Technology

TSO₃ has developed a unique, patented process to create and control ozone so that it can be used to sterilize commonly used medical instruments. In a self-contained unit, ozone is generated, circulated, and catalyzed back into oxygen – simply by pressing a single button.

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  Sterilization Technology
  Comparison Table
• What is Ozone
• History of Ozone
• Ozone in Industry
  
  

What is Ozone?

Ozone is a gas comprised of three atoms of oxygen. It is formed when oxygen molecules (O₂) are split into oxygen atoms (O) and each atom combines with an oxygen molecule to form ozone (O₃). Ozone is characterized by its fresh, “spring rain-like” scent and bluish colour.

Ozone is one of the most powerful microbicides known to science, effective at inactivating or killing even the most resistant pathogens. It is also metastable, meaning it tends to revert back to its original state, oxygen.

Ozone can be produced naturally in the earth's atmosphere. In the stratosphere, ozone is created when ultraviolet light from the sun splits oxygen molecules into single atoms, which then bind to other oxygen molecules to form ozone. This stratospheric ozone layer protects the earth's surface from ultraviolet rays; it is sometimes called “good” ozone.

Closer to earth, ozone can be found in the troposphere, the lowest level of the atmosphere. Tropospheric ozone is a result of the chemical reaction of oxygen with gases and volatile organic compounds released by power plants and internal combustion engines. This “bad” ozone is part of the pollution that we worry about on hot, sunny days. Because ozone oxidizes proteins, high levels in the air we breathe can cause health problems, particularly in the elderly and children.

History of Ozone

Ozone was discovered in 1840 and its water purification properties were first recognized in 1886. A few years later, the first plant to use ozone to treat drinking water was opened in the Netherlands. Ozone water treatment plants are very common in Europe and are gaining popularity in North America. This expanding acceptance is due both to ozone's superior microbicidal properties and to people's concern about the harmful effect that other microbicides, like chlorine, have on the environment and on human health. Ozone has also historically been used to preserve meat and as a microbicide to treat food.

Despite widespread recognition of the powerful germ killing properties of ozone, it has not been successfully used in healthcare settings in the past due to the challenges associated with creating and controlling it in a way that makes it useful for hospitals.

Ozone in Industry

Ozone can also be created in a controlled environment, through a process that uses a coronal discharge. By applying electrical energy to oxygen molecules, scientists can cause the splitting of these molecules into single atoms, which then bind to oxygen molecules to form ozone. Ozone has a short half-life but is lethal during its active phase: it will react to any organic compound (protein, bacteria, fungi, etc.) by oxidizing double carbon bonds. It then converts itself back into oxygen, a harmless “waste product.”

The power of ozone is now available to inactivate the most deadly pathogens – without endangering the well being of the healthcare providers whose mission involves safeguarding the welfare of the most vulnerable patients.

Ozone is the basis for the sterilization technology of the 21st century.