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What is Ozone Water Purification? It is the process of using ozone to purify, that is removing the harmful micro organisms that can make you sick, from our drinking water. This process has been used in drinking water plants since 1906 where the first industrial ozonation plant was built in Nice, France and is more widely used in Europe and Asia than the United States.  Have you ever smelled the clean, fresh scent in
the air just after a sudden summer thunderstorm? ...... That's the ozone!
In this case, you smell ozone, which has been creating from lighting bolts during the electrical storm. Ozone is also created by the sun’s ultra violet rays reacting with the Earth's upper atmosphere which creates our protective ozone layer. At the instant that ozone is created, the oxygen (O2) molecules in the air are broken apart, by either the suns UV rays or by intense electrical discharge (lightening) and then recombined with an extra oxygen atom (O3). Ozone is a very reactive and unstable gas with a short half-life before it reverts back to oxygen. Ozone is the most powerful and rapid acting oxidizer man can produce, and will oxidize all bacteria, mold and yeast spores, organic material and viruses given sufficient exposure. It is said to be:
 Ozone is made up of three
oxygen atoms (O3) a "free radical" of oxygen. It will readily
give up one atom of oxygen providing a powerful oxidising agent which
is toxic to most waterborne organisms such as bacteria, mold and yeast
spores, viruses or harmful protozoa that form cysts. This single Oxygen atoms binds with these substance causing them to oxidize (think iron tuning into Iron Oxide - Rust). The byproduct of this oxidation a single Oxygen atom. The advantages of using Ozone Water Purification include:
How Does an Ozone Water Purification System Work? Ozone is created with what is called an Ozone Generator. It creates O3 in much the same way as the sun does. A chamber with a high intensity Ultraviolet (UV) light is filled with compressed air which then converts some of the oxygen in the air into ozone. This ozone is then sent through a line into a diffuser, which creates ozone-saturated bubbles. Water is drawn in to mix with the bubbles, and then fed into the water purification tank. The weak Oxygen molecule in the Ozone attaches to other organic molecules in the water and oxidizies them. This is the oxidation process that was discussed earlier. It is important to note that the effectiveness of the process is dependent, on good mixing of ozone with the water, and ozone does not dissolve particularly well, so a well designed system that exposes all the water to the ozone is important. The ozone water purification system is one of the most advanced water treatment processes in the water industry. In the home, ozone is often combined with activated carbon filtration to achieve a more complete water treatment. These systems for your home can be quite expensive and are not readly available.
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