Unknown Uses Of Ozone

 

Ozone has wide range of applications. What is known to us is mostly associated with water and waste water treatment, and to many industries, industrial oxidation applications. But there are a few applications of ozone , that could surprise us. Lets look at a few

Ozone in Carbon black manufacturing: Carbon black is a filler used in the manufacture of tyres  It is for this reason that tyres are normally black in colour.  Rubber which is the raw material in the manufacturing of tyres ,get easily destroyed by UV and ozone present in the atmosphere , reducing the life of the tyres . Both UV rays  ( from the sunlight )and ozone are present in the atmosphere ( as a contaminant ) . By using filers in the tyre manufacturing (adding carbon black) , the tyres are protected from the damage of the tyres by UV and ozone.  Now the filler carbon black itself undergoes an ozone process!!!!  During the carbon black manufacturing, ozone at low concentrations is  introduced at an appropriate time of the process.  The ozone will increase the surface oxygen level of the carbon black (it forms carboxylic acids) and thereby increases the pH of the rubber surface.  This protects the tyre from the effects of UV and the ozone pollutant found in the atmosphere . It has also been noticed that by using ozonated carbon black, the heat produced by the running tyres are evenly dissipated and this prevents tyre burst due to heat and at the same time prolongs the life of the tyres. Many Carbon black manufacturers keep this as a process secret. Some of the largest carbon black manufacturers  are using ozone in their process .

Ozone in Surface treatment of packaging material Today many packaging companies use ozone as surface treatment.  In the normal process of packaging , the packages are to be made print friendly. For this the surface wettabilty has to increase to facilitate printing . It is precisely for this reason that ozone is used in surface treatment. Use of ozone improve the wettability of the material by raising its surface energy and improve adhesive characteristics by creating bonding sites. Lamination of the packages would also become easy due to this. The ozone process creates the necessary polar functional groups on the surface which promote adhesion and wettability.

Ozone in ballast water treatment. Ballast water is water that is used in ship/boats to weigh the ship downso that the centre of gravity is changed .This stabilised the ship. Ballast water is usually sea water that is pumped in tanks called ballast tanks . The sea water normally is drawn from one part of the world and discharged in another part of the world. The sea water contains sea animals and plants and also contains bacteria and virus . The surviving sea animals and plants ,bacteria and virus introduced in another environment can bring about high ecological imbalance in that region. To avoid this, all ballast water are supposed to be treated before they are discharged. Treating ballast water is a hugh tasks. Ozone has been in used for many years now, for the treatment of ballast water .Often a combination of technologies are used to meet stringent discharge norms

Ozone in bleaching & stone wash of Denims: Ozone is now used in Denim bleaching process to get those popular faded jeans. Today there are many special ozone machines that provide the manufacture the entire processwith all controls. Using ozone will totally eliminate the use of chorine in the process. By using ozone there is much savings on the usage of water in the process, upto 60%. Also the effluents are more friendly and easier to treat