Posted by markO3 on September 24, 2009 under Ozone News, Water Remediation | 
An Australian project is now providing bottled drinking water whose source is storm runoff from the city of Salisbury, South Australia. Using a process that includes holding storage, filtration, aquifer transfer, aeration, and ozone disinfection they provide an end product that meets or exceeds the standards for drinking water according to CSIRO (Australia’s national science agency). As a test program, it shows promise for providing a cost-effective addition to urban water supplies, while reducing carbon footprint and waterway pollution. See the original article here.
Flow Diagram of Rainwater System
Posted by markO3 on September 15, 2009 under Commercial Ozone Usage, Ozone News, Water Remediation |
In July of 2009, residents of Brunswick County North Carolina found themselves unable to drink tap water due to a mysterious musty, earthy smell. Analysis by the Brunswick County Public Utilities department later traced the problem to an algae bloom in the Cape Fear River, a major source of water for that region. When pulled from the river and treated with chlorine dioxide, the algae was killed but a chemical by-product was left behind causing an unpleasant odor. The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners recently agreed to spend $44,803 and implement additional, secondary systems to help avoid the problem should another algae spike occur in the river. (See the Star-News [ 1 , 2 ] for their coverage of the situation)
Why mention it here? The most interesting takeaway from the entire situation is that across the river in Wilmington, NC (where they also get their water from Cape Fear River) there never was an odor issue. On the Wilmington side of the river the local Water Authority uses ozone to treat their water rather than chlorine (see here for details). Wilmington’s decision to utilize ozone was based (in part) on the superior taste and smell of ozone-treated water. which certainly seems to be the case here.
When asked, Brunswick County representatives cited cost as one reason for not pursuing their own ozone treatment facility. For that reason, it is also worth noting here that although initial start-up costs of a large scale ozone treatment facility may be higher than a chlorine-based system, the long term costs are lower due to savings on chemicals and maintenance.
For further (detailed) reading, please reference “Elimination of Algae with Ozone”.
Posted by DonaldVR on September 10, 2009 under Odor Removal, Residential Ozone Usage |
Parents who have children in diapers know that the battle against dirty-diaper odor isn’t easily won. As the father of a two-year-old, I often find myself cringing as I step into our son’s nursery and breath in the stink drifting from the diaper bucket. Even after performing the inglorious task of taking out the diaper trash, the odor lingers. What’s a parent to do?
While it may be that the only permanent solution to dirty-diaper odor is potty training, I’ve found that applying an ozone shock treatment is a great way to remove the lingering odor. After a treatment, our nursery gets a fresh start, smelling nice and clean again. There’s no hint of dirty diapers.
The process I use is simple. Obviously, the first step is to empty the diaper bucket. Then I simply plug in and switch on my ozone generator and shut the door to the room. Two hours later, our nursery smells like a fresh breeze! It’s just that easy.
Some points to note:
- If you think your nursery smells a little, chances are that guests to your home, who are not used to dirty diaper odor, will be able to smell it through your whole house. An ozone treatment is a great way for your house to avoid the “stinky” label.
- The generator I use is an OMZ-700. It works greats for removing a wide variety odors from a single room.
- An ozone shock treatment should only be performed in a vacated room. It’s fine to step into the room to switch the generator off, but you and your kids (or pets) shouldn’t hang out in there while the treatment is going.
Posted by markO3 on under Commercial Ozone Usage, Odor Removal, Residential Ozone Usage |
One common question that people have about using ozone is exactly how an ozone machine is able to remove odors from houses, cars, clothing, etc. To help answer the question I figured it was worth a quick mention here.
Basically, ozone removes odor by destroying the molecules, bacteria, and spores that cause unpleasant smells. Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive molecule and is very quick to chemically react with particles that it comes into contact with in the air and on surfaces. The extra oxygen atom in the ozone attaches itself to other molecules, chemically changing their structure to create non-offensive molecules – eliminating the smell
How Ozone Breaks Down Odor
When considering bacteria and spores the same process applies, with ozone attacking the outer shell of the cell causing it to break down. When the outer shell degrades, the cell itself breaks apart and dies.
With this in mind, it makes sense that a situation with stronger odor (and more odor-causing molecules or particles) requires more ozone to remove the smell - there needs to be enough ozone to react with all of the offensive molecules it encounters. This requires either A) a longer ozone treatment or B) higher concentrations of ozone (a larger ozone generator). Check out this chart of common odors to see typical treatment times for common problems.
One common scenario involves people who have “tried everything” to get rid of a smell, but are still left with lingering scents that just don’t seem to go away. One reason that ozone is effective in these situations is because, as a gas, ozone effectively “cleans” any place that air can go. This includes air, walls, ceilings, ductwork, carpet fibers, gaps between floorboards, cracks in walls, and more. Ozone is able to penetrate into these areas and destroy odors that it finds there.
So how does ozone get rid of smells? It chemically breaks down odor-causing molecules in any area where air is allowed to flow.
Posted by markO3 on September 4, 2009 under Odor Removal, Ozone News, Residential Ozone Usage |
The nationally syndicated advice column “Hints from Heloise” featured ozone for smoke odor removal in its Aug 10 article. The letter is from a reader with experience in the laundry and drycleaning industry, adding that ozone machines can be effective in removing smoke odor from clothing and other items. A copy of the article can be found here. (Thanks to Marie from OH for mentioning it!)
After a fire, it is common for clothing and personal items to retain a smoke or soot smell. Getting the smell out of those items hinges on many things, including how hot the fire got, how close the items were to the fire, and whether the items themselves were scorched. For large-scale soot cleanup and deodorizing, you may need to call in a Disaster Recovery specialist.
If instead you need to remove a smoke smell from a few articles of clothing, here are a few pointers:
- Is the item salvageable? If the item itself is scorched, then the item will likely continue to emit odor regardless of the treatment used.
- Check if your local dry cleaner or launderer utilizes ozone treatments. If so, then they should be able to properly clean and deodorize your clothing.
- If not, ozone them yourself after they are cleaned by renting an ozone machine.
