Industrial oxygen is a gas used in industrial production and product processing. The quality of the gas is lower than that of medical oxygen, and it may contain impurities harmful to the human body such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and acetylene.

Medical oxygen refers to oxygen supplied for medical treatment of patients. It is suitable for auxiliary treatment of patients caused by hypoxia to help patients relieve hypoxia symptoms. Medical oxygen has strict physical and chemical index requirements in our country, and it cannot bring any negative effects to patients.

It is difficult to distinguish the two with the naked eye, but they can be distinguished based on the cylinder and batch number;

1. Check the batch number and shelf life:

Medical oxygen must have a drug batch number approved by the health department, in the format of XX Health Drug Approval (XX Year) No. XXX. Industrial oxygen does not have a batch number. Only the health bureaus (departments) of each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government have the authority to approve drug batch numbers. Moreover, medical oxygen has a shelf life, which is generally 12 months from the production date. Oxygen should be strictly checked to see if it has passed the shelf life before use.

2. Check the moisture content

There are very few impurities in medical oxygen, including very little water; too few to exist in liquid form, and can only exist in the form of water vapor. Industrial oxygen contains more water and can exist in liquid form, that is, free water.

3. Check the water pressure detection stamp

In order to ensure the safety of oxygen cylinders, the state requires that medical oxygen cylinders must undergo water pressure testing every three years; therefore, you can determine whether they are medical oxygen based on the water pressure testing stamp.

4. Observe the bottle and gas smell

Because industrial oxygen contains many impurities, it will cause corrosion of the inner wall of the cylinder. Over time, the industrial oxygen cylinder may smell like rust. On the contrary, the bottle body of medical oxygen is not contaminated, and the inside of the bottle is basically dry and rust-free after use.

We can slightly open the switch of the oxygen bottle and see if the oxygen in the bottle has any obvious odor. If you feel an obvious rusty smell when inhaling oxygen, you can be sure that it is not medical oxygen.

However, this method is not very effective when it comes to industrial oxygen filled with new oxygen bottles, so it is necessary to make a comprehensive judgment based on the other methods mentioned above.