Ozone is a gas naturally present in the atmosphere which can have potentially toxic effects for living beings when its concentration becomes too high. Used for many years in air or water treatments, it is often singled out for its toxicity. But is it really toxic when used in suitable systems? Let’s see this through its use in air and water filtration systems.
Air purification with ozone
The Air Ozonator is an increasingly popular system for quickly removing contaminants from the air, as well as mold and odors, primarily in hospital settings and in the food and beverage industry, where air laden with Ozone helps extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables.
The manufacturers of air purifiers recognize the toxicity of ozone at too high a concentration and actually specify that it must be used without human or animal presence nearby as a precaution.
The danger threshold of ozone is thus 5 ppm for an extended period of 30 minutes, while it is already effective against viruses such as hepatitis A or B, bacteria and fungal spores from 0.5PPM. In addition, ozone is perceptible by humans through a very pungent odor from a concentration of 0.01 ppm, well below the exposure limit values of between 0.1 ppm and 0.2 ppm according to the regulations.
Ozone therefore presents little danger and is finally the most respectful of the environment since it avoids secondary pollution caused by other disinfection methods, i.e. it does not produce any residual pollutant.
Ozone water treatment
The treatment of water with ozone is today one of the most natural and powerful treatments that can be found, it has been applied for a long time to the purification of drinking water but also to that water from our swimming pools.
The case of drinking water
Many cities have been using ozone for several decades for the treatment of drinking water but also for that of wastewater.
Ozone water treatment is particularly effective against all bacteria, germs, organic matter and viruses that will literally be destroyed by this treatment and is therefore naturally applied to domestic water filtration.
Domestic drinking water filtration systems and water dispensers today use ozonation without this can affect the health of users: the process takes place in a closed circuit and ozone is destroyed at the same time as the pollutants.
Swimming pool and spa filtration and treatment systems
Ozone is recognized as the best disinfectant for the pool and it is more effective than all other types of chemical treatments, whether manual or automatic.
A swimming pool with a filtration system that incorporates ozone treatment no longer requires the use of chemicals such as chlorine, which is harmful for your health but also for the environment. Conversely, the impact of ozone on the environment is non-existent.
Since the ozone is recombined into oxygen before it returns to the pool, it ensures the total absence of any residues in the pool water and is therefore completely harmless for swimmers.
In the case of UBO patented systems equipped with a Boost-Ozone mode, ozonation is activated when the pool or spa is not in use, such as at night, and the ozone concentration remains low enough to ensure that it is not harmful. This Boost mode nevertheless ensures the elimination of all germs and bacterial biofilms that may form in the pool water.
In short
The treatment of air and water with ozone remains an effective, healthy and ecological solution. If the gas itself is dangerous in high concentrations and requires careful use in the case of air purifiers, it is completely harmless when purifying water since being systematically destroyed during the treatment process within the filtration system.