Improving the Efficiency of Ozone in Odour Treatment by Activation with U.V. Light

摘要

If ozone is irradiated with U.V. light of 254 nm an electronically excited oxygen atom is formed. This may be rapidly moderated by collision to a ground state oxygen atom or, if the concentration of water is sufficiently high, react to form a hydroxyl radical (OH). Both of these species (i.e. an oxygen atom or a hydroxyl radical) will react to oxidize a wide range of malodorants much more efficiently than will ozone itself. Therefore, if oxygen atoms (or hydroxyl radicals) can be formed from ozone by U.V. irradiation with an efficiency appreciably greater than 0.0001% the ability of the system to destroy malodorants will be enhanced over that of ozone itself.