Benefits of Ozonation in Industrial Cleaning Applications

The typical Clean in Place process consists of injecting water, heat and a combination of chemicals to clean the inacessable surface areas such as pipes, valves, pumps, etc., all of which are difficult to clean with conventional methods.

Most of CIP processes involve the application of heat as well as multiple water flushings with or without the use of chemical agents to aid in cleaning process. The CIP process although simpler than manually disassembling the infrastructure, still requires considerable use of energy and resources. CIP also requires considerable production down-time in order to elevate the temperature of the surfaces to be cleaned and then cool down back to the original working temperature (source: International Ozone Association, Clean in Place publication http://www.Io3a.org).

Unlike conventional methods used for the CIP process, the use of ozone for the CIP process requires no elevation in the surface temperature of the equipment to be cleaned (pipes, pumps, valves, etc.) as ozone is most effective at lower temperatures. As such the warm-up and cool-down times typically associated with the conventional CIP processes and techniques are greatly reduced.

The second benefit of using ozone in industrial cleaning applications is the fact that ozone is effective for the remediation of both biological as well as non-biological contamination. Ozone is a well-known and proven oxidizing agent that will destroy even the hardiest microbiological organisms as well as can oxidize the majority of organic components.

In addition to its universal application, ozone wil leave no residue or chemical traces after the cleaning process is completed therefore making it a safe medium for the remediation and decontamination of the CIP surfaces used in the food industry (i.e. wineries, breweries, food processing etc.). Because of its short half-life cycle and its tendency to quickly revert to oxygen, ozone will typically leave the clean surface free of trace contamination therefore requiring less rinsing compared to other CIP processes.

Effectiveness of Ozone in the Inactivation of Microbiological Organisms

Ozone is very effective in inactivating the majority of biological micro organisms that it comes in contact with. It would appear that ozone will rupture the inner cell membrane of the microbiological organism it reacts with therefore destroying or incapacitating the affected organism. For viruses and other multi-cell micro organisms (that are less affected by the inner membrane rupture) ozone is still an effective destruct medium. Ozone will diffuse through the protein coat into the nucleic acid core, resulting in damaging the viral RNA or oxidizing the outer shell of the viral organism therefore affecting the DNA and RNA structure of the viral organism (source: Ozone Inactivation of Microorganisms: Kinetics and Mechanisms, Ahmed Yousef, Professor of Food Microbiology Ohio State University, Ozone-V Conference April 2, 2007,Fresno California).

Effectiveness of Ozone in Oxidizing Organic Compound Contaminants

Ozone is a strong oxidant with the oxidation potential exceeding that of chlorine and other strong oxidants. As such, ozone will react with most of the complex organic compounds reducing them to simpler elemental compounds that are easy to flush out of the infrastructure being sanitized.

For example, most of BTEX compounds will be oxidized to carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) both being safe to release into the environment and neither being considered as a dangerous contaminant byproduct in the CIP process. As such, ozone is a choice reactant for in-situ treatment and remediation of the areas affected by the BTEX (in situ ozone sparging: http://www.ozmoticsinsider.com/2008/10/ozone-for-soil-and-ground-water-remediation-in-situ-ozone-sparging/ ).

In addition to soil and ground water remediation for BTEX contamination, ozone can be effectively used to decontaminate and remediate the inner surfaces of equipment and infrastructure (i.e. cleaning of the petroleum storage tanks, pipes, pumps,etc.).

Besides hydrocarbon derivatives, ozone can be used to aid in the CIP procedure for most of the organic compound contaminated infrastructure elements. And since most of the residual and unused ozone will revert back to oxygen during or shortly after the treatment has finished, ozone can be used both as a stand alone CIP agent or it can be used in combination with other chemicals or treatment procedures (such as a pre-wash).

Ozone for Clean in Place Applications – Conclusion

Ozone is very effective for Clean in Place and other industrial infrastructure and equipment decontamination and remediation procedures. The energy and water savings achieved by introducing ozone as an active cleaning agent for the CIP procedure, are well documented. And since ozone generation technology can easily be scaled to fit any application (ozone is generated on-site from ambient air so the only requirement for using the ozone generator on site is the availability of electrical power), ozonation technology for the CIP application can be made quite portable.

If you are interested in learning more about the integration of ozone for Cleaning in Place (CIP) applications or need help sizing a unit please contact an Ozmotics representative at 1-877-386-3763.