4. Disinfection: ozone, an alternative to chlorine

Naturally present in the atmosphere, ozone is a powerful and versatile oxidizing agent used to disinfect and deodorize drinking water since the early 20th century. A non-selective molecule, ozone (O ₃ ) immediately oxidizes any compound that comes into contact with it. This property makes it a more powerful bactericide and virucide than chlorine, particularly against bacterial cysts and cryptosporidium. Ozone's spectrum of action on micro-organisms is broad, with bacterial death triggered by a change in membrane permeability.

There are many industrial applications for ozone: pulp bleaching, decolorization, reduction of hard chemical oxygen demand (COD).

In the food industry, ozone is used for :

• packaging of drinking water;

• ...