Ozone Gas Sanitization Unit (O3SU) with Low Cost Tech where Water Supply is Critical

Abstract

Too many people in the world do not have access to clean and safe water but water purification processes are energy intensive and require structures capable of supplying energy constantly. In many rural areas there is basically no electricity available and only the installation of a photovoltaic system or of any other renewable energy source, can lay the foundations for design of water purification plants. The main goal of this work was to study the effectiveness of ozone (O3) for knocking down high levels of fecal pollution and to construct a prototype for low cost sanitization (O3SU Ozone gas Sanitization Unit), able to supply limited quantities of safe water to small rural communities. Ozone gas generators were tested at 7, 14 and 21 g/h and gas flow times were determined. The ozone sanitization of waters characterized by mainly fecal contamination seems to be very effective; surely the O3SU can and must be improved through, for example, the use of more powerful ozone generators, in order to reduce the duration of the treatment and through the decreasing of the electric consumptions, that would make possible to increase the daily treatment cycles. Thus, we would be able to increase the amount of clean water available to populations living in areas where the water crisis is an unlucky and grim reality.