According to Khazaei, the production of a ton of liquid argon can provide ESCO with $2.5 million of value-added on basic, unprocessed argon, ILNA reported. Argon is mostly used as an inert shielding gas in welding and other high-temperature industrial processes where ordinarily non-reactive substances become reactive. For example, an argon atmosphere is used in graphite electric furnaces to prevent the graphite from burning.