Liquid Nitrogen: Should You Generate It or Buy It?

Labs, colleges, livestock service provider, medical facilities, food processors, manufacturers, or any business requiring regular liquid nitrogen (liquid nitrogen) for cooling, freezing, or industrial processes.

Exclusion factors:

In this section we only talk about the cases when on site generation and buying liquid nitrogen can both satisfy the needs but you have difficulties to choose which is the better option. Any scenario with liquid nitrogen consumption larger than 1000 liters per day or less than 1 liter per day is not included in this section.

Buying liquid nitrogen in bulk deliveries from suppliers in dewars or tanks. In this case, you know how many liquid nitrogen you need daily/weekly. You’d either have a contract with your supplier for regularly delivery or you place order every time you run out of liquid nitrogen, therefore you can estimate your regular spending on liquid nitrogen.

Generating liquid nitrogen: Installing an on-site liquid nitrogen generator that produces liquid nitrogen directly from the air. In this case it saves you the trouble of ordering and waiting for delivery thus you have liquid nitrogen any time you want. However you must invest a rather big sum of money for the liquid nitrogen generator and hope it also save you money in the long run.

Typically, it takes 5.3kWh electricity power to produce 1 liter liquid nitrogen with a compact liquid nitrogen generator like LNS10A (10 liters per day, installation power 2.2kW). You may calculate with method below with the examples from real customers in Honduras and Israel.

1. If liquid nitrogen price is 5 times of generation, both generating and buying is good for you, and you just need to balance the routine delivery and self-sufficient;

2. If liquid nitrogen price is 5 times or high than generation cost, we suggest you generate your own liquid nitrogen with generator;

3. If liquid nitrogen price is less than 5 times of generation cost, we suggest you buy liquid nitrogen directly.

4. Other cases when GENERATING make more sense:

✅ When buying liquid nitrogen is impossible.

✅ Prioritize long-term savings (lower cost per liter after 2–5 years).

✅ Require guaranteed supply (avoid delivery delays/uncertainties).

✅ Have space/power/resources for installation and maintenance.

Generators offer independence but risk downtime if malfunctioning.

Buying relies on supplier reliability; delays can disrupt operations.

Both require strict safety protocols (ventilation, PPE, storage). 

2. Get quotes for both options (include all fees).

Assess risks: What happens if supply is delayed? If the generator breaks?

Consult experts (suppliers, generator vendors, facilities managers).

Final Tip: For most small-scale users, buying is simpler and cheaper. For high-volume users, generators save costs long-term but demand commitment. Always prioritize safety and redundancy!