Related Sponsors

Do ozone generators effectively clean the air?

Home » Home Health » Ozone Generators » Do ozone generators effectively clean the air?

Some manufacturers of ozone generators claim that ozone will produce a chemical reaction with contaminants, thus making the contaminants harmless. However, scientific evidence shows that ozone has very little potential to remove indoor air contaminants unless the ozone levels exceed public health standards. Research shows that the reaction process between ozone and many indoor air contaminants could take months or years. In fact, ozone may not react at all with these contaminants. It has also been proven that ozone generators do not remove carbon monoxide.

Ozone does react with some chemical contaminants, but instead of rendering them harmless, the reaction can actually form many harmful or irritating by-products. The research example used to prove this is an experiment that mixed ozone with chemicals from new carpet. Ozone did reduce a number of these chemicals, including the ones that produce new carpet odor. However, when the ozone was introduced in this situation, chemicals in the air increased rather than decreased. The reason for this was that the reaction between the new carpet chemicals and the ozone produced a variety of aldehydes.

Aldehydes and formic acid can both irritate the lungs if produced in sufficient amounts, and both of these chemicals were increased in the air upon the introduction of ozone. Some of the other by-products of ozone's chemical reactions to contaminants are very reactive and can produce irritating by-products themselves.

Manufacturers of ozone generators also often claim that ozone removes particles, such as dust and pollen, from the air, which in turn reduces the cause of most allergies. However, some ozone generators also have an "ion generator" or "ionizer" built into the same unit. An ionizer disperses ions that are negatively and/or positively charged into the air. These ions attach to other particles in the air and add their negative or positive charge to the other particles. Then, those particles may attach to surfaces such as walls or furniture.

In recent scientific experiments, high efficiency particle filters or electrostatic precipitators were more effective in removing particles of dust, tobacco smoke, pollen, or fungal spores than ionizers. However, other experiments showed that the effectiveness of all particle air cleaners, including electrostatic precipitators, ion generators, and pleated filters, is varied.

Next Page: Do ozone generators effectively remove odors from the air?

Related Ozone Generators Articles