4th International Symposium in O3 Ozone Applications
Ozone in Water Treatment, Waste Water Ozonation,
Ozone Generation Systems and Other Applications
April 6th to 9th, 2004
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Chemical Treatment Water Disinfection
Kruithof J.C. (Holland)
Development and Perspectives of O3 Ozone Applications in Wter and Wastewater Teatment in Cuba.
Bataller M.
During the last decades, Cuban scientists and engineers have designed and performed numerous research projects, whose results have been applied in several fields. Ozone water treatment began in the early 1980s and has shown a continuous growth. Today, ozone is applied to nearly all Cuban bottled water to provide final disinfection and to sanitize.
Since 1990, ozone treatment systems supply high quality water for the breeding of pathogen free animals with notable economic advantages compared to thermal treatment. Surface water treatment with ozone to obtain potable water at a pilot plant demonstrated an effective THM reduction compare to chlorination.
The first experience in Cuba for ozonized water supply was in the facilities for 2000 persons of National Center for Scientific Research. Technologies with ozone and advanced oxidation process have been proposed and employed for the treatment of hazardous and domestic wastewaters. Ozone swimming pool water treatment system was installed. Operation reports during five years have demonstrated the efficiency and economic feasibility of this treatment under tropical climate conditions, fulfilling all water quality standards.
Another experience has been the high purity water production in the pharmaceutical industries. Recently, a work started to introduce ozonation in commercial laundries to reduce energy costs, chemicals and to reuse treated wastewater.
In Cuba, full-scale use of ozone has been limited, due to the high capital cost of ozone equipments. However, the rapid market growth has been in water and wastewater small volume treatment.
Consequently, ozone is applied in facilities of significant economic importance and for reducing the environmental impact of selected effluents. Efforts are made to design and produce ozonizers with larger capacities. The knowledge and experience already reached in Cuba in ozone science and technology augurs a certain development on ozone applications.
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Comparison Between Two Water Potabilization Systems: O3 Ozone and Reverse Osmosis in Laboratory Animal Facilities.
Mondragón B., Mata E. and Cisnero M. (Mexico)
Water contamination provokes diseases in animals and humans. In UNAM Lab. Animal Facility, there are two independent treatment system for water purification, based on reverse osmosis and ozonation respectively.
In reverse osmosis high pressure forces water to go through a proper semi-permeable membrane thus eliminating ions and contaminating molecules. In ozonation system ozone is produced from oxygen by an electric discharge and is injected into water flow. Due to its high bactericidal power, ozone destroys microorganism.
In this work is a comparison of reverse osmosis and ozonation to obtain potable water suitable for Lab Animal Facilities according to Mexican Guidelines is carried out. Whereas water obtained by reverse osmosis lacks minerals, ozone treated water systems keeps its organoleptic characteristics.
Regarding to equipment acquisition, installation and maintenance costs ozonation showed the lower ones. Although reverse osmosis is used in many Lab Animal Facilities for water purification purposes, water ozonation is a technology that produces germ free water, which also can be used for cage washing and personnel consumption. Water quality obtained in both systems complies with Mexican Guidelines.
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O3 Ozone as a Sterilant: TSO3-125L Ozone Sterilizer
Dufresne S. and Legube B. (France)
Ozone has been used for years as a disinfectant in water. TSO3 has developed an ozone sterilizer for heat sensitive medical instruments. The inactivation kinetics of Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores alone, or mixed with hard water or serum have been studied. G. stearothermophilus spores were the most resistant microorganism in the TSO3 ozone sterilizer.
Survivor curve and negative fraction analysis were performed to estimate the D-value of the spores as a function of the critical process parameter. In the TSO3-125L sterilizer, microorganisms inactivation follows the Chicks and Watson's law for chemical disinfectant, a first order rate kinetic was found.
In contrast to steam and Ethylene oxide sterilization process, the ozone process is dose dependent. The decimal reduction value (D-value) is expressed in mg/L and not in minute.
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Influence of Cell Lsis on E. coli Inactivation by O3 Ozone.
Curtiellas V., Gutierrez M. , Sánchez E., Fernández I. and Baluja Ch.
The effect of cell lysis on E. coli inactivation by ozone was studied at different pH, ionic strength and gas concentration at reactor inlet. Ozonation was carried out in a 100 mL bubble reactor during 10 minutes and Escherichia coli ATCC 10536 was used as test organism. Cell lysis showed a linear behavior versus ozone consumption for the three ozone concentrations studied, while viable count presented an initial rapid inactivation stage followed by a slower inactivation stage.
Increase in disinfectant concentration produced a rise in cell lysis and ozone consumption but number of viable was not significantly affected, which demonstrates that cell lysis diminished the efficiency of the agent to eliminate surviving bacteria. Although differences were not observed as for the capacity of ozone to reduce the number of viable at pH 6.0, 7.0 and 8.2, an increase in bacteriolysis was found at pH 8.2, which should be related to the presence of OH radicals.
Finally, ozonation in distilled water decreased the lysis of E. coli, which allowed a higher bacterial inactivation, reaching a viable count smaller than those obtained in 0.3 and 0.5 M buffer Phosphate.
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Operation Report for Several Years of an O3 Ozone Swimming Pool Water Teatment System.
Bataller M., Véliz E., Fernández L.A., Pérez C., Mora C., Álvarez C., Sánchez E., Baluja Ch. and Amador A.
Ozonation for swimming pool and spa water treatment has found nowadays general acceptance throughout Europe and North America. However, none or very scarce information is available for the case of pools in tropical regions, commonly placed in open locations, hence directly exposed to intense solar irradiation, rainfall, dust and all other possible aggressions derived from a full contact with the environment.
This paper presents the operation report for several years of an ozone swimming pool water treatment system under the severe conditions of tropical climate. The ozone/bromide ion process has been applied. The system installed in a 70 m3 pool with upflow hydraulics, comprises sand filtration and ozone/bromide ion treatment. Cupric sulfate was chosen as algaecide and pH was kept between 7.5 and 7.8 by adding adequate amounts of HCl. When required, a slight flocculation (aluminum sulfate, 5 mg/L) was applied weekly.
Water physicochemical analyses performed twice a week throughout the years, including microbiological tests, clearly demonstrated the remarkable efficiency of the treatment, fulfilling all water quality standards, even at high bather loads and during the summer months (at water temperature higher than 31 oC and an intense sunlight) being economically feasible as well.
The ozone/bromide ion process demonstrated to be suitable for swimming pool water treatment under tropical conditions. Higher ozone doses are required in comparison to literature data for other latitudes. Operational and economic advantages are demonstrated for ozonation, compared to chlorination.
This experience will allow the extension of ozone water treatment to larger swimming pools in similar circumstances. Recently, the sanitary register was obtained by INHEM and the ozonation for swimming pool water treatment has been included in the Cuban standard.
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O3 Ozone Application for the Decomposition of Organic Compounds in Landfill Leachate.
Poznyak T., Bautista L.F., Monje I. and Córdova I. (Mexico)
This study deals with evaluation of the organic mater from Mexico City waste sanitary landfill leachate Bordo Poniente (including domestic and industrial) by ozonation after the coagulation-flocculation treatment. Leachate obtained from a solid with COD = 1511 mg/L and the pH = 9.7 is used.
To realize ozonation the initial leachate with distilled water (1:1) is diluted. For the intermediates and final product identification, the initial and ozonated leachate with benzene, chloroform: methanol (2:1) and hexane were extracted. Then the extracts with a gas chromatograph with mass detector were analyzed as well as the aqueous samples by a UV-VIS spectrophotometer and the HPLC.
The obtained results show that some amount of non-biodegradable organic substances in leachate can be destructed by ozonation. So, the color disappears at 100 % during 5 min of ozonation.
The organic substances in the extract with hexane are destructed completely (100 %) during 60 min of ozonation. In the aqueous samples the only one compound without the significant concentration variation in ozonation was observed.
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Ozonation Impact on Anaerobic Digestion.
Ledakowicz S., Kaczorek K. and Sosnowski P. (Poland)
Ozonation is well known as a processes enhancing biodegradation of recalcitrant compounds. While the literature survey on integrated chemical and biological oxidation of wastewater provides plenty of publications, presentations of ozonation influence on anerobic digestion are very scarce.
The purpose of this study was to test how ozonation could influence anaerobic treatment of sewage sludge and anaerobic biodegradation of organic fraction of municipal solid wastes. The concentrated initial and excessive sewage sludge and separatetly leachates from labscale lysimeters, simulating landfills, were ozonated batchwise in a glass reactor 1.5 dm3 in volume, equipped with a thermostating jacket, a porous plate which enables good dispersion of ozone, generated by ozonizer of Polish construction and continously supplied to the reactor.
The absorbed ozone dose was calculated from the difference of ozone concentrations (O3 monitors, BMT) in the inlet and outlet of reactor at the known gas flow rate.
The following analytical methods were applied: pH, redox potential, biological oxygen demand (BOD5) chemical oxygen demand (COD), volatile fatty acids, ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen, toxicity (ToxAlert®).
The experimental results confirmed that the ozonation of the leachate accelerated their biodegradation in the solid state anaerobic digestion when implemented at the beginning of methanogenic phase. The biodegradability of leachate (BOD5/COD) increased by 110 % directly after ozonation (1.4 g O3/gCOD). Sewage sludge pretreatment with ozone accelerated its fermentation and raised biogas yield.
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Comparison of Different O3 Ozone Applications.
Sasse J.M., Urruchi W.I., Tavares M.H., Otani C. and Camolese E. (Brazil)
Based on the properties of ozone as a strong germicidal agent, biological inactivation of Total bacteria, Total coliforme,Fecal coliforme, Salmonella ssp., Enterococcus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus niger in domestic wastewater was studied.
Pre-experiments showed the necessity to use different types of bacteria as indicator organisms for the sterilization efficiency of ozone in wastewater, whereas the influence of the pH (normal variation in a wastewater purification plant between pH 6.0 and 8.0) is to neglect.
In uncontaminated spring water 0.045 mg O3/L have been enough to sterilize the water completely. 20 min treatment with 4.0 mg O3 (L*min) were sufficient to eliminate all bacteria in the wastewater from the kitchen and the sanitary rooms of two industrial companies.
The COD was reduced during this treatment from 90 mg/L to 60 mg/L. For a complete sterilization of the outflow of a municipal wastewater purification plant a treatment of 15 min with 15 mg O3/(L*min) have been necessary.
The color of the wastewater changed during the treatment from brown to colorless, the COD from 390 mg/L to 190 mg/L. By the treatment of landfill leachate with ozone good results have been reached by the reduction of COD (>55 %), the color of the water changed during the treatment from nearly black to colorless.
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O3 Ozone Oxidation of Cyanide in a Continuous Counter-Current Bubble Column.
Barriga F., Nava F. and Uribe A. (Mexico)
The oxidation of cyanide by ozone was studied using a continuous countercurrent bubble column reactor in pilot-scale.
The results showed that the efficiency of cyanide destruction mainly depends on the molar ozone/cyanide rate fed to the reactor. The ozone consumption obtained in pilot-scale tests was the same of that obtained in a laboratory-scale stirred reactor: 1.2 to 1.4 mol of ozone per mol of cyanide.
Dissolved ozone and cyanide profiles where obtained throughout the column for different experimental conditions and it was demonstrated that the ozone-cyanide reaction takes place in all the length of the column as long as there is dissolved ozone remaining in the solution.
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Evaluation of a Laundry Wastewater Treatment System for Reuse.
Véliz E., Fernández L.A., Bataller M., Hernández C. and Álvarez C.
The laundry industrial processes are great water consumers and generate high volumes of aggressive wastewaters to the environment. In this work a laboratory scale evaluation of a combination of aeration, coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation and filtration, followed by ozonation processes was carried out, on a synthetic wastewater similar to the obtained in the laundry industry.
The influence of airflows, coagulation dose (aluminum sulfate) and pH were studied. The best set of values obtained, corresponded to a turbidity remotion higher than 80 %. A rapid sand filtration stage at different filtration rates was also studied.
In the ozonization stage the ozone dose effect and the contact time were evaluated. In this stage DQO values diminished in more than 60 %, detergent concentration MBAS) in more than 98 % and very slow turbidity values were obtained.
These results show that the proposed water treatment process produces water with good physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics to be reutilized.
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Domestic Wastewater Treatment with O3 Ozone.
Bataller M., Véliz E., Fernández L.A., Hernández C., Fernández I., Alvarez C. and Sánchez E.
Disinfection is a necessary step to ensure environmental and public health protection. Today, there is a growing interest in domestic and industrial wastewater ozone treatments. For decades, chlorination has been the most widely used technology, but the formation of hazardous DBPs and insufficient inactivation power of chlorine to certain microorganisms have encouraged the use of ozone.
Besides, ozone is an attractive alternative disinfectant for several reasons: it is a strong oxidizing agent against bacteria, virus and protozoa, and simultaneously oxidizes organic matter resulting in improved quality wastewater. Results of a laboratory investigation on ozone tertiary treatment of domestic wastewater are presented.
The effect of transferred ozone dose and contact time on wastewater quality parameters such as pH, conductivity, BOD5, ST, organic matter (COD, UV254) was evaluated. Two parameters were taken as representative of the immediate ozone demand, and the decay kinetic constant, due to overall consumption by moderate or slow reactions (considered as pseudo first order reactions). Disinfection by ozone and chlorination was compared.
It was demonstrated that ozone disinfection for Total and Fecal Coliforms was very effective, as well as towards a more resistant microorganism (Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Ozone disinfection treatment should be use for a safe discharge and to reduce the environmental impact.
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Laboratory O3 Ozonation of Cytostatic in Water Medium.
Padrón S., Pérez Rey R., Ramos A., Baluja Ch. and López B.
Cytostatics drugs are employed in the treatment of cancer. These are toxic compounds that are present in the liquid emissions of pharmaceutical plants related with their production.
This paper comprises the use of different ways for the inactivation of cytostatics dissolved in water. With this objective activated carbon adsorption, chemistry treatment and ozonation inactivation procedures were employed. Four nitrogen bases like 5-fluoracil, cytarabine, azathioprine, methotrexate, and three alkilating drugs doxorubicin, dacarbazine and cyclophosphamide were treated.
Results show that the better way for the inactivation of these compounds was the ozonation. The Ames test performed showed that the reaction products were non-mutagenic.
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Evaluation of Lazrus and Kok’s Method for the Determination of Hydrogen Peroxide in O3 Ozone / Hydrogen Peroxide Reaction with Cyclophosphamide in Aqueous Media.
López A., Hernández C. and Alvárez C.
Lazrus and Kok’s technique for the quantitation hydrogen peroxide is based on the reaction of hydrogen peroxide with horseradish peroxidase and p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (POPHA). The resulting fluorescent dimer of POPHA is quantified and correlated with hydrogen peroxide concentration.
In the present work this technique was adapted for the determination of hydrogen peroxide in the degradation of cyclophosphamide in aqueous solutions with ozone/hydrogen peroxide.
pH was adjusted to 7 with phosphate buffer for samples and fluorescent reagent. A study to minimize enzyme and POPHA concentrations and to establish the best reagent to sample relationship was carried out to fit the experimental conditions. Under the chosen conditions 1.9 mL of fluorescent reagent were added to 2 mL of the sample.
The method resulted linear between 10-7 and 6 x 10-5 M of hydrogen peroxide concentration. Correlation coefficient obtained for the calibration curve was 0.9999. Variation coefficient was 1.77 % at 4 x 10-6 M. The recoveries were between 96 and 101 %. No interferences from other compounds were observed.
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Cyclophosphamide Degradation by Advanced Oxidation Processes.
Fernández L.A., Hernández C., Bataller M., Véliz E., Baluja Ch., Álvarez C., Padrón S., López A. and López B.
Cyclophosphamide is a hazardous cytostatic drug, which should be removed or eliminated from wastewaters before disposals. Although this substance can be inactivated by ozonation, the reaction is very slowly, requiring long ozonation times to obtain degradation.
In this paper different AOPs are studied for cyclophosphamide oxidative degradation in aqueous medium: ozone at several basic pH values, ozone/hydrogen peroxide at neutral and basic pHs with the addition of the peroxide at the beginning of or simultaneously during ozonation. The influence of ozone concentration in the gas phase and gas flow is also discussed.
Results show that, under the experimental conditions studied, the radical mechanism acting in the AOPs rapidly degrades cyclophosphamide.
At basic pH, the addition of hydrogen peroxide diminishes the degradation rate. An improve in the cytostatic degradation rate was obtained by adding hydrogen peroxide to the system at neutral pH with a dissolved ozone – hydrogen peroxide molar ratio of 3.4.
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Rate Constants for Cyclophosphamide Degradation by O3 Ozone in Aqueous Solution. Preliminary results.
Hernández C., López A., Alvarez C. and Baluja Ch.
ate constants for the degradation of cyclophosphamide by ozone in aqueous solutions were determined in the laboratory.
Initially rate constant of the direct reaction between ozone and cyclophosphamide was determined at pH 3 in presence of 0.05 M of tert-butanol at different temperatures in a semibatch system. Rate constants values were found.
Under these same conditions but in homogeneous phase the stoichiometric ratio ozone/cyclophosphamide for the reaction was obtained and resulted approximately equal to 3.0.
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Industrial Plant for Pharmaceutical Wastewater O3 Ozone Teatment.
Fernández L.A., Véliz E., Hernández I., Pérez C., García L., Padrón S. and De la Paz B.
The pharmaceutical production plants generate wastewaters that should be properly treated because some of them could be highly toxic. This paper presents an industrial ozone treatment system for the wastewaters generated in cytostatic production. In previous laboratory studies the applied ozone dose necessary for elimination of several cytostatics was obtained.
From these results a technology for wastewater treatment in cytostatic production process was designed, installed and evaluated. The technology consists on initials tanks to collect the wastewaters coming from the production plant, a gas-liquid ozone bubbling column where wastewater inactivation is carried out, an ozone generator and final collector tanks.
The system is provided with automation, which guarantees the plant operator protection, a catalytic exit ozone destruction system and HEPA filters. Five different cytostatic wastewaters were treated and eliminated with this scheme.
Treatment time for each 350 L batch is less than 2.5 h, so all the wastewater produces per day can be totally ozonized. Treated wastewater fulfills the Cuban guidance for water disposition. It was proven that the treatment rendered negative results for mutagenicity according to Ames test.
Finally it can be said that the developed technology was able to eliminate all of these cytostatics dissolved in water medium independently of its molecular structure. All these facts indicate that this technology is reliable and guarantees the environment safety.
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High Quality Water Poduction for Pharmaceutical use by O3 Ozone Treatment.
Hernández C., Bataller M., Aquino A., Gutiérrez M., Pérez C., Véliz E., López A., Curtiellas V., Baluja Ch. and Alvarez C.
The pharmaceutical industry consumes great volumes of high quality water, which must fulfill strict specifications concerning chemical impurities and endotoxins. An industrial installation was built for a high quality water production process by ozone refining process. Design and building of ozonation system and also quality control assurance of process and high quality water were made according GMP, GLP and effective Pharmacopeia.
Starting from purified water with suitable values of initial conductivity, different ozone concentration in the gas, liquid flow and ultraviolet irradiation were tested. Following experimental results performed at laboratory scale, endotoxin challenges in this industrial system were carried out. Inactivated E. coli suspensions were added to purified water, and treated with ozone in a bubbling column in a continuous mode.
The effect of ozonation treatment on endotoxin and total organic carbon (TOC) contents was determined. TOC values practically did not diminish during the treatment, whereas endotoxin levels from initial values about one endotoxin unit per milliliter (EU/mL) decreased up to values that meet USP standards.
Results showed that starting with water with good initial conductivity and by a polishing ozonation process, it is possible to industrially produce high quality water for pharmaceutical use, which fulfills the international standards for water for injection, even if starting endotoxin content is high within rational limits.
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O3 Ozone Purified Water System Treatment for Pharmaceutical Industry.
Oriol M., Montané M.;, Alvarez N., Astorga J. and Vizcaíno R.
Purified water (PW) system at CGEB’s Production Plant has a nominal generation capacity of 1500 L/h. This system uses softened water as raw water that is obtained in a suitable plant. The system is formed by several operations and equipment that combine their functions to produce purified water which meet USP 24 quality specifications.
Main processes in this system are reverse osmosis and continuous demineralization. Distribution of produced purified water is carried out in a stainless steel 316 L system formed by a 2000 L capacity storage tank, a centrifugal pump, an UV lamp and closed loop with 28 sanitary points of use.
Ozone is injected continuously on the storage tank, through an ejector installed in the loop return to the tank, to avoid growing of microorganism a UV radiation lamp is installed to destroy residual ozone before points of use. Sanitization of the loop is performed with ozone once a month or when microbiological results exceed specifications approved for purified water according USP 24.
Results demonstrated the high effectiveness of continuous ozone treatment to maintain good microbiological conditions in the high quality water produced, during storage in the tank as well as in the distribution pipes and points of use to production areas.
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O3 Ozone in Water Treatment for the Production of Medicaments from Human Placenta.
Cedeño Y., Munive M. and Martinez M.
Cuban Placental Histotherapy Center is mainly devoted to the productions of medicaments for tropical and cosmetics uses, obtained from human placenta. In the manufacturing of these products purified water is used, which is obtained in a system consisting of: a 24 m3/h deionizing unit, a 6 m3 stainless steel tank, a 6 g/h ozone generate AQOZO BF (Cuba) and 3 m3/h sanitary pump.
Deionized water (D.I.) is collected in the tank from where it is pumped to a 1" ejector connected in a bypass to the main flow pipe, through which a mixture of oxygen/ozone from ozone generator is introduced to the system.
Ozonized water return to the tank until residual ozone Concentration is 0.7-1.0 mg/L. Once this concentration is reached, ozonized water is pumped through the loop to the points of use in order to sanitize them.
UIT the use of this ozone water treatment water system, frequent Pseudomona aeruginosa contaminations, that existed in the past, have been eliminated and purified water obtained metes BP 2000 microbiological and others requirements for water to be used in topical medicament production, e.g < 100 CFU/mL.
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O3 Ozone Generator Development in Cuba.
Mora C., Menéndez D. and Pérez C.
One of the aims of Ozone Research Center in Cuba is the design, development and production of ozone generators for industrial and medical uses. At the present time there are three main lines of ozone generators in our Center according to specific purposes: therapeutical use, domestic water treatment and water and wastewater treatment in industries and health institutions.
The future trend for ozone generator research & development is to produce equipments with higher ozone generation capacity, the introduction of new materials for the construction of generation cells which operate at higher frequencies, furnished with direct ozone concentration measurement and digital reading in order to produce more competitive ozone generators that meet ISO 9000 and other standards according to the requirements of international market.
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Evaluation of Domestic O3 Ozonator for Water Treatment.
Véliz E., Fernández L.A., Bataller M., Amador A., Hernández C., Mora C., Pérez C., Álvarez C., Baluja Ch. and Sánchez E.
The domestic ozonators are equipments of reduced size that can be used to obtain small volumes of drinking water of high quality. With the use of this ozonators is not necessary to boil water or to consume bottled water. In the Ozone Research Center of Cuba, it was designed, built and evaluated a line of domestic ozonators that allows giving a local solution to the drinking water treatment.
The present work deals with the evaluation of the main parameters that characterize the functioning of these equipments. These equipments were evaluated in winter and summer, to consider the temperature and humidity variations of the Cuban tropical climate.
This evaluation included the control of their operation conditions: water pressure, water and gas flows, continuous operation time and gas and liquid ozone concentration as means parameters. Finally microbiological test for water quality demonstration were carried out.
The best operation conditions were: water pressure in the equipment inlet: 1 kg/cm2 , water flow: 1 L/min., liquid ozone concentration: higher than 0.3 mg/L, time of the continuous operation: 10 min., which permits to obtain 10 liters of ozonated water, rest time before the equipment be turned on again: 15 min. The equipment in this conditions was capable of eliminating high concentrations of different kinds of microorganisms in the water.
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Ecologically Safe O3 Ozone Technology of Preplant Seed Treatment.
Golota V.I., Dindorogo V.G., Zavada L.M., Kyrychenko V.V., Petrenkova V.P., Pugach S.G., Sukhomlin E.O. and Taran G.V. (Ukraine)
The peculiarity of the presowing processing of seeds by ozone is its ecological safety (in contrast to ordinary chemical treatment), simplicity of application and low processing cost.
Using results of ten years' experience in carrying out pilot investigations it can be asserted that the treatment of seeds by ozone lead to the increase of seed vigor and as the result - to the increase of grain yield and improvement the product quality. For seed treatment the new type of ozonizer was developed. It uses barrierless glow discharge of high pressure.
The productivity of ozonizer was 300 g ozone per hour. In 2000-2003 the systematic investigations of the influence of preplant seed treatment with ozone-air mixture on the corn growth were initiated in laboratory, model and field conditions. It was shown that the new "green" procedure of preplant ozone treatment of certified seeds increased seed vigor for no less than 5 % as compared to the control variant. It allowed to obtain 12-15 % higher grain yield with better quality of grain.
The aims of further investigations are determination of mechanisms of ozone influence on seed embryos and optimization of preplant ozone seed treatment as the ecologically safe process for its wide application in agriculture procedure.
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A Very Deep Ozone Minihole in the Northern Hemisphere Stratosphere at Mid-latitudes During the Winter of 2000.
Semane N., Teitelbaum H. and Basdevant C. (France)
Ozone miniholes appear on total ozone maps as localized ozone minima with horizontal extent of a few hundreds of kilometers. They are characterized by a rapid and small-scale appearance of a columnar ozone decrease with an equally rapid recovery after a few days. They are frequently observed at northern hemisphere mid-latitudes in winter. Evolving too rapidly to be the result of an ozone chemical destruction, miniholes should be the result of meteorological processes.
According to some authors, miniholes should be due to the northeast motions of air patches with low total ozone content. However, several studies attribute the formation of ozone miniholes to the uplift of air masses, uplift that decreases the ozone columnar content by simply decreasing the pressure thickness of the ozone layer, without changing the mixing ratio.
According to these studies, the latter mechanism explains the main reduction of ozone that occurs between the tropopause and the ozone maximum during an ozone minihole event. A region of extreme low ozone values passed over Europe from 27 to 30 November 2000. The total ozone values were measured with the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS).
A radio sounding, launched on 29 November 2000 from Payerne at the very place and time of the deepening of the minihole, allows us to perform a detailed analysis of its formation mechanism. It is shown that the uplift of isentropic surfaces plays an important role in the columnar ozone decrease and explains the lower part of the depleted ozone profile.
However the deepening of the minihole is explained by another mechanism; namely at this time the minihole air column intersects the polar vortex at high altitudes and then encounters ozone-poor air masses.
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OZOMED MINI: Therapeutic O3 Ozone Generator.
Amador A., Aquino A., Tabares F., Menéndez D., García L. and Baluja Ch.
OZOMED MINI is a new line of ozone generation equipments for therapeutic use developed in our Center, which use high frequency for their operation. Its main features are: low power consumption, reduction in the magnitude of voltage applied to the ozonizer cell, small dimensions, weight and size of the ozonizer cell.
An electronic and neumatic system and, as well as a generator cell compose the equipment, designed in such a way that could be operated as two independent or combined modules which allows a greater performance because each module by itself is able to treat several pathologies. A stable ozone production between 8 and 70 mg/L was obtained, depending on the applied oxygen flow and the numbers of modules operating.
This ozonizer is a versatile portable equipment that can be used in practically all ozone medical applications and administration ways known at the present time, such as: auto-hemotherapy, cavities insufflations, intra-muscular injections, etc.
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Industrial O3 Ozone Generator AQOZO AF.
Pérez C., Amador A., Menéndez D., García L. and Tabares F.
During the last 20 years, ozone generators, which operate at medium frequencies, have been built in Cuba. Meanwhile the continuous progress in the technology and design of ozone generators has moved towards the development of high frequency ozone generation systems for industrial and therapeutic uses.
In this paper a new high frequency industrial ozonizer developed in our Center is presented. Its main features are: increase in ozone concentration and ozone production rate, reduction of voltage and input power applied to the ozonizer cell without loosing in ozone production, over current protection, and digital visualization of the percent of applied voltage to the ozonizer cell.
The AQOZO AF working with an oxygen flow of 900 L/h, can produce 22 gO3/h of ozone at a concentration of 25 mgO3/L of concentration. Considering the needs of ozone generation, a modular assembling of these systems allows to obtain higher ozone production.
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OZONEY SL: New O3 Ozone Generator.
Amador A., Pérez C., Menéndez D., Mora C., García L., Tabares F., Véliz E., Bataller M., Álvarez C. and Baluja Ch.
A new ozonizer for water treatment for medium flows (in the order of 350 L/h), which operates at high frequency, has been developed by our Center.
Its main features are: a better yield in the ozone production rate, reduction in the magnitude of voltage applied to the ozonizer cell, a reduction in the magnitude of input power, an increase of the electric efficiency and stability along time of dissolved ozone concentrations, in the order of 0.7 ppm, that guarantees the total disinfection of water for human consumption.
This ozonizer is recommended for offices, restaurants, schools, hospitals, etc. avoiding the consumption of boiled or bottled water for drinking.
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Source: Ozone Research Center
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