Ozone treatment goes on air in the workspace

I am going to start this article by using a "dirty" word – ozone. The use of ozone as an effective form of sterilisation has been understood for more than a century; and, yes, it is toxic to humans in large concentrations.

However, if handled in a safe way its performance is unequalled. Ozone has been integrated as a sterilising agent into a wide array of industries: from water and wine to fruit and poultry. It plays its part by ensuring that products do not become contaminated by bacteria, viruses and moulds during processing. Ozone generators can be used only once work areas are unoccupied, because most areas require prolonged treatment to be effective. The area must then be purged with fresh air to ensure that the ozone is reduced to its mother state, oxygen, before the workspace can be re-occupied, all of which comes at considerable cost in terms of equipment and time. Ozone has also been used by the brewing industry for many years to improve the quality of water used in the brewing process. Recently it has also been introduced into the laundry process to assist in the eradication of biohazards in clothing.

Safe use If we are to consider the wider applications of ozone within the workplace, we must look for a method of using it safely in a more controlled manner. Many manufacturers claim to use "safe" ozone or "activated oxygen", which they often describe in a variety of terms. However, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) in the US has provided an effective guideline on this, which states that: "If the level of ozone emission is safe – the treatment is doing nothing, and if the level of ozone being emitted is doing something – it is toxic". As a result, Quest International began the development of the principle of Close Coupled Field Technology (CCFT). This is a ground-breaking air treatment process that provides an unequalled lethality to bacteria, viruses and moulds, while eradicating an extensive range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It can achieve contamination removal rate in one pass to a level below 0.1 micron – claims that can be supported by an extensive amount of third party accreditation and validation. The CCFT is enclosed within a unit that also incorporates a new, technologically advanced filter system. The processing of all contaminated air is thus achieved within the enclosure – taking dirty air in and sending clean air out – without the possibility of ozone contamination coming from the unit, and at a speed not seen before. The CCFT technology has been commercialised as the AirManager range of air treatment systems, which are currently being integrated into a wide cross-section of industries – including pharmaceutical, aerospace, food, leisure, nursing, medical, veterinary and military. AirManager systems can be used anywhere to create a clean, sterile air devoid of contaminants or odour, and are already being used to remove the risk of cross-infection in a wide range of applications. One particular example is the removal of the airborne threat of cross-contamination within both pathology and food testing labs. CCFT has also been the basis of the development of a new air treatment system for the aviation industry. The same technology is being used widely within the leisure industry for the destruction and removal of not only smoke but also harmful analytes from the environment. Quest has incorporated the technology into several new developments, one of which is the controlled, safe and sterile mobile storage of surgical instruments and units for endoscopy. The company has also started a project with the pharmaceutical industry to provide a higher level of air quality in both clean air environments, and as an addition to such things as cleanrooms, work stations and environmental cabinets. The implication of this technology for manufacturers of cleanrooms and clean working stations is extensive. Where previously ozone technology required the working environment to be vacated and the atmosphere to be replenished, that situation has now changed. CCFT cleans and then recirculates the clean air within the working environment, reducing the requirement to feed external air into the area, and enabling its use even when the area is occupied by workers.