Ozone Disinfection

Ozone is produced naturally by UV light created from sunlight. This is an important and natural part of our world. Most all of the UV light produced from the sun in the range from 100 – 315 nm is filtered by the ozone layer in the atmosphere. Ozone disinfection represents revolutionized disinfection technology during the pandemic.

Ozone disinfection is a noticeably versatile and powerful disinfection technology. The chemistry of ozone is explained, as is dosing and process technology. Its ability to oxidize a wide range of organic and inorganic compounds gives it significant extra value to operators.

The heart of every Ozone System is the Ozone Generator. Ozone (O3) is created from Oxygen (O2) in nature and also in Ozone Generators for commercial or industrial applications. However, Ozone (O3) quickly reverts back to molecular Oxygen (O2).

Ozone cannot be stored due to a short half-life and must be produced on-site and on-demand. Therefore, the Ozone Generator is the most important component of any successful Ozone System.

Ozone can be produced commercially from an Ozone Generator using UV light. Ozone is produced from UV light wavelengths between 100 and 240 nm. A shortwave, low pressure UV lamp can be used for this purpose.

These lamps will produce UV light with two peaks in the UV light band, one at 254 nm, and another at 185 nm. The 185 nm light is what is referred to as an “ozone producing” lamp, while the 254 nm light is referred to as a “germicidal” lamp.

UVC radiation in the wavelength of 254 nm is proven to be most effective at killing harmful microorganisms in many germicidal applications for air, water and surfaces. UV wavelengths harnessed at 185 nm are used in systems which produce ozone, a proven oxidizer which eliminates odor in the air and microbial contaminants in water. UVC lamps which produce ozone emit UV radiation less than 220 nm which decompresses the oxygen (O²) in the air, to produce ozone, (O³).

References: Ozonation and UV irradiation—an introduction and examples of current applications, Ozone production from UV.

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