Gas recirculated (also known as closed loop) glove boxes are primarily specified where the quality of contained gas is paramount. The capital outlay for the gas purification plant is relatively high to the cost of gas consumption, which is low. This low consumption is due to the need of only topping up the gas in the glove box to replace that, which is lost through temperature variation and gloved hand/arm displacement under working conditions. The bulk of gas consumption is used in conditioning the antechamber.

Gas recirculated glove box systems can maintain the working environment < 1 ppm oxygen and < 1 ppmv moisture under normal operational conditions, with occasional excursions to 5 ppm. These excursions are primarily but not exclusively associated with the transfer operation of material and equipment through the antechamber, and to a lesser extent the design of the conditioning equipment for that antechamber.

It is important to condition the antechamber environment to equal that of the glove box, prior to opening the inner door. Effective and rapid conditioning of the antechamber is best achieved by automatic process equipment.

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