What is the difference between Medical Oxygen and Industrial Oxygen?

Medical Oxygen is a drug, to be more specific it is an essential drug as per WHO. Drug Administration is the regulatory authority for all Medical Gases. Specification of Medical Oxygen as per European Pharmacopeia is given in table;

Here first one is purity and the rest are impurities. So higher the purity and lower the impurities/contaminants from the set limits, it is safer. Important to remember, to be Medical Oxygen all parameters to be fulfilled. Here impurities are more critical than purity as these are harmful. In case of Medical Oxygen all the parameters i.e., that is purity and impurities are stringently monitored online and in-sample during both production and quality assurance process.

In case of Industrial Oxygen there is no assurance about the impurities. Higher the purity of Industrial Oxygen better output or more efficient in it’s application.

So Medical Oxygen is more pure than industrial oxygen may not be true. Again Industrial Oxygen cannot be used for Medical purpose because there is no guaranty about the impurities/contaminants those could be harmful.