speciality gases can be composed of more than 20 or 30 chemicals.

In many cases, specialty gases are one-off products that are developed for a specific customer application and require a great deal more product engineering and analytical measurement. These aren’t off-the-shelf products.

Proper specialty equipment is also required when handling speciality gases. This ensures the quality grade of the gas isn’t compromised with sub-standard components.

Examples of speciality gases include:

• Calibration standards

• Instrument support mixtures

• Special application mixtures

• Laser gas mixtures

• Research gas mixtures

• Beverage and food mixtures

• Biological atmosphere gas mixtures

Simcoe Gases supplies a range of speciality gases for different industries in Ontario

Is your business in need of specialty gases to achieve the best results? You’ve come to the right place!

Simcoe Gases delivered an extensive variety of specialty gases to a broad range of industries across Central Ontario, the GTA and the Simcoe County region. Industries we serve include research labs, the medical sector, pharmaceutical services, food ad beverage, metal fabrication and so many more!

Do you want to learn more about how we can provide your business with a specific speciality gas at the specific purity level required? Get a free quote today.