Know ... how to make the oxygen that Corona patients are looking for

The World Health Organization stated that one in five patients infected with "Covid-19" needs oxygen.

For weeks, reports all over the world have shown the harsh situation: There is a lack of oxygen, which is a vital substance to save Covid patients who suffer from shortness of breath and their oxygen levels in their blood are dangerously low, in "low and middle income" countries, especially in Latin America and Africa, But also in India.

In February, the World Health Organization estimated that more than half a million people need 1.2 million bottles of oxygen per day in these countries.

UNITAID estimates that it will need about $ 1.6 billion to buy bottles for the poorest countries this year during what it describes as a "global emergency that requires a global response."

According to the organization, the main challenges exist in 20 countries, including Malawi, Nigeria and Afghanistan.

There are two main types of oxygen produced:

Medical oxygen: It can be obtained by separating the gases in the air.

It consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% small particles such as argon or helium, said Regis Derouville, CEO of Air Liquide Sainte France, a subsidiary of the French group of industrial gases.

The oxygen is isolated from the air after the steps of pressure, filtration and purification, and then it is subject to strict analysis and tracking rules guaranteed by an expert pharmacist.

This oxygen, which has a concentration of more than 99.5%, is a drug, and this oxygen is specified in specific batch numbers to be distributed to hospitals.

It is transported in a condensed form, i.e. in bulk, in large containers or tanks with barrier walls allowing its temperature to be kept below -182 ° C, or in gaseous form in flasks containing smaller quantities.

“It is the delivery of liquid oxygen that allows for the most important needs and changes in demand to be met,” Deroville explains.

One liter of liquid oxygen equates to about 800 liters of gaseous oxygen.

Oxygen can also be delivered in pressurized vials to allow the patient to move.

In this case, one liter of gaseous oxygen at 200 bar corresponds to 200 liters of gaseous oxygen that the patient can use directly. ”

Oxygen produced by a generator: It is generally 93% oxygen.

They are portable electrical devices that extract and purify oxygen from the surrounding air in real time, or larger production units that provide power to large institutions such as hospitals.

“In the absence of the infrastructure to produce liquid oxygen, generators are useful,” Deroville said.

However, its dimensions are determined according to specific needs, which makes it difficult to respond to the sudden and rapid increase in oxygen consumption, such as what happened in some French hospitals during the Covid-19 crisis.

In addition, it consumes a lot of energy with high maintenance costs. ”

Outside China, there are three leading companies in the production of medical oxygen: the German company "Linde", which is allied with the American group "Braxer", the French "Air Liquide" company and the American company "Air Products".

But medical oxygen is produced by many local and regional institutions, because one of its main problems is the difficulty of transporting it over long distances.

This is another reason for its greater availability in industrialized countries: production units were also built to supply sectors other than the health sector, such as steel and chemicals.

In India, last week, cargo planes belonging to the Air Force began delivering large tanks of oxygen to the places that need them, and the first "Oxygen Express" train began operating on April 22, and the Indian Ministry of Defense announced that it would import 23 units of mobile oxygen production from Germany.

France has sent eight oxygen production units and liquefied oxygen containers to supply up to 10,000 patients a day.

In total, France will deliver the equivalent of about 200 tons of liquid oxygen to Indian hospitals.