Enriched Air Nitrox Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Typical decal used on scuba cylinders containing Nitrox
Several other terms for the same exist: Enhanced Air Nitrox, Oxygen Enriched Air, Nitrox, EANx or Safe Air.
Nitrox is mainly used in Scuba diving to reduce the proportion of nitrogen in the breathing gas mixture. Breathing nitrogen at depth causes two problems : decompression sickness and nitrogen narcosis. Reducing the proportion of nitrogen by breathing Nitrox can have two benefits:
- reduces the risk of decompression sickness
- extends dive times without increasing the need for decompression stops
Nitrox with 50% to 80% oxygen is common in technical diving as a decompression gas, which eliminates inert gases, such as nitrogen and helium, from the tissues more quickly than leaner oxygen mixtures eliminate them.
There are several ways of mixing Nitrox in a diving cylinder:
- Put pure oxygen into a tank and then fill with air to make the required mix
- Remove nitrogen from air with a special filter or membrane
- Have nitrox premixed industrially
Warning: Diving and handling Nitrox raises a number of potentially fatal dangers due to the high partial pressure of oxygen. Only oxygen-safe tanks can be used. One must be extremely careful when using partial pressure blending. Divers who dive too deep (depending on the mix, 20 to 35 meters) may suffer from oxygen toxicity.