Understanding Aqueous Ozone Cleaning Technology Disinfecting With On-Site Generation Technologies BY Heidi Wilcox, M.Sc. Sponsors Powerful Orange Peel Wipes Dual textured for complete finish Orange oil formula cleans many surfaces Carpet & Upholstery Stains Gone in an Instant with Proxi Just Spray & Walk Away Clorox® Total 360® System Proven Electrostatic Technology 2017 ISSA Innovation of the Year Advertisement Advertisement CleanCore Technologies Remove soils and eliminate odors Safely and Sustainably. Overcoming the Healthcare Industry’s Cybersecurity Problem in Bath, NY, 14810 - ACS Facilities Services Go To http://www.acsfacilities.com/ for free articles. On-site generation technology is relatively new to the commercial cleaning industry. It is a way to produce cleaning and or sanitizing/disinfecting solutions on site and on demand, rather than go the traditional route of ordering from a distributor or buying products in a store. It is also a way to remove chemical fragrances and dyes from the cleaning and infection control products. Any facility or program wanting to go green, sustainable and less toxic can benefit from on-site generation, and save money in the long run. The technology puts facilities in control. The two types or classes of chemical solutions currently produced by on-site generation are aqueous ozone and hypochlorous acid. Both systems make cleaners, deodorizers and degreasers. Only the hypochlorous acid/sodium hydroxide systems make sanitizer and/or disinfectant solutions that are registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The two systems — aqueous ozone and hypochlorous acid — work extremely well together for a non-synthetic, natural system to green clean, sanitize and disinfect a facility. Aqueous Ozone Technology Aqueous ozone is created using air, water and electricity to produce a Green Seal certified cleaning and deodorizing solution that is free of added fragrances and dyes. Ozone in water has been used for more than 100 years to disinfect and purify drinking water. It is also used to keep pool water sanitary, wash fruits and vegetables, and sanitize food processing areas. Aqueous ozone made by on-site generators is generally dispensed by two types of machinery. The first is a wall-mounted “fill station” that can fill buckets, floor scrubbers, spray bottles or other containers. Because aqueous ozone is not stable for long periods of time, it needs to be continuously made and used in order to guarantee aqueous ozone levels are always at the concentration needed to clean effectively. The first “fill station” systems seen in the commercial cleaning space were wall-unit, on-site generators that use stabilizers to correct for differences in tap water mineral concentrations. These costly stabilizers need to be changed throughout the year. Also, solely using a wall-mounted fill station for aqueous ozone on-site generation has been shown to require a major change to the cleaning process. This is because the aqueous ozone dispensed is only stable at the concentration needed to effectively clean for approximately two hours. After that, the solutions should be discarded and replaced with new solutions. Therefore, a cleaning process would need to be set up to handle this stability issue. Since cleaning protocols and training dictate workers refresh solution every two hours, managers can either buy more wall units so staff can refill their bottles as they move through the facility, or adjust cleaning times to account for staff going back and forth to the original equipment. (There are also aqueous ozone wall-mounted units that do not use stabilizers.) The second type of on-site generation machine that delivers aqueous ozone is in the form of a portable, rolling, touch-free caddy system — similar to touch-free restroom cleaners that have been on the market for years. The caddy configuration of the on-site generator has fixed the stability issue of aqueous ozone in the commercial cleaning industry by continuously producing the solutions on demand in the field. It allows the end user to take the generator with them throughout the facility, which ensures that fresh aqueous ozone — at the desired concentration for cleaning and deodorizing — is always handy and available. The caddy also has a spray hose delivery system for hands-free cleaning and two vacuum pumps for efficient and safe collection of soil solutions.