The use of UVC air sterilizers has already been proven to be an effective way to sterilize and clean the air of various contaminants, including the dreaded Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. A properly made and functioning UVC air sterilizer can inactivate the virus in the air and eliminate the threat it poses, thus keeping your home or business much safer.
However, despite being an effective tool in not just inactivating the Sars-CoV-2 virus and other contaminants in the air, there is a lot of concern regarding the risks of using UVC air purifiers found in the market. In particular, there has been concern about the idea that UVC air purifiers and lamps create ozone, something that we touched on briefly in our post about the smell that air sterilizers produce.
It is a very valid concern, after all, ozone inhalation is no laughing matter. However, it is important to properly understand how UV products work, how ozone is actually created, and the truths that can allay the fears of using UVC air sterilizers.
What is ozone?
The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines ozone as “a highly reactive gas that is both a natural and a man-made product that occurs in the Earth’s upper atmosphere ozone molecule(the stratosphere) and lower atmosphere (the troposphere).” Ozone, according to the EPA, is good or bad depending on where it is in the atmosphere.
Stratospheric ozone, which is formed through the interaction of solar UV radiation with oxygen molecules, actually ends up reducing the amount of harmful UV radiation that hits the surface of the planet.
Tropospheric or ground-level ozone is formed through photochemical reactions between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), and are dependent on the presence of heat and sunlight. We experience this kind of ozone in the form of smog or haze. Both VOCs and NOx can occur naturally and man-made, with examples of man-made sources being chemical plants and gasoline pumps, as well as paint shops for VOCs, and motor vehicles, furnaces, and power plants for NOx.
Why is ozone harmful to humans?
The US EPA document about the dangers of ozone inhalation states that breathing ground-level ozone is hazardous to the health as it can decrease lung function, inflame the airways, and induce cough, throat irritation, chest tightness, and more.
Ozone is made up of a very unstable structure composed of 3 oxygen molecules that makes it react very swiftly with different elements and organic matter, and this is what causes the negative side-effects when inhaled by people.
People get exposed to ozone if the ambient air contains ozone. While ambient ozone levels should be similar and stable within a larger airshed area, levels in smaller or indoor areas could vary, and even increase depending on whether or not there are ozone-producing sources within.
And this is where the concern regarding UV lamps and UVC air purifiers comes in.
Do UV products produce ozone?
A report sponsored by the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Institute titled, “DEFINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF UV LAMPS INSTALLED IN CIRCULATING AIR” by Douglas VanOsdell and Karin Foarde studied the idea that UV lamps used to treat circulating air could produce harmful ozone.
Yes, there are specific types of UV lamps that can generate ozone for use in specific industries or for certain laboratory settings, but these lamps would require a wavelength of 185nm. This is already in the UVV or Ultraviolet-V range, which is much shorter than the UVC or Ultraviolet-C light that UVC air sterilizers use that is between 254nm to 222nm in wavelength.
Their findings conclude that while the six high-output lamps they mounted for their experiments produced zero ozone emissions, and proved that, at least under their specific air-flow conditions, ozone production was not detected.
So UVC air sterilizers that are manufactured properly, with the right technology, do not produce harmful ozone and thus will not pose a risk for people. In fact, there is one very fun tidbit about UVC and ozone that most critics of UVC air sterilizers very conveniently omit.
UVC actually destroys harmful ozone presence
A paper titled “Ozonation and UV irradiation—an introduction and examples of current applications” by Steven T. Summerfelt found in ScienceDirect.com outlines the dangers of residual ozone in water and how UV light wavelengths, specifically those ranging between 250nm to 260nm can actually destroy ozone. The reason this happens is that the UVC light at these wavelengths breaks the third oxygen atom found in ozone, converting it back to 2 oxygen atoms.
In case you missed it, this is the wavelength range used by UVC air sterilizers like UltraV Care’s!
Ozone neutralization using UV light is actually used in the aquaculture industry and is something that is considered to be a very safe environmentally-friendly process that has an end product of producing oxygen.
Conclusion
So the next time you come across an article or a post that is trying to scare you from using UVC air sterilizers due to it “producing harmful ozone” know that that is a myth. UVC air sterilizers are very powerful tools in the fight against COVID-19, and when constructed properly, will give the most benefits with little to no risks. If you want to know more or are interested in getting your own UVC air sterilizer, contact us for more information or a tech demo!