"Bryan Martin" wrote in message
oups.com...
snip

Releasing N2 in a sealed space will simply increase the pressure in the
room and cause no particular breathing problems because the room will
still have enough oxygen in it to breath. You won't have a problem
until the pressure gets high enough for the toxic effects of N2 to show
up (nitrogen narcosis). This takes several atmospheres of pressure.

Although part of what you say is true, I disagree with the above paragraph. In particular the part insinuating that
the nitrogen has to be pressurized to be toxic. I had a job related experience in which a contractor working under
supplied breathing air respirator had a near fatal incident. The catalyst vessel he was working in was under
nitrogen atmosphere to prevent the catalyst from going pyrophoric. There was no pressure on the vessel and the
manway was open. He removed is mask to spit, then inhaled before putting it back on. Instead of passing out, he
instantly went into violent convulsions and dropped the mask. Even with an attendant equipped with a radio, and a
tripod, winch, and lanyard already set up and attached we only got him out of the vessel alive by the grace of God.
If you can imagine trying to winch a grown man straight up 20' and pull him through a 18" manway while he flails
wildly about with superhuman strength ... you can imagine the dilemma we were in. He seemingly had a sole
determination to knock every ERT member off of a forty foot high vessel once we squeezed him through. By the time we
got him restrained and an oxygen mask on him that he couldn't rip off... well to a man, we thought at best he would
suffer brain damage. He did eventually recover but it was over a period of months. I personally know of two others,
(one an ex-co-worker), who were put in the hospital by breathing nitrogen. It isn't something to mess with. I agree
with those who state that CO messes with the Hemoglobin. We suffered one CO fatality when a technician went into a
small analyzer shack to calibrate a mass spectrometer. One of the flow gauges to the machine had an o-ring leak. He
apparently started feeling bad, and sat down in a chair. He didn't show up at lunch and the guys just thought he
drove into town for dinner. When he didn't show up for afternoon break, his co-worker went looking... way to late.
CO2 is a byproduct of our synthesis process and although it may not be a poison in the strictest sense, it will kill
you just as dead.

Joe Schneider
8437R



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