At the end of the 18th century, scientists used chemical methods to separate nitrogen and oxygen from the air, laying the foundation for the industrial gas industry. At the beginning of the industry, oxygen was mainly used in the medical field, and at the end of the 19th century began to enter commercial applications such as welding. In the same period, acetylene was discovered and gradually became a commonly used welding and cutting gas. Subsequently, acetylene was found to be soluble in acetone, which made the long-distance transportation of acetylene possible and further promoted the commercial application of acetylene.
The invention and use of fractionation processing methods have greatly reduced the production cost of industrial gases and accelerated the industrialization process of industrial gases. In the middle of the 20th century, the two world wars and the use of oxygen and acetylene torch cutting technology strongly promoted the growth of industrial gas demand. At the same time, due to the consideration of reducing the content of carbon and phosphorus and improving the quality of steel products, iron and steel companies abandoned the early air injection method and switched to the oxygen injection method. The adoption of the new method increased the global oxygen production in 1965 by 10 times compared to 1960. In addition, nitrogen is also widely used as an inert "covering agent", which promotes the large-scale construction of gas production equipment--Oxygen Concentrator, Nitrogen generator, Argon Generation Plant etc.
The rise of the electronics industry in the 1980s promoted increased demand for specialty gases. Consumption in traditional markets such as metal prefabrication and production increased, coupled with the addition of new application areas in end markets such as health care, electronics, beverages and food packaging, the gas industry continued to grow in the 1990s. The energy sector has become the biggest driving force for the development of the gas industry in the past few years. Gas is widely used as an energy source in many industries, which makes gas demand continue to strengthen in the early 21st century.
In the current global industrial gas market, traditional downstream industry applications are relatively mature. The global industrial gas giants have begun to focus on the development of some emerging areas. The emerging markets including solar energy, carbon dioxide capture, shale gas exploration and new energy vehicles will provide industrial gas companies with new green growth opportunities.