A process for producing low-cost atmospheres suitable for decarburize annealing carbon steels from non-cryogenically generated nitrogen containing up to 1.54 residual oxygen by catalytically deoxygenating a non-cryogenically generated nitrogen stream at low temperatures with a hydrocarbon gas and mixing the deoxygenated stream with an economical amount of hydrogen prior to introduction into the furnace for annealing. The process includes the use of 1) hydrocarbon gas to convert residual oxygen to a mixture of carbon dioxide and moisture at low temperatures and 2) mixing the deoxygenated stream with a sufficient amount of hydrogen to maintain a pH.sub.2 /pH.sub.2 O ratio of at least 2 in the furnace.