How Ozone Can Help You Here are some examples of typical applications in a food production operation where ozone and other advanced oxidation based technologies are increasingly being utilised to bring improvements in hygiene and environmental standards leading to increased product shelf life, as well as reduced operating costs and overheads.
1. Product Washing
2. Product Storage
3. Water Storage & Purification
4. HV & AC Systems
5. Internal Atmosphere Hygiene
6. Transport
7. Component Disinfection / Hygiene Control
8. Wash Down
9. Washroom & Staff Facilities
10. Water Re-Use / Effluent Treatment
11. Odor Extract Emission Control
12. Chilled Refrigerated Storage
Product Washing
Applications here lead to significantly increased shelf life with the added bonus of chlorine removal and other undesirable chemicals with their associated taints and harmful residues. Ozonated water is used to wash produce such as vegetables, salads and meat products in order to remove pathogens and food spoilage organisms as well as pesticide residues from the surfaces.
Product Storage
Controlled fogging of food storage areas including chillers and bulk storage warehouses can significantly increase product shelf life by reducing organisms such as moulds, yeasts, spores and bacteria.
Water Storage & Purification
Ozone can reduce BOD,s, COD,s turbidity, taste, odour, toxicity, algae and limescale in potable water, effluent and cooling water. Ozone is more effective against all types of bacteria, viruses protozoa etc than any other recognised sanitation / sterilization method in common use, it is even effective against spores. Most bottled water is ozonated to produce pathogen free water, that can also treat the inside of the bottles and caps and reverts back to pure oxygen almost immediately leaving no harmful taints or residues. There are over 3000 potable water ozonation plants worldwide.
HV & AC Systems
Ozone can be introduced into ventilation HV + AC systems to remove bacteria, viruses and malodors, improving the internal air quality in buildings and avoiding problems such as “sick building syndrome”.
Internal Atmosphere Hygiene
Background levels of ozone, carefully controlled at levels safe for personnel, have been shown to generally reduce microbial contamination in food preparation and storage areas.
Transport
Ozonated water can be used to wash down containers and vehicles, ozone gas can be used to increase shelf life and control ripening of transported produce.
Component Disinfection & Hygiene Control
Ozonated water can be used to wash down equipment between production cycles in place of traditional sanitizers, removing the need for a rinsing stage to remove residues left by these traditional chemicals.
Wash Down
Ozonated water can be used to wash down production lines between production cycles / shift changeovers in place of traditional sanitizers again removing the need for a rinsing stage to remove residues left by these traditional chemicals.
Washroom & Staff Facilities
Ozone can cost effectively improve air quality and control odors in staff canteens and toilets.
Water Re-Use / Effluent Treatment
Using ozone, discharge contaminants are reduced, effluent loadings are less, surcharges are eliminated, resulting in lowered operating costs. Introducing ozone into wastewater streams reduces B.O.D’s and C.O.D’s, and promotes the removal of fats, oils and greases, enabling recycling and reuse for numerous factory applications. To be successful, ozone is often combined with advanced filtration techniques.
Odor Extract Emission Control
As a statutory nuisance, persistent odor emissions can lead to prosecutions. Ozone is fast becoming the obvious choice for elimination of extracted odors from industrial and commercial premises. It destroys rather than filtering out or masking odor molecules, is relatively inexpensive to install and maintain and produces no hazardous by-products. In comparison wet scrubbing and carbon filtration systems are expensive to maintain in terms of chemical usage or constant replacement of filter media as well as maintenance.
Chilled Refrigerated Storage
Applied as a fogging agent, ozone will eliminate micro-organisms on floors, walls, equipment and packaging. Controlled ozone application will save on chemical treatment and extend product shelf life. Many organisms are opportunistic and very resilient, but low ozone concentrations are all that are needed to eliminate bacteria. Ozone can remove contamination deep within chiller coils and ducting, preventing the usual build up and subsequent dispersal of microbes back into the chiller itself.
