High-Performance Ozone Measurement For Pharmaceutical Water Production

For facilities using ozone to disinfect or sanitize pharmaceutical water, Mettler-Toledo Thornton offers a dissolved ozone sensor designed for high performance and low cost of ownership.

Due to its efficient microorganism destruction capability and decomposition of resulting endotoxins, the use of dissolved ozone in the production of pharmaceutical water is gaining significantly in popularity. Ozone (O3) is an unstable tri-atomic form of oxygen, and it is a very strongly oxidizing gas that has a number of desirable characteristics for disinfection and sanitization processes. While it is up to 20 times more powerful than chlorine, ozone leaves virtually no harmful breakdown products. It also reverts back to harmless oxygen in a matter of minutes, so it must be generated and measured right next to the process. Ozone generators operate by passing dry air or oxygen next to high voltage electrodes where a corona discharge converts some of the oxygen to ozone, similar to the reaction caused by a lightning storm. The gas mixture is then contacted with the water, either in a tank diffusion system or in a pipe with venturi injector. Intimate contact is made to maximize the dissolution. There are newer generation techniques that can produce ozone directly in the water and reduce the possibility of atmospheric losses.

Although ozone is an excellent material for disinfecting pharmaceutical water systems, it is an undesirable addition to point of use pharmaceutical water. In order to eliminate the ozone, a UV light source is employed to effectively destroy it after the disinfection process is complete. The UV light also has the added benefit of providing further disinfection.