Frequently Asked Questions

Q and A with an Ozone Expert

Q: What is the Half-Life of Ozone?

ANSWER: For the purification of water and air, it's needed to produce ozone on-site. Because of its short half-life, ozone will decay soon when produced. The half life of ozone in water is about 30 minutes, which means that every half hour the ozone concentration will be reduced to half its initial concentration. For example, when you have 8 g/l, the concentration reduces every 30 minutes as follows: 8; 4; 2; 1; etc. In practice the half-life is shorter because a lot of factors can influence the half-life. Factors are temperature, pH, concentration and concentration and sort solutes. Because ozone reacts with all kinds of components, the concentration ozone will reduce quickly. When most of the components are oxidized, the residual ozone will remain, and the concentration ozone will reduce less fast.

Q: How does Ozone work?

ANSWER: Ozone operates according the principle of oxidation. When the static loaded ozone molecule (O3) contacts with something "oxidation able", the charge of the ozone molecule will directly flow over. This is because ozone is very instable and likes to turn back in its original form (O2). Ozone can oxidize with all kinds of materials, but also odor and microorganisms like viruses, moulds and bacteria's. The extra oxygen atom releases from the ozone molecule and binds with the other material. Eventually remains only the pure and stable oxygen molecule.

Ozone is one of the strongest oxidation agents technical available for use to oxidize solutes. The extra-added oxygen atom will bind (=oxidation) in a split second to every component that comes into contact with ozone.

Ozone can be used for a broad of area of purification. For the biggest part ozone is applied in the municipal wastewater and potable water treatment plants (for disinfection). However ozone is used more and more in the industrial branch. In the food industry for example ozone is used for disinfection and in the paper- and textile industry it is used for the oxidation of wastewater. The main benefit of ozone is its clean character, because it only oxidizes materials, with forming almost no byproducts. Because ozone has a strong recognizable odor, very low concentrations will soon be perceived. This makes it generally safe to work with ozone.

Q: How is Ozone Produced?

ANSWER: Ozone can be produced artificially according the same principle as it occurs in nature, which means by UV light (ozone layer) or via corona-discharge (high voltages, thunderstorm). In both methods the connection between the oxygen molecules is broken up. Consequently oxygen radicals are produced, which connect with the oxygen molecule to O3 (ozone). For the production of ozone, corona discharge is used more because of the greater advantages of this method. Advantages are the lower costs for ozone production (more cost-efficient) and the greater durability of the system. For the feed inlet ambient air can be used as well as pure oxygen. For pure oxygen, oxygen generators can be used to concentrate oxygen out of air. When pure oxygen is used a higher concentration of ozone can be produced.

Q: How can you tell the level of Ozone in water

ANSWER: There are a lot of measuring instruments available to measure ozone in water and air. These measuring instruments rest on different principles and can measure the concentrations from PPM (PPM = Parts Per Million) to PPB (= Parts Per Billion). The instruments can be used for monitoring and controlling the ozone generator.

Q: What's the difference between negative ions and ozone?

Answer: Lots! Negative ions are molecules of oxygen (O2) in the air with an extra electron. Ozone is O3, a molecule of oxygen consisting of three oxygen atoms instead of the normal two. Negative ions primarily reduce particulates in the air such as dust and pollen, but they aren't as effective as ozone for eliminating odors. Ozone does not reduce the particulates in the air, but it is more effective at eliminating odors, even very strong odors. Too much ozone is bad for you. Having said that, there are machines available that intentionally generate ozone (we can supply them if you need one), but if the level of ozone is properly adjusted, the ozone and the odors in the air cancel each other out and no ozone remains.

Q: Is ozone a new technology?

Answer: Ozone has been around as long as oxygen, sunshine and lightning. It was discovered and isolated in 1840 by C. F. Schonbeinwho noticed a unique odour during electrical sparking and electrolysis experiments. He realized that the odour was the same one he observed after a lightning flash. In 1886 de Meritens of France conducted the first experiments using this unique gas as a disinfectant. He proved that even minute amounts of ozonised air would sterilize polluted water. A few years later in 1891, the German scientist Frolich reported the bactericidal properties of ozone from pilot plant tests conducted at a drinking water treatment plant in Martinkenfeld, Germany. In 1893, the first drinking water treatment plant to employ ozone was built in Oudshoorn in the Netherlands. In 1906, the first large-scale water treatment facility built specifically to use ozone as a disinfectant was completed. By 1977, there were 1039 ozone drinking water treatment plants in Europe. Today there are more than 2000 water treatment plants worldwide using ozone. Ozone has been used in swimming pools and spas in France, Germany, Netherlands, and other European countries since the early 1950's and in the United States since about 1975.

Q: What determines the final level of ozone in the water

Answer: Many people are under the impression the flow of oxygen/ozone mixture is what determines the final levels of ozone in water. This assumption is only partly correct. There are many additional aspects which have the same or grater effect at the final result of water ozonation as ozone flow does:

Ozone concentration
Water & ozone mixing (that includes a size of bubbles)
Water purity, temperature, pH , etc.

Ozone transfer from the bubble to water is happening only on the surface of the bubble where ozone is in a direct contact with water. Ozone trapped inside the bubble is completely useless....it just creates problem with strong ozone off-gas. Small bubbles are preferable because of more favorable "surface : volume" ratio => more ozone in the bubble will be in a direct contact with water.
Therefore Ozone Generators that create higher concentration will have the ability to produce water with higher levels of dissolved ozone.