The process

The principle is quite simple. We have an aluminium cylinder full of porous materials and we circulate a stream of air through it. This purifies the oxygen up to 95% — with the remaining being mostly argon. Nitrogen is trapped in the zeolite because of the way the electric charge is distributed in nitrogen atoms, meaning it interacts more strongly with the zeolite’s electric field. Oxygen and argon are not.

The nitrogen therefore stays trapped inside the millions of tiny pores, and we empty them later after storing our oxygen.

Usually, we commercialise our porous materials through

Immaterial, a spinout of the University of Cambridge. Yet, making huge profits selling oxygen in a pandemic seemed immoral. In Africa, for example, oxygen is five times more expensive than in Europe and the US. Our team and Immaterial therefore partnered up with other scientists in Cambridge to create the Oxygen and Ventilator System Initiative, OVSI, with the aim of advancing and manufacturing affordable oxygen treatments.

We hope the advantages of a cheap oxygen concentrator device will outlive the pandemic. Oxygen supply is key to treat childhood pneumonia and chronic pulmonary diseases — both conditions that globally kill more people than AIDS or malaria. Everyone should have access to oxygen, and technology like ours could one day help provide that access. — theconversation.com