Hello Lightning Tamers!

Neon, krypton and xenon are all in stock and available heading into the holidays, while helium remains the gas to watch. That’s the headline from Jim Avolt, Director at Global Rare Gases (GRG), the Northwood, Ohio supplier that fills Taming Lightning’s rare gas orders.

For those of us bending tubes and filling plasma pieces, the gas in the vessel is the whole show. Supply, price and purity decide what color we get, how long a piece lasts, and whether a fill behaves the way we expect. Here’s Jim’s latest read on the market, plus a primer on what those strings of nines on a gas label actually mean.

The market, gas by gas

Helium: still the one to watch

Major compressed gas companies are still feeling disruptions to helium supply out of the Middle East. Most major U.S. distributors can get it, but it’s in short supply in parts of Asia and Europe. There are rumors that helium could be diverted to essential medical uses. Jim says that hasn’t touched the U.S. market yet, but political instability in the region remains a major concern.

Neon: steady supply, slight premium for non-Asian gas

Neon continues to flow from Europe, Ukraine and Asia, with a small premium on material sourced outside Asia. Research grade (99.999%+) is the industry standard. GRG is holding a little over 2 million liters that tested at 99.9995%+.

Krypton: windows are changing the math

The rising cost of silver used in low-E window coatings is pushing window manufacturers to take another look at krypton, and krypton-argon blends, as insulating fill gas. Jim’s reminder:” all krypton is produced to at least 99.999% purity. If someone offers you a lower purity, be wary, because it usually means something went wrong in production. Blends should be built from research grade krypton too. GRG carries plenty of research grade krypton plus an aerospace grade that tests above 99.9999%.”

Xenon: same story as neon

Supply is steady. GRG stocks research grade xenon at 99.999% and aerospace grade at 99.9997%+.

Deuterium: check the HD before you buy

GRG expected deuterium to go short after Iran’s heavy water plant was bombed and destroyed earlier this year. Instead, India stepped up its heavy water production. Its enrichment falls below prior industry standards, but the market has accepted the lower grade deuterium made from it. GRG has good inventory at 99.999%+ chemical purity and 99.8% isotopic enrichment, excluding HD.

Jim’s advice: “always check HD levels before purchasing. HD (hydrogen deuteride) is not D2, and deuterium carrying a lot of H2 or HD may not perform the way you need it to.”

Understanding gas purity

A gas’s purity tells you how much of the cylinder is the gas you paid for, and how much is everything else. For rare gases, research grade (99.999%, or “5.0” or “5 nines”) is the baseline Jim recommends, and it’s what we use for neon and plasma work.

Reading the shorthand

Suppliers often write purity as a two-digit grade. The first digit is the number of nines; the second is the digit that follows them. So 5.0 means 99.999%, 5.5 means 99.9995%, and 6.0 means 99.9999%.

It helps to flip the number around and think about impurities instead. Going from 99.99% to 99.999% sounds tiny, but it cuts the contaminants from 100 parts per million down to 10. That’s a tenfold cleaner fill.

Purity grades and where they’re used

Grade names vary from supplier to supplier, so go by the percentage and the certificate of analysis, not the label alone.

A note on food grade gases

Food grade is not a purity level. It’s a certification about how a gas is made, handled and tracked. Gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, helium and nitrous oxide are used to carbonate drinks, pack snacks and salads, and whip cream. When a gas touches something people eat or drink, it has to meet food safety rules, such as FDA good manufacturing practices in the U.S. or food additive standards in the EU.

That means more than a number on the label. Food grade gas comes from approved sources, travels in dedicated cylinders and valves that never carried industrial gas, and is batch-tested and traceable from fill to delivery. A cylinder of 99.999% argon that once held something else can still carry contaminants, such as oils, solvents or residues, that don’t belong in food.

The reverse is also true: food grade doesn’t mean research grade. Food grade CO2 is typically around 99.9%, which is plenty for a soda fountain but nowhere near clean enough for a neon tube. Buy for the use. If you’re filling art, ask for research grade. If gas will touch food or drink, ask for food grade with its certificate, and never repurpose a studio cylinder for the kitchen.

Why purity matters in the studio

In neon and plasma, small amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor or hydrogen can shift colors, raise the voltage a tube needs to strike, and shorten its life. That’s why research grade is the starting point for our work.

Remember that the gas is only as pure as the tube you put it in. A 99.9995% fill won’t save a tube that wasn’t properly bombarded/”baked-out” and evacuated. Clean processing and good vacuum practice matter just as much as what’s in the cylinder.

What this means for your studio

• Neon and xenon: Supply is steady, so there’s no need to panic-buy. GRG’s current neon tested at 99.9995%+.
• Krypton: Window makers may compete for supply as silver prices climb. If you rely on krypton, plan ahead.
• Purity: Ask for research grade (99.999%) at minimum, and treat any lower-purity krypton or xenon offer with suspicion.
• Specialty gases: If you’re buying deuterium, ask for the HD level before you commit.

Taming Lightning resells Global Rare Gases products, shipped directly from GRG. If you need neon, krypton, xenon or a custom mix, reach out at percy@taminglightning.net or visit store.taminglightning.net for a quote.

Thanks to Jim Avolt for keeping us in the loop. From all of us at Taming Lightning and Global Rare Gases, enjoy the holiday season.

Percy Echols II, Taming Lightning LLC

Sources

Market update

• Jim Avolt, Director, Global Rare Gases (Northwood, OH). Market update email to Taming Lightning, November 2026.

Gas purity grades

• Purity — Linde HiQ. Grade notation and purity-to-ppm conversion.
• Purity, grades and concentration — BOC. Grade classification from N2.0 to N7.0 with impurity limits.
• High purity gases — Messer. Point notation and standard grades for neon, krypton and xenon.
• Instrument grade — Linde HiQ. 5.0 gases as carrier, purge and zero gases for analytical instruments.
• Understanding speciality gas purity grades — GCE Group. 6.0 purity for semiconductor and advanced research.

Food grade gases

• Food-grade gases — Airgas. FSMA compliance, GMP production and cylinders dedicated to food service.
• CO2 grades — West Air Gases. Food, beverage and medical grade CO2, and the roughly 99.9% purity floor.
• Grade Specifications: Liquid Carbon Dioxide — Matheson. Food and beverage grade CO2 specs under CGA G-6.2.
• CO2 quality for brewers — Brewers Association. EIGA food grade requirements and guarding against cross-contamination.
• Fountain Carbon Dioxide Quality Guidelines — Coca-Cola. Why industrial grade CO2 should never be used in beverages.

The “Typical uses” column in the purity chart draws on these sources and general industry practice. Grade names and applications vary by supplier.