If your lab runs a nitrogen blowdown evaporator, there is a good chance you are already writing a check every month to Airgas, Linde, Praxair, or another gas supplier to rent a nitrogen cylinder. It feels like a fixed cost of doing business — an unremarkable line item on a recurring invoice. But take a close look at that invoice, and you will find that the monthly fees are likely more than you need to be paying.
Organomation now offers a month-to-month rental program for the NITRO-GEN nitrogen generator — purpose-built to supply our evaporators, up to 48 sample positions simultaneously — for just $250 per month. For many labs, that monthly figure is lower than what they are currently paying their gas supplier. When the math works in your favor from day one, the decision becomes very simple.
Cylinder rental fees from major gas suppliers are a standard part of laboratory operating budgets, and they are rarely scrutinized the way other expenses are. Typical rental charges of $30–$50 per cylinder per month are common in industrial and laboratory contracts. That is before a single liter of nitrogen has been purchased. Suppliers like Airgas have also implemented periodic price increases on cylinder rental rates — Airgas announced cylinder rental rate increases of 10–15 percent in a recent pricing action, a pattern that repeats as operational costs rise.
On top of the rental fee itself, labs pay for the gas, the delivery, and fuel surcharges that fluctuate with oil markets. Gas refills and delivery charges mean that in addition to rental fees, laboratories incur costs for the gas itself and delivery services, with some suppliers imposing extra fees for expedited or out-of-schedule deliveries. For labs in less urban locations, those delivery costs can be significantly higher.
Add it all together — cylinder rental, gas cost, delivery, fuel surcharges — and a lab supplying a single N-EVAP can easily find itself paying several hundred dollars per month to a gas supplier, month after month, with no end in sight and no asset to show for it.
Organomation's NITRO-GEN was designed from the ground up to supply the N-EVAP. The NITRO-GEN generator was developed with Organomation's nitrogen evaporators in mind to provide nitrogen generation for sample concentration. The generator is lightweight and easy to set up, requiring only a source of compressed air to run. It uses a hollow-fiber membrane to convert compressed air to a stream of 95–99% pure nitrogen gas at up to 20 L/min — sufficient to supply up to 48 sample positions.
Through Organomation's new month-to-month rental program, labs can have a NITRO-GEN installed and operational for a flat monthly fee of just a few hundred dollars. There are no gas refill costs, no delivery fees, no fuel surcharges, and no annual price increases from a commodity gas supplier. The monthly payment is the monthly payment — predictable, controllable, and cancellable.
If it is not working for your lab, return the unit. There is no long-term contract tying you in.
Consider what a typical N-EVAP lab is spending every month under a cylinder rental arrangement:
- Cylinder rental fee: $30–$50/month per cylinder
- Nitrogen gas cost: Variable, based on consumption and market rates
- Delivery and fuel surcharges: Added to every invoice
- Total: $400+ per month, subject to annual increases
Now consider the NITRO-GEN rental:
- Monthly rental fee: $250, flat
- Gas cost: $0 — nitrogen is generated on-site from compressed air
- Delivery fees: $0
- Fuel surcharges: $0
- Total: $250, fixed
For labs that go through nitrogen regularly — replacing a cylinder more than once a month — the NITRO-GEN rental is not just comparable to what they already pay. It is very likely less.
The month-to-month structure of Organomation's rental program removes the primary objection most labs have when considering a capital equipment switch: the fear of being locked in. With a cylinder contract, labs are often subject to automatic renewals and escalating fees that are difficult to exit. Cylinder contracts are often subject to regular price increases, as well as hidden fees such as regulator maintenance, delivery, fuel, and cylinder and pallet rental charges, which can soon add up.
With the NITRO-GEN rental, the lab retains full flexibility. Pay month to month. If your nitrogen needs change — a project ends, a workflow shifts, sample volumes drop — return the unit with no penalty. The arrangement is designed to work on the lab's terms, not the gas supplier's.
Labs running N-EVAP nitrogen blowdown evaporators are already accustomed to paying a monthly fee for their nitrogen supply. Organomation's NITRO-GEN rental program simply offers a better deal on that same monthly commitment — a lower payment, a more reliable supply, and none of the hidden costs that make cylinder contracts so frustrating over time.
If you are spending several hundred dollars a month on cylinder rental and gas to supply your N-EVAP, contact Organomation today to find out if the NITRO-GEN rental program will cost you less. For most labs, the answer will be yes.
Reach our team at sales@organomation.com or visit organomation.com to learn more.
References
Organomation. NITRO-GEN Nitrogen Generator. https://www.organomation.com/products/nitrogen-generators/nitro-gen
Organomation. (2026, February 2). From $100 to $5k per Month: What Labs Really Spend on Nitrogen and What to Do About It. Organomation Blog. https://blog.organomation.com/blog/from-100-to-5k-per-month-what-labs-really-spend-on-nitrogen-and-what-to-do-about-it
Organomation. (2024, August 1). Understanding the Costs of Renting Nitrogen Gas Cylinders in Laboratories. Organomation Blog. https://blog.organomation.com/blog/understanding-the-costs-of-renting-nitrogen-gas-cylinders-in-laboratories
Industrial Distribution. Airgas Announces Price Hikes For Gases, Hardgoods, Cylinder Rentals. https://www.inddist.com/home/press-release/13773524/airgas-announces-price-hikes-for-gases-hardgoods-cylinder-rentals
Northwestern University Procurement & Payment Services. Lab Gases and Dry Ice. https://www.northwestern.edu/procurement/logistics/gases/