Analysis of the Diverse Applications of Nitrogen Generators in Blister Packaging

Blister Packaging: The Unique Charm of an Industry Favorite
Blister packaging, a method of packaging that seals products between a transparent plastic sheet forming a blister and a baseboard (cardboard, plastic film, sheet, aluminum foil, or a composite material), initially primarily served the pharmaceutical packaging field. With the passage of time and technological advancements, its applications have expanded continuously. Today, it can be found in the sales packaging of food, cosmetics, toys, gifts, tools, and electromechanical components. Its popularity lies in its many outstanding features:
Strong Protection: It provides reliable physical protection for products, effectively resisting collisions and pressure damage during transportation. For example, in cosmetic packaging, for fragile products such as eyeshadow and blush, blister packaging can prevent breakage.
Transparent and Intuitive: The transparent blister design allows consumers to directly see the product inside the packaging, enhancing the product display and helping consumers make purchasing decisions. Simultaneously, the baseboard can print abundant product information for easy identification and management.
Convenient to Use: The design is simple, easy to open, and when using a single product, it does not affect the sealing and protection of other products. It is very suitable for daily carrying and use. For example, the blister packaging of face masks allows for single-use convenience and hygiene.
Lightweight: Compared to some traditional packaging methods, blister packaging is lighter, which can reduce transportation costs to some extent.
Nitrogen Generator: Injecting Freshness into Blister Packaging
Pharmaceutical Blister Packaging: A "Loyal Guardian" Protecting Drug Quality
In the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, numerous active pharmaceutical ingredients, inactive ingredients, and other chemicals are extremely sensitive to oxygen. Once exposed to an oxygen environment, they are easily degraded due to oxidation. Take vitamin C effervescent tablets as an example. Their active ingredient, vitamin C, has strong reducing properties and is easily oxidized in the air, thus reducing its efficacy. Introducing a nitrogen generator into blister packaging allows for the injection of high-purity nitrogen into the blister during packaging, replacing the oxygen within. Because nitrogen is an inert gas with stable chemical properties, it effectively prevents the drug from contacting oxygen, preventing oxidation, greatly extending the shelf life of the drug, and ensuring that the drug maintains good quality and efficacy within its expiration date.
For some biological preparations, such as vaccines, stability is crucial. Using a nitrogen generator to fill with nitrogen during blister packaging not only prevents oxidation but also reduces the risk of microbial contamination. Since microorganisms cannot easily survive and reproduce in an anoxic or hypoxic environment, this provides a safer and more stable storage environment for vaccines and other biological preparations, ensuring their quality and safety during storage and transportation, and safeguarding people's health.
Food Blister Packaging: The "Secret Weapon" That Locks in Flavor and Nutrition
In the food industry, especially for foods with high requirements for taste and quality, such as nuts and potato chips, the application of nitrogen generators in blister packaging has a significant effect. Nuts are rich in oils, and in the presence of oxygen, the oils easily oxidize and become rancid, producing off-flavors that severely affect the taste and nutritional value of the nuts. By injecting nitrogen into the blister packaging using a nitrogen generator, the oxidation process of the nuts can be effectively inhibited, maintaining their original crisp taste and rich nutrition.
Potato chips, a type of fragile food, are easily crushed during transportation. Blister packaging combined with nitrogen generator filling not only prevents potato chips from oxidizing and deteriorating but also uses nitrogen filling to create a certain pressure inside the blister, providing a cushioning effect and reducing the breakage rate of potato chips during transportation, ensuring that consumers receive complete and delicious potato chips. In addition, for some baked goods, such as cookies, nitrogen-filled blister packaging can prevent them from becoming damp and soft, maintaining their crisp texture.
Cosmetic Blister Packaging: A "Helpful Assistant" for Protecting Beauty Products
Many cosmetic products, such as powdery products like eyeshadow and blush, and some liquid products such as serums and lotions, have high requirements for the packaging environment. Powdery products are easily damp and clump, while the active ingredients in liquid products may react with oxygen and lose their activity. The application of nitrogen generators in cosmetic blister packaging creates a low-oxygen or anoxic environment. For example, injecting nitrogen into the blister packaging of eyeshadow prevents the eyeshadow from becoming damp, maintaining its fine powder texture, and preventing it from fading due to oxidation, ensuring that consumers obtain good makeup results when using it. For serums containing multiple active ingredients, nitrogen-filled blister packaging can extend their shelf life, allowing the active ingredients in the serum to work better and protect consumers' skin.
Working Principle and Advantages of Nitrogen Generators in Blister Packaging
Working Principle
Nitrogen generators typically use pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and other technologies to produce high-purity nitrogen. Taking a PSA nitrogen generator as an example, its core component is an adsorption tower filled with carbon molecular sieves. When compressed air enters the adsorption tower, the carbon molecular sieve's adsorption capacity for oxygen is far greater than its adsorption capacity for nitrogen. Under a certain pressure, oxygen is adsorbed by the carbon molecular sieve, while nitrogen is output as the product gas. By periodically performing pressurization adsorption and depressurization desorption operations on the adsorption tower, continuous production of high-purity nitrogen is achieved, providing a continuous supply of inert gas for blister packaging.
Application Advantages
Significant Cost Effectiveness: Compared to purchasing bottled nitrogen, using a nitrogen generator to produce nitrogen on-site can significantly reduce nitrogen purchasing costs. Companies do not need to frequently purchase, transport, and store bottled nitrogen, reducing related expenses and avoiding situations where delays in bottled nitrogen supply affect production schedules.
Flexible and Controllable Purity: The nitrogen generator can flexibly adjust the purity of the produced nitrogen according to the different product requirements for nitrogen purity. Generally, in blister packaging, the nitrogen purity can reach 99% or even higher, meeting the strict requirements of various industries such as pharmaceuticals, food, and cosmetics for packaging gas purity.
Improved Production Efficiency: The nitrogen generator can continuously and stably supply nitrogen, seamlessly integrating with the blister packaging production line to ensure the continuity of the packaging process and improve production efficiency. Moreover, the equipment is simple to operate and easy to maintain, reducing downtime caused by equipment malfunctions and ensuring smooth production.
Nitrogen generators used in blister packaging provide strong support for improving product quality and extending shelf life in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics industries. With continuous technological advancements and innovation, nitrogen generators are expected to play an even more important role in blister packaging, bringing consumers more high-quality and safe products.