We connect with a lot of parents and clients who are doing great work eliminating toxic chemicals from their homes. They want to do even more, but they don’t know how – and that’s why they’re working with us.We advocate and implement several key technologies as part of our Toxic-Free Cleaning system. One of the cornerstones of that system is using liquid (or aqueous) ozone to replace chemical disinfectants. Disinfectants are #1 on our list of 10 Most Toxic, so that’s a great place to start!Aqueous, or liquid ozone is perhaps the most misunderstood and maligned technology that we utilize, largely because of misunderstandings about ozone in general. Therefore, it has become the subject of undo concern.
To set the record straight, we’ve compiled a list of FAQs that we’ve received and answered for clients.
The concern with liquid ozone tends to be around it off-gassing and becoming gaseous which the Lotus Pro solution won’t do (see #5 below). That being said, nobody has ever died of liquid ozone exposure, whereas every day someone dies from household chemical exposure. In fact, cleaning staff with asthma using our product say their breathing is perfect after working with it for 8 hours, contrary to the effect chemicals had on their breathing by the end of a shift.
No. There is much confusion between liquid ozone and atmospheric ozone. However, high-atmospheric (gaseous) ozone concentrations are bad for asthma and allergy suffers. It can contribute to those Code Red days which the weatherman warns us about. Atmospheric ozone is created by Mother Nature to try to break down air pollutants like NOX, VOCs, dust and allergens. So on those Code Red days, more ozone is being produced naturally because there are more VOCs in the air. Ozone gas is an indicator that there are other atmospheric contaminants that also affect asthma and allergy sufferers like VOCs, nitrogen oxides, dust and pollen. Being quicker and easier to measure than the thousands of air pollutants, ozone gets a bad rap.
Man-made atmospheric ozone an also be produced by air purifying generators and filters to deodorize and disinfect rooms like operating rooms, hotel rooms, and even weather-damaged homes. Allergy and asthma suffers should indeed be wary of such high concentration applications.
4. How much ozone do liquid ozone cleaning solutions contain?
In regulated cleaning applications, EPA guidelines direct us toward disinfection with chlorine and ozone. For example, disinfecting with 1 ppm chlorine at a water temperature of 59°F and a pH of 7 requires a dwell time of 75 minutes. The disinfection efficiency achieved will be 99.9 percent. Assuming the same temperature and pH, a concentration of 1 mg/l of liquid ozone water achieves a disinfection efficiency of 99.9% in only 57 seconds. For this example giardia is the parasite used in the water sample because it is one of the most difficult microorganisms to kill.
8. How is liquid ozone produced?
Lotus Pro uses a low power electrolytic method (EOG). By passing electricity through water it splits molecules into H2, O2, and O3. In most EOG methods, the hydrogen gas will be removed to leave oxygen and ozone as the only products. EOG achieves higher dissolution in water without other competing gases (such as nitrogen gases) present in ambient air. Therefore, it is a more efficient way to harness ozone’s natural cleaning power without creating an atmospheric hazard.
Ozone has many applications on the home and commercially. We covered cleaning using liquid ozone quite thoroughly by now. Ozone generators can be made for water treatment plants and are in use all over the world. There are applications for it in laundry and dish washing, but mostly in commercial or industrial settings.
Ozone generators have been used on both public and private pools as a means of disinfecting pool water. Similarly some aquariums use it to keep water fresh and germ free. Another important application is air purification. As an oxidizer it attacks the bacteria at the cell level, killing them and their aerobic activity, which is what causes odors and areas of potential for infection.
