How ozone therapy works
Where is ozone used outside medicine?
Ozone is used industrially as an oxidiser. In water treatment it disinfects, removes algae, oxidises iron and manganese, and strips colour and odour. In air treatment it removes odours and pollutants in unoccupied spaces. In food handling, produce can be soaked in ozonated water. Its short life leaves no residual chemical.
Ozone’s industrial track record is useful context: it is the same oxidising property in every case. An oxidant is a substance that takes electrons from something else, changing it chemically, and ozone is a powerful one.
Water
Water purification is ozone’s major commercial use today. In treatment plants ozone is used to disinfect, remove algae, oxidise iron and manganese, and remove colour and odour. Because ozone reverts to oxygen over a short half-life — the time for half the gas present to disappear — it can be used where a residual chemical would be unacceptable.
Air
In air treatment, ozone is used to eliminate odours, sterilise air and remove pollutants including cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide and noxious gases. This is done in unoccupied rooms — the word unoccupied is doing important work there, since ozone must not be breathed.
Food
Soaking fruit and vegetables in ozonated water before eating or juicing is a long-standing practice, and one we have written about ourselves.
Why this matters for a sauna
It explains both the appeal and the caution. The property that makes ozone useful for sanitising water is the same property that makes it damaging to lung tissue, and the same property that requires ozone-resistant materials throughout the gas path.