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Ozonation in water treatment: The generation, basic properties of ozone and

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 Rev Chem Eng 2016; aop

Chaohai Wei*, Fengzhen Zhang, Yun Hu, Chunhua Feng and Haizhen Wu

Ozonation in water treatment: the generation,

basic properties of ozone and its practical
application
DOI 10.1515/revce-2016-0008 coking wastewater, dyeing wastewater, and municipal
Received February 10, 2016; accepted May 18, 2016 wastewater. The structural characteristics of ozone reac-
tors and energy requirement of applied technologies are
Abstract: The widespread applications of ozone technolo-
evaluated. In addition, future directions concerning the
gies are established on the basis of large-scale manufac-
development of ozone generation, ozone reactivity, and
ture of ozone generator and chemical reactivity of ozone.
industrial wastewater ozonation have been proposed.
It is hence necessary to summarize the principles of ozone
generation and to analyze the physicochemical proper- Keywords: energy consumption; ozone generation; ozone
ties of ozone, which are of fundamental significance to reactor; physicochemical properties; water treatment.
indicate its technical developments and practical applica-
tions. This review presents a summary concerning ozone
generation mechanisms, the physicochemical properties
of ozone, as well as the applications of ozone in water
1 Introduction
treatment. Ozone can be produced by phosphorus contact,
The electronic and ionic excitations of molecular oxygen
silent discharge, photochemical reactions, and electro-
by physical field including electric discharge, ultraviolet
chemical reactions, principally proceeding by the reac-
irradiation, and electrolysis are the preliminary reactions
tion of oxygen atom with oxygen molecule. There are side
for ozone generation. The electric discharge (e.g. silent
reactions to the generation of ozone, however, which are
discharge) is the most reliable approach for ozone genera-
responsible for ozone depletion including thermal decom-
tion in both laboratory and industrial scale owing to the
position and quenching reactions by reactive species. The
convenience and operational efficiency in different ozone
solubility of ozone in water is much higher than that of
concentration requirement (Nomoto et al. 1995, Salam
oxygen, suggesting that it may be reliably applied in water
et al. 2013). A configuration of ozone generator adopting
and wastewater treatment. Based on the resonance struc-
silent discharge was first proposed by Siemens in 1857,
tures of ozone, one oxygen atom in ozone molecule is elec-
characterized by the presence of a dielectric layer on the
tron-deficient displaying electrophilic property, whereas
inner surface of electrodes. The electrochemical reactions
one oxygen atom is electron-rich holding nucleophilic
proceeded at anode in a variety of aqueous media could
property. The superior chemical reactivity of ozone can
also be capable of generating ozone, whose advantages
also be indirectly revealed by radical-mediated reactions
comprise low voltage operation, no gas fed of any descrip-
initiated from homogenous and heterogeneous catalytic
tion, and the possibility to produce high concentration
decomposition of ozone. Owing to the reliable generation
of ozone in gaseous and aqueous phase (Christensen
of ozone and its robust reactive properties, it is worthy to
et al. 2009). It was found that (˙OH)ads and Oads generated
thoroughly elaborate the applications of ozone reaction
by means of electrolysis were intermediates involved in
in drinking water disinfection and pre- or post-treatment
ozone production (Da Silva et al. 2006, Kim and Korshin
of industrial wastewater including cyanide wastewater,
2008).
Due to the instability of ozone, only ozone generator
*Corresponding author: Chaohai Wei, School of Environment and can be operated practically and stably; it is possible to
Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, elucidate the physical and chemical properties of ozone,
P.R. China, e-mail: cechwei@scut.edu.cn focusing on its solubility and chemical reactivity, which
Fengzhen Zhang, Yun Hu and Chunhua Feng: School of Environment
will widen its application in water and wastewater treat-
and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou,
510006, P.R. China
ment. Ozone is generally colorless and less soluble in
Haizhen Wu: School of Bioscience and Bioengineering, South China water, with special pungent odor at ordinary tempera-
University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, P.R. China ture, from which its name was derived (Guzel-Seydim

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2 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
et al. 2004). On the other hand, ozone is a chemical reac-
tive reagent exhibiting electrophilic and nucleophilic
characteristics, which are closely related to its resonance
structures. Kalemos and Mavridis (2008) reported that the
ground state of ozone is a “closed-shell singlet resulted
from O2(1Δg) and O(1D),” demonstrating that its electronic
structure corresponds to two resonant structures with one
O-O single bond and one O = O double bond, which could
be merged into one closed-shell structure by attributing
one and a half bond to each O-O interaction. Compara-
tively, Miliordos and Xantheas (2014) indicated that an
open-shell structure of ozone could be established with
a single bond and two lone electrons on each terminal
atom, based on ground-state multireference configura-
tion interaction wave functions. Although ozone is a pow-
erful oxidant, it reacts less efficiently with some organic
(e.g. saturated aliphatic acid) and inorganic (e.g. NH4+)
compounds. In order to accelerate the mineralization
efficiency, advanced oxidation processes such as O3/UV,
O3/H2O2, catalytic ozonation and photocatalytic ozonation
stimulating the generation of more robust and stronger
radical species, have been suggested as potential alter-
natives. However, owing to the inhibited effect of radical
scavengers (i.e. carbonate and bicarbonate) on ˙OH-medi-
ated reactions, it is encouraged to establish novel reaction
systems based on liquid-liquid or liquid-solid extraction
of ozone and organic substances from aqueous solution
to organic solvent, followed by the reactions proceeded in
non-aqueous phase (Kasprzyk-Hordern et al. 2003).
In view of its strong oxidation ability with a selection
of pollutants, ozone can be potentially used as a broad-
spectrum disinfectant and a powerful oxidant for waste-
water treatment. A large variety of micro-organisms could
be effectively inactivated by ozone through cell lysis and
nucleic acids destruction (von Gunten 2003a, Kingsbury
and Singer 2013, Tachikawa and Yamanaka 2014). Even
though the production of halogenated compounds can be
avoided by ozone disinfection, the vast majority of oxygen
atom containing byproducts including bromate, aldehyde,
ketone, esters, and keto acids may be generated (Richard-
son et al. 1999). Ozone has also been extensively applied
for further treatment of industrial wastewater such as
cyanide containing wastewater, coking wastewater, oil
refining wastewater, and pharmaceutical wastewater,
through the selective oxidative reactions with unsaturated
and conjugated matrix components (Laera et al. 2012,
Chen et al. 2014a, Lin et al. 2014a). It had been estab-
lished that ozone-based technologies (e.g. non-catalytic
ozonation, ozonation catalyzed by ultraviolet irradiation,
hydrogen peroxide and various heterogeneous catalysts)
can be the alternatives or the pre-treatment methods for
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biological treatment of actual agro-industrial wastewater,
which were indicated by the improvement of biodegrada-
bility and toxicity removal (Martins and Quinta-Ferreira
2014).
While previous publications have provided a wealth
information on ozone generation (Wei et al. 2014), the
basic properties of ozone (Sonntag and von Gunten
2012), the mechanisms of ozonation and catalytic ozona-
tion (Kasprzyk-Hordern et al. 2003, Hübner et al. 2015),
the disinfection of drinking water, and mineralization of
industrial wastewater (Langlais et al. 1991, Barndõk et al.
2014, Zhang et al. 2014a), an integrated overview concern-
ing ozone production, physico-chemical properties of
ozone, and its practical application is still missing. A criti-
cal review that combines the technical developments of
ozone generation, the analysis of its basic properties, and
the general mechanisms of ozone reaction will be helpful
to the implementation of its application in large scale. The
objectives of this review are to summarize ozone genera-
tion mechanisms and its generator as a whole; to analyze
the fundamental characteristics of ozone, so as to discuss
the pollution control for which ozone-based technologies
applied; and to evaluate the energy consumption of ozo-
nation processes in terms of ozone generation as well as
contaminants removal.
2 T
 he generation of ozone and its
generator
2.1 The principle of ozone generation
2.1.1 Phosphorus contact ozone generation
The existence of oxygen atom produced from excitation of
oxygen molecule is the prerequisite reaction for various
ozone generation techniques. The white phosphorus
contact with wet air, electrolysis of acidic aqueous solu-
tion, and photosensitive reaction of mercury were respon-
sible for ozone generation during early days of its discovery
(Fallon and Vanderslice 1960). The white phosphorus
contact was the most prevalent approach at that moment
due to its simplicity and low investment requirement. In
general, the reaction of white phosphorus with wet air can
be expressed in Eqs. (1–5) (Andrews and Withnall 1988),
with the generation of oxygen atom being the critical
step. Then the resulting mixtures containing ozone and
phosphorus oxides were purified by water. It was found,
however, that ozone productivity by phosphorus reaction
was unsatisfactory, suffering from variable yield results
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and low efficiency, although maximum ozone concentra-
tion of 2.5 mg/l could be attained by an optimized proce-
dure (Leeds 1879, Rubin 2002). Studies dedicated in other
alternative technologies for improved ozone generation
as well as basic mechanisms behind its generation were
therefore conducted.
P4 + O2 → P4O + O (1)
P4 + O→ P4O (2)
P4On + O2 → P4On+1 + O (n = 1 − 9) (3)
P4 + 20O2 → P4O10 + 10O3 (4)
P4O10 + 6H2O→ 4H3PO4 (5)
O + O2 + M → O3 + M, ∆H = 144.8 kJ/mol,
(6)
M = N2 , or O2  on between discharge gap in which the dielectric barrier
Fundamentally, the first preliminary reaction for ozone
generation is the excitation of molecular oxygen by high
energy field, resulting in the generation of oxygen atom.
Ozone can be subsequently produced by the essential
Three-body Collision Reaction involving an oxygen atom,
an oxygen molecule, and a third body as shown in Eq. (6)
(Rubin 2002). In the electronic point of view, ozone forma-
tion can be achieved through the spin-pairing of antibo-
nding πg electrons of the ground state molecular oxygen
H.V. H.V.
A B
H.V.
D E
Figure 1: The schematic configurations of silent discharge electrodes assembled by plated electrode [(A)–(C)] and coaxial tube electrode
[(D)–(F)]. (Common dielectric materials consisted of glass, ceramics, enamel, and mica; the average thickness of these dielectrics is
0.5–3 mm. The gray color parts are referred to electrodes, while the blue color parts are assigned to insulating dielectric materials).
C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 3
with two unpaired electrons of oxygen atom (Harcourt
et al. 1986), which is widely accepted by scientific com-
munities. These achievements underpin the popularity
of silent discharge, photochemical synthesis, and elec-
trolysis techniques, which are in essence proceeded with
energy transferred from physical fields.
2.1.2 Gaseous discharge for ozone generation
The basic principle of ozone generation by means of
gaseous discharge comprises the creation of electrons
in discharge gap as well as the excitation of oxygen mol-
ecule, eventually leading to ozone appearance. Silent
discharge, also known as dielectric barrier discharge
(DBD), is the non-equilibrium discharge process carried
is intercalated (Yehia 2015). Typically, as illustrated in
Figure 1, the configurations of dielectric layers are either
covered on the surface of electrodes inside discharge gap
or suspended between them. In general, ozone generation
by silent discharge involves three following steps: (1) a
breakdown of the gap occurs in a few nanoseconds upon
the load of applied voltage, (2) the production of current
pulse occurs as a result of increasing density of charged
particles and then the transfer of electric charge within
10 ns, (3) the ozone generation reactions take place in
H.V.
C
H.V. H.V.
F
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4 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
micro-discharge current channel (Eliasson et al. 1987).
The chemical reactions consisting of electron-impact
reactions, neutral-neutral reactions, and charged parti-
cle reactions mainly contribute to ozone generation, with
some exemplary reactions discussed below (Kitayama and
Kuzumoto 1999, Lee et al. 2004). When air or pure oxygen
gas is fed through the discharge gap, O2 can be excited
-
from its ground state (O2 (X3 ∑ g )) to metastable state
-
(O2 (B 3 ∑ u ), O2 ( A 3 ∑ u )) by inelastic collision with high-
+
energy electrons in < 3 ns, producing O (3P) and O (1D), as
shown in Eqs. (7–9) (Kitayama and Kuzumoto 1997). Ozone
can be then produced through the well-established Three-
body Collision Reaction [Eq. (6)]. Besides, ozone can also
be produced via metastable reaction of oxygen molecule
with O2 ( A 3 ∑ u )) [Eq. (10)] in < 3 μs (Benson 1959). In con-
+
trast to the significant contribution of high-energy elec-
tron, low-energy electron is capable of exciting oxygen
molecule into its negative ion state [Eq. (11)], which imme-
diately reacts with oxygen molecule to produce ozone as
illustrated in Eq. (12) (Benson 1959). On the other hand,
the formed ozone may be inevitably destroyed by oxygen
negative ion, oxygen atom, and electron [Eqs. (13–16)],
where M is assigned to any particles present in the gas.
Also, heat accumulated from discharge gap could promote
thermal decomposition of ozone with a reaction rate con-
stant of 4.61±0.25 × 1012 exp(-24,000/RT) l/(mol·s) (Jones
and Davidson 1962).
- -
e + O2 (X3 ∑ g )→ e + O2 (B 3 ∑ u )→ e + O( 3 P) + O(1 D)
O(1 D) + O2 → O( 3 P) + O2 (1 ∆g ) (8)
-
e + O2 (X3 ∑ g )→ e + O2 ( A 3 ∑ u )→ e + O( 3P) + O( 3 P)
+
O2 ( A 3 ∑ u ) + O2 → O + O3 (10)
+
e + O2 → O + O-
O- + O2 → O3 + e (12)
O- + O3 → O2 + O2-
O + O3 → O2∗ + O2 (14)
O2 ∗ + M → O2 + M (15)
e + O 3 → O + O2 + e
Based on the concept that discharge area is essential
for ozone generation, modified discharge assembly of
DBD including surface discharge and hybrid discharge
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is widely employed for ozone generation in a variety of
applications. The invention of surface dielectric barrier
discharge (SDBD) enables propagation of micro-discharge
in a non-uniform field along dielectric surface and a
larger discharge area than channel diameter (Nassour
et al. 2016). Typically, there is a dielectric surface in SDBD
with thin parallel electrode strips on one side of dielec-
tric barrier, while a metallic electrode is covered on the
reverse side of barrier, leaving the gas gap unfixed as
depicted in Figure 2A–B (Pavon et al. 2007). An extended
discharge area on dielectric barrier surface can be devel-
oped as a result of the unfixed gas gap in SDBD, which is
confirmed by stronger emission discovered from the edges
in the form of long filaments (streamers) with increasing
airflow velocity (Figure 2C). Similarly, Xu (2001) reported
the extended discharge area of SDBD and indicated that it
depended on the accumulated surface charge during dis-
charge development, starting on the dielectric surface and
flowing towards the surface electrode in case of positive
polarity.
The ozone generation can be improved by the hybridi-
zations of different discharge types. Nomoto et al. (1995),
for instance, specially designed a discharge unit inte-
grating silent discharge with surface discharge for ozone
generation, which was assembled of inner coil electrode
and external copper cylinder electrode (Figure 2D). The
length and diameter of inner coil electrode were 80 mm
Reaction Threshold: 8.4 eV (7)

Reaction Threshold: 6.1 eV (9)

Reaction Threshold: 3.6 eV (11)
∆Hm = -82 kcal/mol (13)
∆Hm = -10 kcal/mol (16)
and 0.25 mm, respectively, keeping in contact with inner
wall of coaxial glass tube (inner diameter was 12.2 mm,
thickness was 1.4 mm). The inner diameter of grounded
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 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 5

Airflow ⊥ stripes
A B
H.V.

Airflow // stripes

Electrode Dielectric barrier

Flow

External copper cylinder electrode

D Silent discharge gap
H.V.

O2 O2, O3

O2 O2, O3

Coil electrode
Coaxial glass tube
Surface discharge area

Figure 2: The configurations of surface dielectric barrier discharge electrode (A–B) and silent-surface hybrid discharge (D) for ozone
generation, and CCD images of the whole discharge area for surface dielectric barrier discharge with the isentropic flow (corresponding to
velocity of airflow) increasing from left to right (C). [(A) to (C) were adapted from Pavon et al. 2007, (D) was adapted from Nomoto et al. 1995].

outer brass cylinder electrode was 17.0 mm, thereby
leaving 1-mm gap between outer side of coaxial glass
tube and inner side of copper cylinder. The combination
of different electrode types made it possible that silent
discharge occurred in the gap, while surface discharge
proceeded along the coil electrode. The authors revealed
that in the course of increasing applied voltage, surface
discharge was developed first along inner coil electrode
when voltage was < 6.0 kV. And then silent discharge
became active in space gap as applied voltage increased
above 8.0 kV. Under optimized operation conditions, the
yield efficiency of ozone using silent-surface hybrid dis-
charge reached 274 g/kWh, which was almost two times
higher than that obtained using silent discharge (roughly
130 g/kWh). It was probably owed to the synergistic effect
of enhanced surface discharge driven by charge created
from silent discharge (Nomoto et al. 1995).
The evaluation of other discharge techniques such as
pulse streamer discharge, plasma jet discharge, pulse DBD,
and pulse corona discharge (PCD) is of significant impor-
tance for rising discharge efficiency of ozone generation
(Masuda et al. 1988, Robinson et al. 1998, Samaranayake
et al. 2011). The pulse dielectric barrier discharge (PDBD), for
example, is equipped with pulsed power with voltage pulse
duration ranging from 50 to 300 ns, improving the genera-
tion rate of ozone, and avoiding massive loss of energy in
heat (Kornev et al. 2006). Nevertheless, the preliminary dis-
charge pathways responsible for ozone generation by PDBD

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6 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
remain unchanged in comparison to conventional DBD,
i.e. ozone generation is continued through three follow-
ing steps described earlier. The PCD (the configurations of
corona electrodes and a PCD ozone generator are displayed
in Figure 3A–D) is an attractive approach in atmospheric
pressure and non-uniform electric filed (Lukes et al. 2005).
Principally, electrons can be created by both negative and
positive corona in a typical PCD process. The created elec-
trons leave ionizing region and move to plate electrode,
completing the circuit while producing pulse current fila-
ments and micro-current column (Šimek and Člupek 2002).
It has to be emphasized that three advantages of PCD rela-
tive to conventional DBD should be taken into account:
(1) the breakdown of gas gap is not a requisite as corona
onset voltage is usually below breakdown voltage, (2) the
dielectric barrier between electrodes is not needed due to
the limited development of spark, and (3) the humidity of
feed gas is not strictly restricted as a result of limited spark
development and perhaps the absence of surface discharge
(Hegeler and Akiyama 1997).
A
HV
B
HV
Pulsed power
supply
Outer metal
tube
Cooling water
Figure 3: The schematic configurations of corona electrodes (A), (B), and (C) are assigned for wire-cylinder, needle-plate, and wire-plate
modus, respectively, and the coaxial pulsed corona ozone generator (D).
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The presence of inert gas in feed air also exhibits a
significant influence on the mechanism of ozone genera-
tion. It was reported that, for instance, low concentration
of N2 (1–10%, volume ratio) in feed air may promote the
generation of ozone (Kogelschatz 2003, von Sonntag and
von Gunten 2012). This was explained by the fact that part
of oxygen atom and electron is capable of reacting with
metastable N2 through the excitation and dissociation of
ground state N2, as shown in Eqs. (17–19). The storage and
liberation of reactive species (i.e. oxygen atom and high-
energy electron) can be therefore accomplished via series
of electron transfer and radical reactions [Eqs. (20–27)],
reducing the probability of ozone depletion with these
species (Tokuaga and Suzuki 1984). However, the con-
centration of NOx produced from above reactions reaches
a level at which the recombination reactions of oxygen
atoms [Eqs. (28–30)] might be dominated or ozone could
be depleted by NOx [Eqs. (31–34)], adversely affecting
the generation of ozone (Toby 1984, Robert et al. 1988,
­Eliasson and Kogelschatz 1991). Moreover, the catalytic
HV
Gas flow
High-voltage
wire electrode
Gas flow
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 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 7

cycles [Eqs. (29) and (33)] also remarkably contribute
to ozone destruction (Yagi and Tanaka 1979). In order
to obtain the influence mechanisms of other inert gas
(e.g. He, Ar, Kr, Xe) on ozone generation, the readers are
referred to Wei et al. (2014).
O( 3 P) + N2 ( A 3 ∑ u )→ NO( 2 Π) + N( 4 S) (17)
+
O(1D) + N2 ( A 3 ∑ u )→ NO( 2 Π) + N( 2D) (18)
+
was promoted when TiO2 surfaces were exposed to NOx
(e.g. NO3-) under illumination via charge transfer reactions
(Monge et al. 2010). Similar with the quenching reactions
of ozone by oxygen atoms [Eqs. (13–16)] excited from elec-
trons, however, the photons with different wave length as
well as oxygen atoms existed in the photoreaction system
could adversely exhaust ozone via Eqs. (38–41) (Levy 1971,
Matsumi and Kawasaki 2003).

O2 + hv → O( 3P) + O(1D) λ< 175 nm (35)

∑
+
e + N2 ( A 3
u
)→ N2 (a Πg , B Πg , b Πu ) + e → 2N + e (19)
1 3 1

O2 + hv → 2O(3P) 200 nm <λ< 242 nm (36)

N + O2 → NO + O (20)

N + NO→ N2 + O (21) NO2 + hv → O( 3P) + NO λ< 420 nm (37)

O2 + N2 ( A 3 ∑ u )→ N2O + O (22)
+
O3 + hv → O2 (1 ∆g ) + O(1D) 200 nm <λ< 310 nm (38)

∑
+
O2 + N 2 ( A 3
u
, B Πg )→ N2 + 2O (23)
3
-
O3 + hv → O2 (X3 ∑ g ) + O(1D) λ< 411 nm (39)
e + N2 → N2 + 2e (24)
+ 

N2 + + O2 → N2 + O2 + (25) O3 + hv → O2 (1 ∆g ) + O( 3P) λ< 612 nm (40)

NO + O2 + → NO+ + O2 (26) -
O3 + hv → O2 (X3 ∑ g ) + O( 3P) λ< 1180 nm (41)

NO + O2 → N + O + O2 (27)
+ -

O + NO + M → NO2 + M (28)

O + NO2 → NO + O2 (29) 2.1.4 Electrochemical ozone generation

O + O→ O2 (30)
O3 + N → NO + O2 (31)
O3 + NO→ NO2 ( 2 B1,2 ) + O2 (32)
O3 + NO→ NO2 ( 2 A1 ) + O2 (33)
O3 + NO2 → NO3 + O2 (34)
2.1.3 Photochemical ozone generation
The photochemical reactions are potentially capable of
exciting molecular oxygen, producing oxygen atom, and
thus accelerating ozone generation (Hashem et al. 1997).
Mechanistic studies indicated that ultraviolet (UV) irra-
diation favors the excitation of singlet or triplet oxygen
atom from ground state oxygen molecule [Eqs. (35–36)]
(Salvermoser et al. 2008). Also, it has been reported that
the triplet oxygen atom participating in ozone generation
can be produced from photo-excitation of NO2 in feed gas
[Eq. (37)] (Calvert 1976, Schnell et al. 2009). Other nitrogen
containing species are also found to be beneficial to ozone
generation. The excitation of oxygen atom, for example,
The electrochemical reactions in aqueous solution are
generally believed to be able to produce ozone with several
advantages involving no need of gas feed; low voltage oper-
ation; simple system design; and, in particular, reduced
loss of ozone by thermal decomposition during handling
(Foller and Kelsall 1993). Principally, ozone can be gener-
ated from electrolysis of water by employing anode mate-
rials with high oxygen evolution potential (e.g. graphite,
glassy carbon, and lead alloys) through the Six Electron
Transfer mechanism, as illustrated in Eq. (42), with stand-
ard redox potential of 1.51 V (Da Silva et al. 2006). In fact,
as standard redox potential for the oxidation of water into
oxygen (1.23 V) is lower than that of Eq. (42), molecular
oxygen can be simultaneously produced with ozone gen-
eration. Detailed mechanism courses for ozone generation
have been proposed consisting of water spilt and oxygen
atom transfer reactions [Eqs. (43–46)] on the basis of the
assumption that the generation of ˙OH is an essential
step (Feng et al. 1994). As the significant role of oxygen
atom responsible for ozone generation in gaseous phase
has already been discussed previously, the intermediate
oxygen atoms produced by electrolysis also participate in
ozone production in aqueous phase. Ozone generation can

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8 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
be thus additionally achieved by the reaction of oxygen
atoms affiliated on anode surface, which is derived from
the decomposition of ˙OH [Eq. (47)] with dissolved oxygen
(Kötz and Stucki 1987). The delivery of ozone from ozone
generator to treated solution can be avoided by employ-
ing the in situ generation of ozone using electrolysis in
aqueous solution, in which ozone generation and decon-
taminant reaction are supposed to proceed.
3H2O→ O3 + 6H+ + 6e- (42)
H2O→( ̇ OH)ads + H+ + e- (43)
(O2 )ads + ( ̇OH)ads →(HO3 ̇ )ads (44)
(HO3 ̇ )ads → HO3 + + e- (45)
HO3 + → O3 + H+ (46)
( ̇ OH)ads → Oads + H+ + e- (47)
2.1.5 Summary
The generation of ozone can be reliably achieved through
the reaction of oxygen molecule with oxygen atom, which
can be technically produced by means of gas discharge,
photochemical excitation, and electrochemical reaction.
The silent discharge is widely adopted in ozone generator,
owing to its effectiveness and operational stability. The
ozone produced from silent discharge is, however, inevi-
tably consumed by thermal decomposition and side reac-
tions, thus limiting its wide practical application. In order
to reach a higher ozone yield efficiency, hybrid discharge
combinations such as integrating silent discharge with
surface discharge are superior to the individual technique,
as a result of the synergistic effect of different discharge
patterns. Moreover, PCD, which does not require electrode
insulation, could be an alternative option due to its ultra-
short pulsed power; simple electrode configuration; and,
most importantly, the possibility to operate with humid
gas. Particularly, it is the ability to work with humid gas
that makes PCD promising for in situ application of ozone
without transferring ozonated gas. Nevertheless, if PCD is
employed solely for ozone generation without watering
the electrodes, its ozone productivity per unit of energy
does not differ too much from silent discharge.
2.2 The ozone generator
Almost all ozone generators are practically operated with
silent discharge principle. The ozone generator funda-
mentally consisted of discharge unit, cooling system,
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feed gas supplement, applied power, and corresponding
controlling system (Kitayama and Kuzumoto 1999, Alonso
et al. 2005), among which the design and operation of
discharge unit are of significant importance for ozone
generation. The ozone generator assembled using silent
discharge technique is commonly composed of coaxial
glass tube, whose outside wall of outer tube and inner
side wall of inner tube are uniformly coated by tin foil,
connecting to high-voltage power (Nassour et al. 2016).
Generally, the typical industrial ozone generators in early
times were categorized by plate-based, tube-based, and
other complex structural-based equipment, as compared
in Table 1. The plate-based Otto discharge cell (Figure 4),
for example, was structured by water-cooled hollow
boxes working as high-voltage electrodes and parallel
glass plates acting as insulator. Technically, in case of
parallel connection of 48 discharge units, the maximum
ozone productivity was expected to be 18 kg/h with power
efficiency of 20–22 kWh/ kg O3 (Information Institute of
Shanghai Science and Technology, 1976).
Currently, the most commonly used silent discharge
unit for ozone generation is usually assembled by several
water-cooled discharge tubes installed in parallel, as shown
in Figure 5 (Kogelschatz 2003). The cylindrical discharge
tubes with diameter of 20–50 mm and length of 1–3 m are
made of borosilicate glass, closed at one side, and mounted
inside slightly wider stainless steel tubes to remain annular
gap of 1–3 mm (Figure 5). Metal coatings on the inner wall of
inside glass tubes serve as high-voltage electrodes, whereas
outer steel tubes function as ground electrodes. Some large-
scale ozone generators comprise several hundred discharge
tubes inside big steel tanks in order to provide required dis-
charge area, with maximum ozone productivity > 800 kg/h
applied in Japan for drinking water treatment and 230 kg/h
applied in United States for municipal water treatment
(Loeb et al. 2012). The main obstacles hindering the devel-
opment of large-scale ozone generator are probably the
side ozone depletions and its thermal decomposition in
discharge gap, thus requiring further research efforts.
3 T
 he physicochemical properties
of ozone
3.1 The physical properties of ozone
The physical properties of ozone, including odor, color,
and solubility, are the bases for its wide applications in
water and wastewater treatment. Ozone is an unstable
and colorless gas with pungent fishy smell under ambient
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Table 1: The compositional structure and operation conditions of ozone generators in early period.a

Category Applied power Size of discharge unit Discharge Energy consumption Ozone yield Cooling
gap (mm) per area electrode rateb system
Voltage Frequency
(kW/m2)
(kV) (Hz)

Otto plate 20 500 Glass plate area, 685 mm2; central 3 2.7 18 kg/hc Water cooled
pore size, 101.5 mm; thickness of
plate, 3–4.5 mm
Block plate 22 50 Glass plate diameter, 394 mm; 3 0.97 1.225 kg/hd Oil cooled
central pore size, 25.4 mm;
thickness of plate, 3–4 mm
Van der Made 9 50 Thickness of outer tube, 2.03 mm; 1 < 1 113.5 g/he Water cooled
tube diameter, 50.8 mm; length,
457 mm; diameter of inner tube,
44.4 mm; length, 305 mm
Siemens & Halske 6 10,000 Thickness of dielectric glass, 1.5 21.5 0.5 kg/hf Water cooled
tube 1.5 mm; diameter, 60 mm; length,
457 mm
Welsbach tube 15 50–60 Thickness of outer tube, 1.5 mm; 2 0.38–0.43 1.13 kg/hg Water cooled
diameter, 80 mm; length, 1000 mm
Lowther grid plate 7–9 2500 – 1.0 15.8 1500 kg O3/d Air cooled
a
Data from Translations of Ozone and Its Applications, Series 2. Information Institute of Shanghai Science and Technology, 1976.
b
Data were obtained by air as feed gas.
c
Parallel connection of 48 discharge units.
d
Parallel connection of 64 discharge units.
e
Parallel connection of 30 discharge tubes.
f
Parallel connection of 6 discharge tubes.
g
Parallel connection of 204 discharge tubes.

Air
E demonstrating that ozone may exhibit various properties
C C C C
O3, O2
A D A D A property of ozone concerning its potential application in
B B
Air
Figure 4: The schematic configuration of Otto plate based ozone
generator. (A: grounding electrode of water cooled hollow box;
B: dielectric glass; C: discharge gap; D: high-voltage electrode of
water cooled hollow box; E: transformer. The size of discharge cell
could be referred to Table 1).
pressure and temperature (Khadre et al. 2001). The special
odor may be possibly used to indicate the presence of
ozone and to provide a warning of toxic exposure in
advance. The other physical properties of ozone such as
melting point, boiling point, and dipole moment are listed
in Table 2. It can be seen that, for example, ozone is a weak
polar molecule taken into account of its dipole moment,
(i.e. solubility and chemical reactivity) in water solution
(Beltrán et al. 2007). The most distinguishable physical
water treatment is its solubility. By conducting iodometric
titration, solubility of ozone in water was first accurately
determined to be 0.834 l/l (1°C, 741.5 mm Hg), which was
13 times as much as that of oxygen in temperature range of
0–30°C (Rubin 2002), although some other different solu-
bility data had been reported (Rice et al. 1981, Roth and
Sullivan 1981).
The dissolution equilibrium of ozone in aqueous solu-
tion is basically influenced by the partial pressure of ozone
in gaseous phase, the temperature of water, and its bubble
size distributed in solution. The dissolved concentration
of ozone at fixed temperature is linearly proportional to
its partial pressure, following the famous Henry’s law
(Biń 2004). Therefore, the solubility of ozone in aqueous
solution can be increased as partial pressure of ozone in
gaseous phase is elevated, based on which the increase
of gas pressure in ozone contactor will be advantageous
to ozone dissolution (see the discussion in Section 4.6).

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10 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment

Wiring
A Discharge gap B
HV fuse
Metal plating
layer

Gas flow

Glass tube

Cooling water
Outer steel tube

Discharge gap Fuses

Figure 5: The schematic configuration (A) and the real figure (B) of the modern industrialized tube ozone generator. Adapted with permis-
sion from Kogelschatz 2003, Copyright 2003, Plenum Publishing Corporation.

Table 2: The physical properties of ozone.

Physical properties Data Reference Physical properties Data Reference

Melting point -192.5±0.4 Jenkins and Dipaolo 1956 Thermal conductivity 0.000531 c
Waterman et al. 1958
(760 mm Hg)/°C (-183°C)/cal/(s) (cm2) (°C/cm)
Boiling point -111.9±0.3 Birdsall et al. 1952 Dielectric constant 4.74d Thorp 1954
(760 mm Hg)/°C
Critical temperature/°C -12.1a Birdsall et al. 1952 Solubility in water/(l/l)e Roth and Sullivan 1981
Evaporation heat 3.63 Hersh et al. 1960 0°C 1.13
(at b.p.)/(Kcal/mol)
Dipole moment/Debye 0.53 Gill and Laidler 1959 10°C 0.875
Vapor pressure/mm Hg 0.00859b Birdsall et al. 1952 20°C 0.688
Gaseous density at NTP/(g/l) 2.1415 Jenkins and Dipaolo 1956 30°C 0.563
Solid density 1.728 Jenkins and Dipaolo 1956 40°C 0.45
(77.4 K)/(g/cm3)
a
Data were derived from 54.6 atm.
b
Data are valid at 80.2 K (-193°C), the triple point of ozone.
c
The pressure at which thermal conductivity was measured is the vapor pressure of liquid at that particular temperature.
d
Data were obtained at 1 kilocycle per second at temperature of -183°C.
e
Data were obtained at 1 atm.

It is well recognized that dissolution of gas into water is
an exothermic process. Bablon et al. (1991) reported that
ozone solubility increased as the temperature of water
decreased on the basis of a negative logarithmic relation-
ship between solubility ratio [Sr, referred to Eq. (48)] and
water temperature in the range of 0.5–43°C. Moreover, the
dissolution rate of ozone can be accelerated by decreasing
ozone bubble size due to improved mass transfer, higher
inner pressure in the micro-bubble, as well as longer
hydraulic retention time (HRT) relative to macro-bubble
ozone (Chu et al. 2008). Zheng et al. (2015) investigated the
influence of bubble size (micro-bubble and macro-bub-
ble) on ozone dissolution behavior. The ozone dissolution
can be defined as Eq. (49), where kL (m/s), a (m-1), kd (s-1), ρL
(mg/l), and ρL* (mg/l) were assigned to the mass transfer
coefficient from gaseous into aqueous phase, the specific
surface area for gas-liquid contact per volume, the decom-
position rate constant of ozone, the dissolved ozone con-
centration in water, and the equilibrium concentration of
ozone in aqueous solution, respectively. It was revealed
that kLa of micro-bubble ozone contactor was 2.2 times
higher than that of macro-bubble ozone contactor, which
is consistent with results reported by Chu et al. (2007)
and Liu et al. (2010). Gong et al. (2007) confirmed that the
solubility ratio was higher in the case of smaller diameter
bubble by developing the solubility ratio [Eq. (50)] from

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 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 11

Eq. (48), where jb (kg/s), tb (s), c0 (kg/m3), and Rb (m) were Table 3: The standard redox potential of common oxidizing
the instantaneous mass transfer rate of a single bubble, species.a

the contact time, the initial concentration of dissolved gas

Oxidant Eθ(V) Redox potential Oxidant Eθ (V) Redox potential
inside bubble, and the bubble diameter, respectively. In
relative to ozone relative to ozone
spite of the different dissolution behavior of ozone, the
dissolved ozone concentration would be equal to its solu- F2 3.06 1.48 MnO4- 1.67 0.81
SO4˙-b 2.5–3.1 1.21–1.49 ˙OHads
d
> 1.5 > 0.72
bility at fixed temperature according to Henry’s law, until
˙OHfree 1.89–2.7 0.91–1.30 ClO2 1.50 0.72
c

equilibrium dissolution is established. In addition, chemi-
cal reactions responsible for ozone decomposition initi-
ated by dissolved organic matter (DOM), OH- in solution
(alkaline condition), and solid catalysts may considerably
influence the dissolution of ozone.
Sr = (mg/l O3 in water)/(mg/l O3 in gas phase) (48)
v = kLa(ρL∗ -ρL ) -kdρL (49)
Sr = (mg/l O3 in water)/(mg/l O3 in gas phase)
tb
= ( ∫ jb dτ ) /(4πRb 3c0 /3)
0
 2008). Taking into account these resonance structures,
3.2 The chemical reactivity of ozone
3.2.1 The chemical properties of ozone
The extensive applications of ozone in wastewater treat-
ment, potable water disinfection, air cleaning, and food
preservation are fundamentally determined by its active
chemical properties including strong oxidative potential
and reaction with a selection of compounds. In general,
ozone is a relatively strong oxidation reagent (Table 3),
+4
due to +4 valence in its special molecular formula O(O2 )
from the perspective of valence state theory (Zhang 2008).
The selective chemical reactivity of ozone is closely
associated with its molecular and electronic structure.
Ozone molecule (O3) is composed of three oxygen atoms,
in which one atom is the center atom, while other two
atoms are connected to the central one by covalent bond,
forming an isosceles triangle-like (bond angle of center
atom is 116°49′±30′, the length of two O-O bonds are both
1.278±0.003 Å, see Figure 6A) molecular structure via sp2-
hybridized rearrangement (Trambarulo et al. 1953). The
ground state of ozone, for example, can be identified
as a biradical pattern (Figure 6B) with two σ-bonds and
a long or formal π-bond associated with terminal atoms
(Hay et al. 1975, Harcourt et al. 1986). The four closed-shell
resonance structures (Figure 6C) of ozone molecule were
proposed according to its electronic configuration and
spatial model (Langlais et al. 1991, Kalemos and Mavridis
O 2.42 1.17 ClO- 1.49 0.72
O3 2.07 1.00 Cl2 1.36 0.66
H2O2 1.77 0.85 Br2 1.09 0.53
HO2˙ 1.70 0.82 O2 0.4 0.19
a
Most data were derived from Lin and Yeh (1993).
b
Data were derived from Cong et al. (2015).
c
The redox potential of ˙OHfree depends on solution pH. In acid
solution, Eθ(˙OH, H+/H2O) = 2.4–2.7 V derived from Wang and Liang
(2014), while Eθ(˙OH/OH-) = 1.89–2.0 V in alkaline condition referred
from Neta et al. (1988).
d
Data were derived from Lawless et al. (1991).
(50)
one oxygen atom is electron-deficient exhibiting electro-
philic property, suggesting that ozone can efficiently react
with unsaturated functional groups, amines, sulfides, and
other reductive compounds, whereas one oxygen atom
is electron-rich possessing nucleophilic property, thus
preferring to react with carbonyl, carbon-nitrogen bond
containing substances and strong Brønsted acids (Riebel
et al. 1960, Cocace and Speranza 1994). Therefore, ozone
is a robust reactive reagent that is capable of oxidizing a
large spectrum of pollutants by direct ozonation reactions
or by indirect reactions with oxygen-containing radicals
produced from ozone decomposition.
−2
3.2.2 The reaction mechanism of ozone with inorganic
compounds
Ozonation of inorganic compounds is basically the redox
reactions featured with electron-transfer from reductive
substrates to ozone. Apart from some direct electron-
transfer reactions including ozone reaction with hydrogen
peroxide ions [Eq. (51)], superoxide anion radicals [Eq.
(52)], and metal-organic anion complexes [Eq. (53)] (Zuo
and Hoigné 1992), the ozonation mechanisms of most
inorganic compounds are, however, carried out by the
oxygen-atom transfer reactions (Løgager et al. 1992). The
resulting unstable intermediates can subsequently hydro-
lyze into the oxidized state. Løgager et al. (1992) inspected
the reaction mechanism of Fe2+ with ozone in acid solu-
tion by stopped-flow spectrophotometer. The ferryl ion
(FeO2+), an unstable intermediate compound, produced
from oxygen-atom transfer from ozone to Fe2+ [Eq. (54)]

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12 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment

A
B

Figure 6: The spatial structure (A), biradical pattern (B), and closed-shell resonance structures (C) of ozone molecule. Original drawing of
(A) was done by us using ChemBioOffice software and (B) was adapted with permission from Hay et al. (1975). Copyright 2008, AIP Publish-
ing LLC., and Harcourt et al. (1986), Copyright 1969, Royal Society of Chemistry. (C) was adapted from Langlais et al. (1991).

addition (non-aqueous solution), responsible for degrad-

was measured. It was then subjected to decomposition
ing olefins, aromatic compounds, and carbon-nitrogen
dominant in Eq. (55) with the excess of Fe2+, whereas
bond containing compounds, respectively (Riebel et al.
the decay reaction was mainly governed by Eqs. (56–57)
1960, von Sonntag and von Gunten 2012). The 1,3-dipolar
with the excess amount of ozone. By contrast, ferrous
cycloaddition of olefins subjected to ozone attack, for
ion was found to be oxidized by ozone directly via elec-
example, is shown in Figure 7 (von Gunten 2003b). It
tron transfer, as shown in Eq. (58) (Holgné et al. 1985), as
involves the generation of highly unstable trioxolanes
Fe2+ could initiate chain reactions responsible for ozone
[i.e. ozonide (II) or (III)] through Criegee mechanism, after
decomposition, which will be explained later. Concerning
which carbonyl compound (VI) and hydroxyhydroperox-
cyanide oxidation, it was indicated that ozonation of CN-
ide (V) can be produced from (III) decomposition. The
was achieved by forming cyanate (CNO-) via oxygen-atom
intermediate (V) will be then decompose into a carbonyl
transfer mechanism (Parga et al. 2003). CNO- was then
compound (VI) and hydrogen peroxide (VII) (Dowideit
easily further converted into CO32-, NH4+-N, NO3- by ozona-
and von Sonntag 1998). On the other hand, the cycload-
tion or hydrolysis reactions depending on the introduced
dition for some substituted olefins does not necessarily
ozone concentration and solution pH value.
result in the production of ozonide, possibly owing to
O3 + HO2- → O3 ̇ - + HO2 ̇ (51) sterical hindrance effect as revealed by partial oxidation
of carbon-carbon double bond (Bailey and Lane 1967).
O3 + O2 ̇ - → O3 ̇ - +O2 (52)
The electrophilic addition is the primary principle of
Cu 2+ …C2O4 2- + O3 → Cu 3+ …C2O4 2- + O3 ̇ - (53) initial reaction of ozone with electron-rich organic com-
pounds, including phenols/phenolates, aromatic rings
O3 + Fe2+ → FeO2+ + O2 (54) substituted with electron-donating groups, and polyaro-
matic compounds (Larcher et al. 2012). The ozonation
FeO2+ + Fe2+ + 2H+ → 2Fe3+ + H2O (55)
of phenol, for example, is carried out preliminarily by
FeO2+ + H2O→ Fe3+ + OH
̇ + OH- (56)

FeO2+ + ̇ OH → Fe3+ + HO2- (57)

O3 + Fe2+ → Fe 3+ + O3 ̇ - (58)

3.2.3 T
 he reaction mechanism of ozone with organic
compounds

The ozonation of organic contaminants is basically limited

by selective oxidation characteristics of ozone with spe-
cific functional groups. In general, ozonation mecha-
nisms of organic compounds only comprise 1,3-dipolar Figure 7: The mechanistic model for the ozonation of olefins
cycloaddition, electrophilic addition, and nucleophilic (adapted from Beltrán et al. 2007, von Gunten 2003b).

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formation of carbon cation with substitution on ortho- and
para- positions of electron donating -OH group (Beltrán
et al. 2007). The ozone adduct could be stabilized by the
delocalization of electrons in aromatic ring, allowing four
resonance structures as shown in Figure 8A. Then carbon
cation can be transformed into catechol, hydroquinone,
and benzoquinone via SN1 reaction and deprotonation
reaction. The resulting electrophilic substitution interme-
diates are further decomposed through cycloaddition and
hydrolysis, as illustrated in Figure 8B (Eisenhauer 1968).
In addition, the nitrogen-containing compounds (e.g. ali-
phatic amines) can also be ozonated through electrophilic
reaction at nitrogen atom. It has been shown that N-oxides
and hydroxylamines are formed by ozone adduct of amines
at lone electron pair on nitrogen atom followed by oxygen
loss reaction. Amine radical cations may be alternatively
produced from electrophilic ozonation by abstraction
Figure 8: Ozonation mechanism of phenol. (A) The resonance
structures of carbon cations (the case of ortho position adduct, E is
assigned to ozone); (B) the mineralization pathway of phenol (AO is
assigned to abnormal process). [(A) was adapted from Beltrán et al.
2007, (B) was adapted from Eisenhauer 1968].
C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 13
of an ozonide radical anion, leading to the generation of
dealkylated amine, ketone, or aldehyde through rearrange-
ment of these cations (von Sonntag and von Gunten 2012).
On the basis of resonance structures, ozone may also
behave as a nucleophilic reagent, being capable of react-
ing with electron-deficient positions of carbonyl groups,
carbon-nitrogen triple or double bonds. As illustrated
in Figure 9A, benzaldehyde can be nucleophilically
ozonated to form benzoic acid by the addition of ozone
on carbon atom of carbonyl groups, followed by loss of
oxygen (Bailey 1958). The carbon atom of carbon-nitrogen
triple bond (e.g. isonitriles) and the carbon atom of car-
bon-nitrogen double bond (e.g. Schiff bases) are primary
reactive sites upon nucleophilic ozonation, as described
in Figure 9B and C, respectively. The nucleophilic reac-
tion of Schiff bases (I) with ozone, for example, may
Figure 9: The schematic mechanisms of nucleophilic reaction of
benzaldehyde (A); alkyl isocyanides (B); and Schiff bases including
N-benzylideneaniline, N-benzylidene-m-nitroaniline, and N-ben-
zylidene-t-butylamine (C) with ozone. [(A) was adapted with permis-
sion from Bailey 1958, Copyright 1958, American Chemical Society,
(B) was adapted with permission from Feuer et al. 1958 in which R is
assigned to alkyl chain, Copyright 1958, American Chemical Society,
(C) was adapted with permission from Riebel et al. 1960, Copyright
1960, American Chemical Society].
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14 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment

yield unstable intermediate (II), resulting from reaction
at carbon atom of double bond (Riebel et al. 1960). The
produced (II) will be then decompose into oxazirane (III)
and amide (IV) by ring closure and proton shift reaction,
respectively, with the carbon-nitrogen bond undestroyed.
The cleavage of carbon-nitrogen bond accompanied by
loss of oxygen, in contrast, could lead to the formation
of benzaldehyde (V). Regarding the aromatic ring sub-
stituted with electron withdrawing groups, nucleophilic
ozonation was more favorable than electrophilic ozona-
tion due to the decreasing electron density of aromatic
ring (Hong and Zeng 2002).
3.2.4 The reaction mechanisms of catalytic ozonation
Apart from direct reactions of ozone with a selection of com-
pounds, oxidation can also be achieved by indirect reaction
with oxygen-containing radicals (mainly ˙OH) generated
upon homogenous and heterogeneous catalytic decompo-
sition of ozone. The homogenous catalytic ozone decompo-
sition mechanisms in aqueous solution involving SHB [Eqs.
(52, 59–68)] and TFG [Eqs. (51, 69–75)] models were widely
accepted half a century after Weiss (1935) first described the
decomposition mechanism of ozone catalyzed by OH- ion
(Bühler et al. 1984, Staehelin et al. 1984, Tomiyasu et al.
1985). The general features of SHB and TFG models are
chain reactions, which were initiated by OH- and propa-
gated with the involvement of O3˙-, HO2˙, HO3˙. Thus, ozone
decomposition may be significantly promoted in basic solu-
tion (7 < pH < 10) whereas be less effective in acidic solution
(pH < 3). It should be emphasized that some acidic anions
in solution could adversely affect ozone decomposition.
For example, O3 can be depleted by Cl- in acidic solution,
producing Cl2 and ClO3- without the involvement of chain
reactions responsible for radical generation (Levanov et al.
2012, Levanov et al. 2015). Indeed, it has been reported as
a promoting effect of Cl2 and HOCl working as additional
oxidants on oxalic acid and p-hydroxylbenzoic acid degra-
dation during ozonation (Nowell and Hoigné 1992, Wang
et al. 2016). Although there is no direct evidence supporting
ozone reaction with CO32-, the presence of CO32- can inhibit
ozone decomposition by the removal of dominant chain
carrier radical, i.e. O3˙- (Nemes et al. 2000).

Chain initiation O3 + OH- → HO2 ̇ + O2 ̇ - k = 70 l/(mol⋅s) (59)

Chain propagation HO2 →

̇ H + + O2 ̇ - k = 7.9 × 105 l/(mol⋅s) (60)

H+ + O2 ̇ - → HO2 ̇ k = 5 × 105 l/(mol⋅s) (61)

H+ + O3 ̇ - → HO3 ̇ k = 5.2 × 1010 l/(mol⋅s) (62)

HO3 ̇ → H+ + O3 ̇ - k = 3.3 × 102 s-1 (63)

HO3 ̇ → O2 + ̇ OH k = 1.1 × 105 s-1 (64)

O3 + OH
̇ → HO4 ̇ k = 2 × 109 s-1 (65)

HO4 ̇ → HO2 ̇ +O2 k = 2.8 × 104 s-1 (66)

Chain termination HO4 ̇ + HO4 ̇ → H2O2 ̇ +2O3 k = 5 × 109 l/(mol⋅s) (67)

HO4 ̇ +HO3 ̇ → H2O2 ̇ +O3 + O2 k = 5 × 109 l/(mol⋅s) (68)

Chain initiation O3 + OH- → HO2- + O2 k = 40 l/(mol⋅s)(69)

Chain propagation O3 ̇ - + H2 O→ ̇OH + O2 + OH- k = 20 − 30 l/(mol·s)(70)
O3 ̇ + ̇OH → HO2 ̇ + O2 ̇
- -
k = 6 × 109 l /(mol⋅s) (71)

Chain termination CO32- + ̇ OH → HO- + CO3 ̇ - k = 4.2 × 108 l/(mol⋅s) (72)

CO3 ̇ - +O3 ̇- → O3 + CO32- k = 6 × 107 l/(mol⋅s) (73)

HCO3- + OH
̇ → HO- + HCO3 ̇ k = 8.5 × 106 l/(mol⋅s) (74)
HCO3 ̇ → H+ + CO3 ̇ - k = 500 s-1 (75)
H2O2 → HO2- + H+ pK a = 11.6 (76)

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Besides the applications of physical fields (e.g. UV
irradiation and ultrasonic vibration) and other soluble
catalysts (e.g. H2O2, Fe2+, Co2+, Mn2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+) are
the alternative approaches to catalytically decomposed
ozone into radical species in homogenous solution.
Principally, the energy transfer from applied physi-
cal fields to ozone could accelerate its decomposition.
The formation of ˙OH, for example, can be remarkably
strengthened by coupling ultrasonic vibration with
ozone, primarily resulting from additional thermal
decomposition of ozone occurred in cavitation bubbles
(Hou et al. 2013). The decomposition of ozone can be
facilitated by deprotonated H2O2 (HO2-), producing O3˙-
and HO2˙ [Eqs. (51, 76)] via electron transfer reactions,
which eventually leads to ˙OH formation (Torres-Socías
et al. 2013). The ozone reactions catalyzed by dissolved
transitional metal ions essentially comprise two mecha-
nisms: (1) the reaction catalyzed by free-state ions and
(2) the reaction strengthened by complex state of metal
ions. Basically, direct electron transfer from free-state
transitional metal ions with variable valence to ozone
will favor its decomposition. Ferrous ion, for example,
can be oxidized to its triple valence state by ozone with
the formation of O3˙- [Eq. (58)] (Holgné et al. 1985), which
is readily transformed into ˙OH [Eqs. (62, 64)]. The ˙OH
may also be produced from the hydrolysis of FeO2+ [Eq.
(56)], resulting from oxygen-atom transfer reaction [Eq.
(54)]. The oxidized Fe3+ can be then reduced to its diva-
lent state, as shown in Eq. (77), in which HO2˙ is produced
from Eqs. (59, 65, 66, 71) (Wilde et al. 2014). The coordina-
tion of metal ions with α-carbonyl or α-hydroxy contain-
ing carboxylate anions (e.g. pyruvic acid, oxalic acid,
citric acid) could, on the other hand, facilitate the cata-
lytic decomposition of ozone. This is owing to the high
electron density (donated by ligand) on the coordinated
metal site, being more favorable for electron abstraction
by ozone and leading to O3˙- formation (Zhang and Croué
2014c). Beltrán et al. (2003) studied the catalytic influ-
ence of homogenous Co2+ on ozonation of oxalic acid.
The results showed that CoC2O4 was formed via bidentate
complexation, increasing the reactivity of CoC2O4 with
ozone attributed to partial donation of electron density
from C2O42- to Co2+. The unstable intermediate (CoC2O4)+
could be produced [Eq. (78)] upon ozone reaction. After
that, Co2+ was regenerated by electron extraction from
carboxylic acid ligand to Co3+ [Eq. (79)], giving rise to the
appearance of superoxide ion radical and carbon dioxide
through decarboxylation reaction, as shown in Eq. (80)
(Zuo and Hoigné 1992, Pines and Reckhow 2002). Simul-
taneously, the generation of ˙OH was enhanced from O3˙-
and O2˙- via Eqs. (62, 64) and Eq. (52), respectively.
C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 15
Fe3+ + HO2 ̇ → Fe2+ + H+ + O2 (77)
CoC2O4 + O3 →(CoC2O4 )+ + O3 ̇ - (78)
(CoC2O4 )+ → Co2+ + C2O4 ̇ - (79)
C2O4 ̇ - +O2 → 2CO2 + O2 ̇- (80)
≡ Cu 2+ C2O4 2- + O3 →≡ Cu 3+C2O4 2- + O3 ̇ - (81)
Transitional metal oxides, reactive metal supported on
metal oxides, minerals, clays, carbon-based materials,
and ceramic honeycomb have been applied to assist
in the degradation of various organic compounds by
ozonation (Zhao et al. 2009a, Nawrocki 2013) and to
investigate the catalytic ozonation mechanisms (Ikhlaq
et al. 2013, Bing et al. 2015). The latest investigations
of various ozonation catalysts are listed in Table 4.
The mechanisms of heterogeneous catalytic ozonation
include (1) ˙OH generation from reaction of ozone with
surface hydroxyl groups, (2) ˙OH generation from reac-
tion of ozone with metal ion site with variable valence,
and (3) elimination of ozone recalcitrant compounds
via intermediate metal-organic complexes. The reac-
tion mechanism of ozone decomposition at surface
hydroxyl group sites depends on state of surface charge
(Zhang et al. 2015). The surface hydroxyl groups are
positively charged at solution pH below the point of
zero charge (pHPZC) of catalysts, promoting decomposi-
tion of ozone driven by electrostatic force and hydro-
gen bond between ozone and positively charged surface
(Zhao et al. 2009b). With the increase of solution pH,
surface hydroxyl groups are neutrally or negatively
charged at solution pH equal or above pHPZC, favor-
ing interaction of ozone with catalyst surface due to
the electrophilic nature of ozone (Jung et al. 2007). A
positive linear correlation between density of surface
hydroxyl groups and catalytic performance of catalyst,
for example, was established using surface properties
measurements (Zhao et al. 2015). In addition, metal
ion sites with variable valence present on surface of
solid catalysts are also reactive sites for ˙OH generation.
CoOx/ZrO, for instance, was confirmed to be an efficient
catalyst for ozone decomposition due to the oxidation
of surface≡Co2+ by O3, resulting in O3˙- and therefore ˙OH,
as shown in Eqs. (62, 64) (Hu et al. 2008). The electron
transfer from surface metal complexes to ozone can
accelerate its decomposition. It was observed that in
the presence of CuO and oxalate, the coordination of
Cu2+ with organic ligand could reduce the redox poten-
tial of Cu3+/Cu2+ couple (Eθ = 2.3 V), making Eq. (81) pos-
sible, which would be favorable for electron extraction
by ozone (Zhang and Croué 2014c).
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 16

Table 4: The latest investigations for the catalytic ozonation of various contaminants.

Pollutant Catalyst Preparation methods of Catalyst Ozone dosage pHb Research remarks Reference
the catalysts dosage

Pharmaceuticals γ-Al2O3 Commercially available 10.2 g/l 0.5 ml/min 3, 6.2, 13 ˙OH mediated reaction Ikhlaq et al. 2015
Ibuprofen Fe2O3/Al2O3@ Incipient wetness 1.5 g/l 30 mg/l 7 Ozone decomposed into oxygen atom at Al3+ Bing et al. 2015
SBA-15 impregnation (gaseous) sites, oxygen atom transformed into ˙OH and
O2˙- at Fe3+ sites
Phenacetin CuFe2O4 Co-precipitation and 2 g/l 0.36–3.85 mg/l 7.72 Ozone efficiently broke down the initial Qi et al. 2015
calcination (aqueous) model compound structure, ˙OH improved the
mineralization of intermediates
Phenol α-, β-, γ-MnO2 Hydrothermal 1 g/l 0.75 mg/min – Particular Mn-O bonds reacted with ozone to Dong et al. 2014
C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment

generate oxygen species

Phenol ZnAl2O4 Hydrothermala 1 g/l 0.75 mg/min 6.4±0.1 Surface hydroxyl groups and chemisorbed Zhao et al. 2015
water on catalyst were catalytic active sites
para-chlorobenzoic acid Peroxymonosulfate Commercially available 0.103 mm 0.103 mm 6 The concomitant production of ˙OH and SO4˙- Cong et al. 2015
(PMS)c arose from synergistic effect of O3/PMS
Several emerging TiO2 Commercially available 0.2 g/l 13 mg/l 7 The combination of photocatalytic Quiñones et al.
contaminantsd (gaseous) oxidation and ozonation enhanced ozone 2015
decomposition and ˙OH generation
para-chlorobenzoic acid Multiwalled carbon Commercially available 20 mg/l 160 μm 7e Strong correlation between RCTf values and Oulton et al. 2015
nanotubes surface oxygen concentrations was found
Oxalic acid Electrong Commercially available – 100 mg/l 3 Electro-reduction of O3 to ˙OH at the cathode, Wang et al. 2015
(gaseous) and O3 decomposition to ˙OH at high local pH
near cathode
Indigo Carboxylated Chemical vapor deposition 8 mg/l 140.6 mg/l 6.25 Functional -COOH groups directly reacted with Qu et al. 2015
carbon nanotubes and acidification (gaseous) amino groups of indigo.
a
ZnAl2O4 was synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method, followed by calcination at different temperature.
b
The pH is referred to as initial pH value without being specified.
c
The chemical formula of Peroxymonosulfate is 2KHSO5·KHSO4·K2SO4.
d
Six commonly detected emerging contaminants including acetaminophen, antipyrine, bisphenol A, caffeine, metoprolol and testosterone were degraded by photocatalytic ozonation.
e
The pH value was buffered by 5 mm phosphate.
f
The RCT value was defined as total exposure to ˙OH relative to total O3 exposure during ozonation.
g
The electron for catalytic ozone decomposition was provided by electrolysis of cathode (Pt or boron-doped diamond electrode).

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3.3 Summary
Ozone exhibits the characteristics of higher solubility
relative to oxygen and active chemical reactivity asso-
ciated with its resonance structures. It mainly involves
two mechanisms concerning the removal of inorganic
and organic compounds. The first one is direct reaction
with molecular ozone proceeding via electron transfer or
oxygen-atom transfer pathways for ozonation of inorgan-
ics. The fundamental pathways for direct ozonation with
organics are the cycloaddition, electrophilic addition, and
nucleophilic addition reactions. The second one is indi-
rect oxidation carried out with oxygen-containing radicals
produced from catalytic decomposition of ozone. Owing
to its special physicochemical properties, ozone has been
potentially applied in water and wastewater treatment.
Indeed, it suffered from some limitations, such as insuf-
ficient oxidation capability, scavenging effect of inorganic
carbon, and DOM on radical-mediated reactions. All of
these definitely need to be carefully investigated in future
studies.
4 T
 he application of ozone in water
and wastewater treatment
On account of its convenient generation and strong oxi-
dation ability, ozone is extensively applied in chemical
products manufacturing, food processing, aquaculture,
health-medical care, and atmospheric and aqueous pollu-
tion control industries. As a broad-spectrum disinfectant,
ozone is able to inactivate micro-organisms and decompose
precursors of chlorine disinfection by-products (DBPs)
with concomitant removal of odor and color in drinking
water treatment. The bio-refractory organic compounds
and reductive inorganics residual in biologically treated
industrial wastewater can be further oxidized by ozone. In
this review, the applications of ozone technology in potable
water disinfection and advanced treatment of industrial
wastewater are analyzed. The performance of ozonation
reactor in which ozone reaction occurs is assessed. The
energy consumptions in terms of ozone generation and
contaminants degradation are finally evaluated.
4.1 Ozone disinfection
Micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, proto-
zoa, bacterial, and fungal spores in water can be effec-
tively inactivated by ozone for disinfection purposes. The
C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 17
overall disinfection mechanism is realized as cell lysis
results from reactions with ozone molecule or oxygen-
containing radicals (e.g. ˙OH, O2˙-, HO2˙) (Hunt and Marinas
1997). Generally, microbial inactivation is induced by
ozone reaction with several cellular constituents includ-
ing proteins, unsaturated lipids and respiratory enzymes
in cell membranes, peptidoglycans in cell envelopes,
and nucleic acids in cytoplasm (Khadre et al. 2001). The
destruction of lipoprotein on outer shell and lipopolysac-
charide on inner cell wall, for example, were realized by
the oxidation of double bonds in unsaturated lipids and
sulfhydryl groups in enzymes with ozone (Chang 1971).
This will consequently lead to the reduction of cell perme-
ability, eventually causing rapid cell death. The complete
inactivation of microbial cell by ozone should be even
further achieved through the damage of genetic genes,
parasitic bacteria, phages, and mycoplasma residual in
dead cell. It was indicated that the reaction of nucleic
acids inside cell with ozone was carried out by opening
the circular plasmid DNA, producing single- or double-
strand breaks in plasmid DNA and ultimately resulting
in the decrease of transcription activity (Roy et al. 1981).
The clarity of the above basic principles will underpin
the development and application of ozone disinfection in
water treatment. The recent research activities concerning
ozone disinfection are summarized in Table 5.
4.1.1 Non-catalytic ozonation for disinfection
It is well established that direct ozone disinfection mainly
focused on inactivation of micro-organisms residual in
water and elimination of DBPs. The inactivation of two
antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in municipal waste­
water by ozone or UV disinfection was compared (Zhuang
et al. 2015). The results showed that although ozone dis-
infection (ozonation dose of 177.6 mg/l for 1.68–2.55 log
reductions of ARGs) achieved less inactivation of ARGs
than did UV irradiation (UV dose of 12,477 mJ/cm2 for
2.48–2.74 log reductions of ARGs), the 16S rDNA was more
efficiently destroyed by ozonation. Hiragaki et al. (2015)
applied ozone foam to inactivate Pseudomonas fluores-
cens with its initial number of more than 108, suggesting
that survival rate log (N/N0) decreased obviously along the
treatment time. Zimmermann et al. (2011) assessed ozone
disinfection for full-scale municipal wastewater treat-
ment, indicating that disinfection capacity was 1–4.5 log
units in terms of total cell counts (TCC) and 0.5–2.5 log
units for Escherichia coli.
Agbaba et al. (2015) elucidated the influence of
applied ozonation on natural organic matter (NOM)
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 Table 5: The recent publications in ozone disinfection.
Ozone oxidation Wastewater quality
Ozonation integrated DOC: 1.92–2.83 mg/l, UV254:
with ceramic 3.4–6.6 m-1, Br-: 0.02 mg/l, pH:
ultrafiltration 6.59–6.94
Ozonation DOC: 5.16–9.85 mg/l, pH: 7.48–
8.19, UV254: 0.211–0.446 cm-1,
alkalinity: 475–745 mg CaCO3/l
Ozonation catalyzed DOC: 9.85±0.18 mg/l, pH: 7.48±0.1,
by TiO2 total alkalinity: 745±12 mg CaCO3/l
Flocculation- COD: 683 mg/l, pH: 6.4, Escherichia
flotation followed by coli: 1200 CFU 100 ml-1, turbidity:
ozonation 229 NTU
Ozonation/ Equivalent concentration for amino
ozonation-chlorine acids: 29–171 μg N l-1, pH: 7
Ozonation with TOC: 2.4–8.7 mg/l, UV254: 0.071–
magnetic ion 0.256 cm-1, bromide: 33–380 μg/l
exchange resin
Ozonation DOC: 3 mg/l, bromide concentration:
300 μg/l, pH: 8.0±0.1
Ozonation DOC: 2 mg/l, bromide concentration:
100–900 μg/l, pH: 6.8–9.2
Ozonation Initial concentrations of 17
β-estradiol and estrone: 100 ng/l
and 100 μg/l, turbidity: 0.4±0.2 NTU
Ozonation TOC: 3.19–4.00 mg/l, UV254:
0.012–0.049 cm-1, SUVA: 0.36–
1.22 l/mg m, pH: 7–8
Ozonation, or UV COD: 13–29 mg/l, alkalinity:
irradiation 165–185 mg/l, original gene copies:
105.22–109.57 copies/ml
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Reaction conditions
Ozone dose: 3 mg/l,
Single membrane sheet:
1046 × 260 × 6 mm with total
filtration 50 m2
Ozone doses: 0.2–0.8 mg O3/mg
DOC, ozone delivery rate: 8 l/h
Ozone doses: 0.4–3.0 mg O3/mg
DOC, TiO2 concentration: 1.0 mg/l
Ozone doses: 4 g/h, average
diameter of flocs: 860–1600 μm,
rise rate of flocs: 45–165 m/h
Ozone doses: 5 mg/l, chlorine
doses: 15 mol/mol precursor
Resin doses: 0.5–2.0 ml/l, alum
flocs doses: 10–80 mg/l, ozone
doses: 1 mg O3/mg TOC
Dissolved ozone: 30 mg/l, water
bath: 20±1°C
Ozone doses: 0–3 mg O3/mg
DOC, water bath: 20±0.5°C
Ozone doses: 0.4–28 mg/l, water
bath: 19±2°C, pH: 7±0.3
Ozone doses: 1.5–3.0 mg/l,
NaOCl:TOC = 5 (wt),
NH2Cl:TOC = 3 (wt)
UV irradiation: 62–12,
477 mJ/cm2, UV wave length:
254 nm, ozone dose: 2.66 mg/l
18
Main results Reference
The removal of organic matter was significantly Fan et al. 2015
improved with ozonation in advance, and a close
linear relationship of DOC with the formation
potential of DBPs was established
Increasing ozone dose (0.2–0.8 mg O3/mg DOC) Agbaba et al. 2015
generally led to reductions in DOC (2–26%) and
trihalomethane formation potential (4–58%)
The application of TiO2 enabled an improved Molnar et al. 2012
ozonation in terms of trihalomethane (THM)
precursor content removal (up to 80%)
The integrated processes resulted in disinfected Etchepare et al. 2015
(Escherichia coli < 1.8 CFU 100 ml-1) and clarified
water (10 NTU)
C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
The increases in the formation of chloropicrin Bond et al. 2014
from ozonation-chlorination relative to
chlorination alone varied from 138% for
3-aminophenol to 3740% for ala-ala for the four
amine surrogates
The amount of bromate produced by ozonation of Kingsbury and Singer
resin-treated waters was similar to or less than 2013
that of raw water and alum-treated water
The use of ozone as a primary disinfectant may Mao et al. 2014
cause a shift to more brominated DBPs during
subsequent chlorination
The concentration of BrO3- steadily increased Lin et al. 2014c
with increasing O3 dosage at high Br-
concentration ( > 900 μg/l)
Both 17 β-estradiol and estrone have been Pereira Rde et al.
found to form two main by-products after ozone 2011
disinfection of surface water, following the same
reaction pathways
Ozonation reduced the formation of HANs from Zhu et al. 2015
EOM, increased the yields of HANs from IOM
Inactivation of antibiotic resistance genes Zhuang et al. 2015
underwent by increased doses of disinfectors,
and 16S rDNA was more efficiently removed by
ozonation
 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 19

fractionation and DBPs formation. The results indicated

Zimmermann et al.
that the reactivity of all individual NOM fractions towards

Chen et al. 2014b

Chu et al. 2015
trihalomethane formation decreased by 47–69% relative
to raw waters when subjected to ozone oxidation (0.8 mg
Reference

O3/mg dissolved organic carbon [DOC]), which is con-

2011

sistent with findings from Chu et al. (2012). In contrast,

the ozonation treatment of nitrogen containing organic
compounds could increase the formation potential of
­

resulting in the formation of fewer THMs and nine

concentrations reduction only partially correlated

Abrupt termination of ozonation resulted in some

N-DBP precursors and then substantial formation

DBPs. It was reported that the disinfection of alanylala-

consistently correlating with ozone doses. E. coli
Ozonation decreased TCC by 1–4.5 log units, not

The use of both catalysts in catalytic ozonation

nine with ozone prior to chlorination could accelerate the

effectively removed the precursors of DBPs,

formation of chloropicrin (Bond et al. 2014). The authors

suggested that ozone is more effective than chlorine in
mediating an oxidation step in chloropicrin formation,
most plausibly involving conversion of an amine group
of N-DBP during chlorination

to a nitro group. Similarly, Zhu et al. (2015) indicated

haloacetic acids (HAA9).

that haloacetonitriles (HANs) formation from extracel-

with ozone exposure

lular organic matter (EOM) on the course of ozonation

decreased from 0.73 to 0.35 μg/mg C, whereas HAN yields
Main results

from intracellular organic matter (IOM) raised by 21.2%.

This was owing to the lower nitrogen-organic concentra-
tion in EOM than that in IOM, as ozone disinfection might
transform amine compounds to nitrous compounds, being
the precursors of HAN. Mao et al. (2014) also reported a
Ozone dose: 2.5 mg/l, ozone flow
rate: 100 ml/min, catalyst doses:

similar result concerning the increase of formation poten-

Ozone doses: 0.21–1.24 g O3/g

2.0–2.5 mg/l, density of BAC:

tial of chloral hydrate and trichloro nitromethane with

rising ozone doses up to 6 mg/l. Moreover, the ozone dis-
Dissolved ozone doses:

infection of emerging estrogens bearing surface water will

Reaction conditions

lead to the formation of DBPs including 17 β-estradiol and

estrone (Pereira Rde et al. 2011). The authors conducted
0.5–1.25 g/l

experiments at two different concentrations of estrogens

450 g/l

in water (100 ng/l and 100 μg/l) and at varying ozone

DOC

dosages (0–30 mg/l). Results showed that these DBPs have

been found to be formed at both high and low concentra-
tions of estrogens and to be persistent even after exposure
to high ozone dosages.
DOC: 2.4 mg/l, dissolved organic

0.15–0.219 cm-1, pH: 8.15–8.57

DOC: 2.4–4.8 mg/l, pH: 7.0±0.2

The ozone disinfection of Br- containing water aroused

DOC: 8.22–11.26 mg/l, UV245:

wide concern due to a potential carcinogen DBP, BrO3-,

nitrogen (DON): 0.51 mg/l

recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and

United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
Wastewater quality

(USEPA 1998, WHO 2011). It was established that BrO3- can

be produced from the reaction of ozone with OBr-, result-
ing from ozonation of Br- (Pinkernell and von Gunten
2001). Mao et al. (2014) found that bromate incorporation
factor values of trihalometanes (THMs), trihaloacetic acid
(THAA), dihaloacetic acid (DHAA), and dihaloacetonitrile
(DHAN) increased from 0.62, 0.37, 0.45, and 0.39 without
Table 5 (continued)

Ozonation catalyzed

ozone exposure to 0.89, 0.65, 0.62, and 0.89 at O3 dose

by Fe-Mn oxide or
Ozone oxidation

Ozonation/ BAC

of 6 mg/l, respectively. The production of bromate could

TiO2/α-Al2O3

be significantly influenced by its precursor and trans-

Ozonation

filtration

ferred ozone doses. Lin et al. (2014c) demonstrated that,

for example, decreasing initial Br- concentration was an

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20 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
effective approach in controlling the formation of BrO3-.
When Br- concentration was lower than 100 μg/l, while
keeping the ratio of O3 dosage equal to DOC, the BrO3- pro-
duction was effectively suppressed.
4.1.2 Catalytic ozonation for disinfection
The application of catalysts on the course of ozonation
will generate more reactive and less selective radical
species, which are expected to accelerate the elimination
of DBP precursors as well as residual DOC. The effect of
Fe-Mn oxide and TiO2/α-Al2O3 employed as ozonation cat-
alysts on the formation of DBPs was studied (Chen et al.
2014b). Results pointed out that ozone reactions catalyzed
by Fe-Mn oxide and TiO2/α-Al2O3 effectively removed the
precursors of DBPs, improving 77.5% and 30% of THMs
removal capability compared with non-catalytic ozona-
tion, respectively. Molnar et al. (2012) evaluated the perfor-
mance of catalytic ozonation (O3/TiO2) and non-catalytic
ozonation in the content and structural change of THM
and HAN precursors in groundwater. The results indicated
that TiO2-catalyzed ozonation (18% DOC removal) favored
more effective reduction of NOM in comparison with non-
catalytic ozonation (6% DOC removal). On the other hand,
the structural changes of NOM by both treatments led to
a 70% increased proportion of hydrophilic fraction (HI),
which were the most reactive THM and HAN precursors.
4.1.3 P
 hysical separation techniques assisted ozone
disinfection
In addition to combining catalysts with ozonation for the
purpose of removing DBPs and their precursors, coupling
various separation technologies with ozone oxidation has
been suggested as promising alternatives. Fan et al. (2015)
examined the degradation of DBP precursors by integrat-
ing ozonation with ceramic ultrafiltration from micro-
polluted surface water. The integrated process enabled
73% of DOC removal, in which the reduction of 77% of tri-
halomethane precursor, 76% of haloacetic acid precursor,
83% of trichloracetic aldehyde precursor, 77% of dichloro-
acetonitrile precursor, 51% of trichloroacetonitrile precur-
sor, 96% of 1,1,1-trichloroacetone precursor, and 63% of
trichloronitromethane precursor can be achieved. The per-
formance of magnetic ion exchange (MIEX) resin followed
by ozonation in controlling bromate and chlorinated DBPs
formation was investigated (Kingsbury and Singer 2013).
Results demonstrated that MIEX resin removed 39–85%
of trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP), while
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35–45% reduction of THMFP was achieved by ozonation.
This suggested that MIEX resin can be a more promis-
ing pre-treatment for ozone disinfection, as it achieves
superior THM and bromate precursors removal. Chu et al.
(2015) evaluated the N-DBP formation during ozonation
(continuously bubbling and terminated bubbling) cou-
pling with biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration. It
was indicated that more N-DBP precursors passed into
post-BAC water when ozonation was terminated, resulting
in greater formation of N-DBP when the water was sub-
sequently chlorinated, compared to a parallel BAC filter
under continuously bubbling ozonation. This resulted
from the generation of new N-DBP precursors such as
nitrogen containing soluble microbial products (SMPs),
which were likely produced from endogenous respiration
by micro-organisms when ozone bubbling was terminated
(Schiener et al. 1998, Chu et al. 2010).
In summary, inactivation of micro-organisms and
inhibition of conventional chlorinated DBPs can be effec-
tively achieved by ozone disinfection. Nevertheless, this
technology suffers from several limitations as an alterna-
tive approach to chlorine disinfection. Firstly, ozone reacts
with NOMs residual in water to produce low-molecular
weight oxygenated by-products, which are generally more
biodegradable and ozone recalcitrant. The biological
regrowth in the distribution system may be, however, stim-
ulated by these intermediates. Secondly, ozone is unstable
in water with its half-life time < 1 h under common condi-
tions of drinking water supplement, resulting in insuffi-
cient continuous disinfection functionality (Glaze 1987).
Thirdly, the ozonated by-products including bromate as
well as N-DBPs (e.g. N-nitrosodimethylamine, chloro-
picrin and HANs) have been recently identified during
ozone disinfection (Schwarzenbach et al. 2006, Parrino
et al. 2014, Marti et al. 2015). Moreover, ozonation of some
nitrogen-containing organic compounds will, however,
increase the formation potential of DBPs during following
chlorination. In order to overcome these deficiencies, the
pre-treatments responsible for removing DBPs precursors
such as Br- and amine group containing organics will be of
necessity for ozone disinfection.
4.2 O
 zonation of cyanide containing
wastewater
Cyanide in wastewater is an important issue because of its
toxic effect, which normally existed in the form of hydro-
gen cyanide, anion, and various cyanide complexes. The
free cyanide ions, including cyanide anion and hydro-
gen cyanide either in gaseous or aqueous phase, are the
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 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 21

most poisonous forms (Dash et al. 2009). The ozonation CN- + ̇ OH → CNO- + HO2 ̇ (82)
of cyanide in various sources is promising due to the
CN- + ̇ OH→ CN ̇ + OH- (83)
intense reactivity of cyanide with ozone and complete
elimination of cyanide without undesirable by-products. 2 CN →
̇ (CN)2 (84)
The preliminary product of cyanide ozonation is cyanate,
which can be further degraded via hydrolysis or ozona- (CN)2 + 2OH- → CNO- + CN- + H2O (85)
tion proceeding, however, at relatively slower reaction HCN + OH
̇ → HCNO + HO2 ̇ (86)
rate than the oxidation of cyanide (Mert et al. 2014). The
oxidation of cyanide by ˙OH produced upon ozone decom- HCNO ↔ H+ + CNO- (87)
position, comparatively, is carried out by producing CNO-
Cu(CN)2- + OH
̇ → Cu 2+ + 2CN- + OH- (88)
as the less hazardous intermediate through two pathways
[Eq. (82) and Eqs. (83–85)] (Gurol and Bremen 1985a).
Although hydrogen cyanide is less reactive with ozone, it
can be readily degraded by ˙OH-mediated reactions [Eqs. 4.2.1 Non-catalytic ozonation for cyanide removal
(86–87)]. The research activities in cyanide abatement by
means of catalytic and non-catalytic ozonation are con- The non-catalytic ozonation of cyanide bearing waste-
cluded in Table 6. water is usually used in alkaline solutions, in which the

Table 6: The ozonation of cyanide containing wastewater.

Ozonation Solution system Ozone dosage Solution pH Research remarks Reference

technology

O3/ CAC Synthetic solution 0–6.88 mg/l 11.5 CN- first adsorbed on CAC surface Sánchez-Castillo
reaching adsorption equilibrium et al. 2015
condition, then oxidation of CN- to
CNO- occurred
Ozonation and Electroplating 80–150 mg/l 7.95–8.05 Ozonation pre-treatment improved Cui et al. 2014
BAF wastewater the wastewater biodegradability
O3/activated Mining effluent 2 mg/min 11.5 Activated carbon and O3 Sánchez-Castillo
carbon exhibited synergetic effect on the et al. 2015
decomposition of cyanide
O3/H2O2/UV Jewellery producing – 10–12 The combination of catalytic Mert et al. 2014
wastewater ozonation and photolysis
promoted radical generation
O3/H2O2 Automobile industry 1–6 mg/l 12–13 Deprotonated H2O2 could Mudliar et al. 2009
wastewater effectively decompose ozone
into ˙OH at basic condition,
accelerating cyanide removal
O3/H2O2 Synthetic solution 0.25–7.0 mg/l 7–9 Indirect oxidation of CN- was more Kepa et al. 2008
effective than direct ozonation
O3 Cassava starch 7.4–30 g/ha – Ozonation of cyanide was limited Somboonchai
solutions by the liquid phase volumetric et al. 2008
mass transfer coefficient of ozone
O3 Synthetic solution 0.2–2.3 mol/molb 11 The cyanide oxidation depended Barriga-Ordonez
mainly on the specific ozone dose et al. 2006
O3 Mining wastewater 0.12–0.27 g/min 11.2 Intermediate CNO- was less Parga et al. 2003
reactive than CN- against ozone
O3/TiO2/UV Synthetic solution 700 cm3/minc 11.3 Decomposition and adsorption Hernández-Alonso
both accounted for CN- removal et al. 2002
O3 Synthetic solution 0.085 g/min 10.3 The reaction stoichiometric ratio Carrillo-Pedroza
of CN-:CNO-:O3 was 1:1:1. et al. 2000
a
The ozone dosage was referred to ozone producing ability of an ozone generator.
b
The ozone dosage was the ratio of mol O3 feed per mol CN-.
c
The ozone dosage was a final ozone molar fraction in the gas phase of about 1550 ppmv.

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22 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
oxidation ability of ozone can be enhanced by OH- ion. A
synthetic alkaline solution containing CN- was ozonated
in a counter-current bubble column, with special empha-
sis on specific ozone dose requirement (Barriga-Ordonez
et al. 2006). The oxidation efficiency mainly depends on
specific ozone dose, with 90% CN- removed under specific
ozone dose of 1.2 mol O3/mol CN-, which was suggested to
be the least specific ozone requirement for ozonation of
cyanide. This significant ratio of ozone with cyanide was
also reported by Gurol and Bremen (1985a). By contrast,
Zeevalkink et al. (1980) and Carrillo-Pedroza et al. (2000)
revealed that the stoichiometric ratio of cyanide ozone
reaction was equal to 1. The discrepancy may resulted
from the presence of other ozone reactive compounds and
different solution pH under which the experiments were
conducted.
In case of cyanide containing industrial wastewater,
the ozonation mechanism of cyanide normally presented
in the form of metal ion-complex is more complicated than
that of free cyanide. A mechanistic study for describing
the degradation of free and copper-complexed cyanide
in a completely mixed ozone contactor was developed
(Kumar and Bose 2005). The authors proposed that copper
cyanide complexes could be ruptured due to interaction
with hydroxyl radicals [Eqs. (88)], without proper evi-
dence supporting the initial reaction of copper cyanide
complexes with ozone molecule. It was also confirmed
that the overall degradation rate of copper-complexed
cyanide was slower than that of free cyanide under identi-
cal conditions, as the breakdown of complexes consumed
extra ˙OH, which was generated from ozone decomposi-
tion. The produced copper presented in cuprous form was
oxidized to cupric form and subsequently precipitated as
Cu(OH)2 under pH value as high as 12.8. This is, however,
contradictory to the results from Gurol et al. (1985b), in
which the enhanced rate of copper cyanide degradation
as compared to that of free cyanide was due to the cata-
lytic activity of free Cu(I)/Cu(II) towards ozone decompo-
sition under pH value as high as 11.5.
4.2.2 O
 zonation associated with other technologies for
cyanide removal
The combination of ozone oxidation with biological treat-
ment process has gained significant concerns in degrading
toxic and biological inert wastewater, as the biodegrada-
bility of wastewater could be improved by ozonation. The
combination of ozone reaction with biological aerated
filter (BAF) in treating cyanide containing electroplating
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wastewater was employed (Cui et al. 2014). Although the
authors found the increase of m(O3):m(CN-) being benefi-
cial in reducing effluent CN- concentrations (nearly com-
plete removal), the non-catalytic ozonation remained
problematic due to high dosage of NaOH required for
achieving optimal pH condition. Aiming at this obstacle,
the ozone oxidation associated with BAF (BAF1-O3-BAF2)
was proposed for cyanide abatement, removing 99.7%
CN-, 81.7% chemical oxygen demand (COD) under rela-
tively moderate reaction conditions.
The applications of catalyst-assisted ozonation can
also be used to achieve desirable cyanide removal under
neutral conditions. The oxidation processes compris-
ing O3, O3/UV, and O3/UV/H2O2 were employed to treat
cyanide in jewellery manufacturing wastewater (Mert
et al. 2014). It was indicated that total cyanide removal
by O3 reached 86% at pH 12, while total cyanide removal
by O3/UV/H2O2 increased significantly to 99% even at pH
as lower as 10. Ozonation catalyzed by hydrogen perox-
ide was used to destruct cyanide containing automobile
industry wastewater and synthetic wastewater (Mudliar
et al. 2009). Optimized loading of 116.8 × 103 mg/l H2O2
and 5.0 mg/l O3 was developed, reducing CN- concen-
tration from 250 mg/l below 0.02 mg/l. The results also
indicated that CN- destruction was more efficient in
automobile industry wastewater than that in synthetic
wastewater, ascribed from abundant Fe2+ (212.84±13.8
mg/l) residual in industrial wastewater, which could
potentially accelerate ozone oxidation in homogenous
solution. The activated carbon synthesized by coconut
shell (CAC) was employed to enhance the removal of
cyanide by ozone (Sánchez-Castillo et al. 2015). Under
the optimum reaction conditions, 1200 mg/ml of cyanide
was totally eliminated after 3 h by using 1 g of CAC and
2 mg O3/min. Importantly, it was clearly found based on
the results that before the oxidation of CN- to CNO-, the
CN- concentration predominantly decreased to adsorp-
tion equilibrium condition on CAC surface. The reason
was that the basic typical sites on CAC surface, includ-
ing quinone and pyrone, could be oxidized by ozone,
generating positively charged sites. In this scenario, the
ion-exchange type of CN- adsorption may be extended by
electrostatic adsorption.
In summary, free cyanide ions can be effectively
abated upon ozone reaction, occurring primarily by oxy-
gen-transfer reactions. The decomplexed reaction driven
by ˙OH will be the prerequisite step for abatement of
complex state cyanide. The promoting effect of produced
metal ions on cyanide ozonation in strong alkaline solu-
tion, however, remains unclear.
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 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 23

4.3 Ozonation of coking wastewater
The coking wastewater has gained immense attention due
to its complex composition and highly toxic feature. After
biological treatment, there are still phenolic, benzene
series, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and
nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds residual
in coking wastewater effluent. These non-biodegrada-
ble organic contaminants in coking wastewater can be
effectively eliminated by ozone-based technologies, as
shown in Table 7. It can be found that the most concerned
research interests lie in the reduction of potential risk of
coking wastewater effluent and the improvement of oxida-
tion capability of ozone by coupling with active catalysts.
The toxicological effect of hazardous compounds in
coking wastewater subjected to anaerobic/aerobic/ozona-
tion process on the development of maize embryos and
the activity of amylase and protease in maize seeds was
investigated (Wei et al. 2012). Obviously, after ozone oxi-
dation, the binding ability of poisonous organics in coking
wastewater with α-amylase was inhibited. This result may
be related to the degradation or structural change of toxic
compounds including quinolines, indoles, and PAHs.
Moreover, Chang et al. (2008) evaluated the contribution
of ozone pre-treatment of coking wastewater to the toxicity
reduction, demonstrating that toxic substances compris-
ing cyanide, thiocyanate, and phenol can be destroyed
by ozone and converted to less toxic or non-toxic sub-
stances. The toxicity inhibition of coking wastewater on
aerobic microorganisms after ozonation was lower than
20%. However, the authors (Chang et al. 2008) reported
that biodegradability of wastewater was not enhanced as
evidenced by biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)5/COD
ratio, decreasing from 0.52 to about 0.1, which is not con-
sistent with other studies (Bijan and Mohseni 2005, Cui
et al. 2014).
It is generally believed that the application of non-
catalytic ozonation for wastewater decontamination is
adversely affected by the insufficient oxidation ability of
ozone, making the association of ozone oxidation with
other technologies remain as fundamental interest. The
ozonation of biologically treated coking wastewater cata-
lyzed by ZnFe2O4 was conducted to elucidate the organic
compounds transformation (Zhang et al. 2015). On the
basis of ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy analysis, the
absorbance in the range of 250–300 nm was evidently

Table 7: Catalytic and non-catalytic ozonation of coking wastewater.

Wastewater Ozonation Ozone reactor Research remarks Reference

Coking wastewater a
O3/ZnFe2O4 Three-necked flask The ZnFe2O4 can accelerate the generation of Zhang et al. 2015
radicals upon ozone decomposition, and single
ring aromatic compounds as well as PAHs can be
effectively degraded
Simulated coking O3/O3- Rotating packed bed The BOD5/COD value of simulated coking Wei et al. 2015
wastewater Fenton wastewater treated by O3/Fenton reached 0.46 and
was 135% higher than that obtained in O3 process
Coking wastewatera O3/UV Pilot-scale FBR The ozonation of industrial wastewater highly Chen et al. 2012
depended on the reductive activity sequence of
pollutants and mass transfer of ozone in FBR
Coking wastewatera O3/UV Pilot-scale FBR FBR accelerated the mass transfer of ozone from Lin et al. 2014a
gaseous to aqueous phase, and therefore the
removal of PAHs was increased
Coking wastewaterb O3 Cylindrical column Under the optimized conditions of ozone dosage Zhang et al. 2014b
0.3 mg O3/mg COD, pH 7.5, ozone combined with
BAF can effectively abate COD, NH4+-N, UV254
Coking wastewaterc O3 Airtight Pyrex column Organic matter and cyanide cannot be completely Chang et al. 2008
degraded, due to the inadequate oxidation ability
of ozone to remove ozonated by products
Coking wastewaterd O3 Cylindrical column Ozone can initially decompose refractory organics Wei et al. 2012
such as quinolines, indoles, and PAHs, although
derivatives of pyridines and PAHs still remained.
a
The wastewater was obtained from anaerobic-aerobic-aerobic FBR, Song Shan Coking Plant, Guangdong, China.
b
The wastewater was obtained from anaerobic-anoxic-oxic process, Magang Steel Factory in Ma’anshan, China.
c
The wastewater effluent studied was obtained from a local coke plant.
d
The effluent wastewater sample was obtained from the biofilter underwent anaerobic/aerobic treatment.

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24 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
lower for coking wastewater subjected to catalytic ozona-
tion than that treated by non-catalytic ozonation. It was
indicated that the degradation of aromatic organic com-
pounds should be more efficient by means of catalytic
ozonation than that by non-catalytic ozonation. Wei et al.
(2015) combined Fenton reagent with ozone in treating
simulated coking wastewater in a rotating packed bed,
with special emphasis on pollutants degradation and
corresponding reaction pathways. The results suggested
that removal efficiency of phenol, aniline, quinoline, and
NH4+-N by O3/Fenton reached 100%, 100%, 95.68%, and
100%, respectively, which were much superior than those
obtained by non-catalytic ozonation. The improved per-
formance of Fenton ozonation was due to the promoting
effect of Fe2+ and H2O2 on ˙OH generation on the course
of ozone decomposition. In addition, the BAF combined
with ozone oxidation in degrading bio-treated coking
wastewater was examined (Zhang et al. 2014b). The bio-
degradability was found to be substantially improved
from BOD5/COD ratio of 0.09 to 0.43 under optimized oper-
ation parameters. In comparison with BAF process, the
removal of COD and UV254 can be increased remarkably
by BAF/O3, while there appeared nearly no difference for
NH4+-N removal by these two methods. This indicated the
poor oxidizing potential of ozone with NH4+-N, which is
not structured with typical unsaturated functional groups
and conjugated structures.
To sum up, the highly toxic organic compounds in
biologically treated coking wastewater effluent, especially
the aromatic or the conjugated structural organics, will be
preferentially degraded by catalytic and non-catalytic ozo-
nation post-treatment. However, the bio-refractory com-
pounds residual in coking wastewater is normally present
in low dose, inhibiting their kinetic reactions with ozone.
On the other hand, when ozonation was employed as the
pre-treatment for biological process, the biodegradability
could be substantially increased as a result of selective
oxygen atom addition on aromatic structures, which are
more biodegradable than their precursors.
4.4 Ozonation of dyeing wastewater
The textile industry is a water-consuming and seriously
contaminated industry, in which dyeing wastewater
accounts for 80% of total pollution discharge (Lin and
Chen 1997). Dyestuffs and textile auxiliaries, being the
main components of dyeing wastewater, are potentially
toxic and less biodegradable, which result in a threat to
aquatic organisms (Sharma et al. 2007). The effluent COD
of dyeing wastewater after primary sedimentation and
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biological treatment is composed of refractory compounds
and SMPs. The SMPs mainly consisting of proteins, poly-
saccharides, and organic colloids are derived from bio-
logical treatment and constituted the majority of soluble
effluent organic matters (EfOM) (Wu et al. 2016a). Table 8
summarizes the latest investigations of dyeing wastewater
treatment by means of ozone oxidation.
4.4.1 Non-catalytic ozonation of dyeing wastewater
The color removal from textile dyeing wastewater efflu-
ent treated by ozonation and the evaluation of toxic inter-
mediate compounds were investigated (Mezzanotte et al.
2013). Results indicated that average color unit removal
is 0.0018±0.0004, 0.0016±0.0005, and 0.0006±0.0002 per
mg O3/l for 426, 558, and 660 nm absorbance, respectively.
The aldehydes including glyoxal and methylglyoxal were
recognized as the main carbonylic by-products from ozone
reaction. Nevertheless, exposed at 60 mg O3/l, the alde-
hyde concentration ranged from 0.7 to 1.0 mg/l, complying
with the discharge standards. Interestingly, glyoxal and
methylglyoxal concentrations were directly related to color
removal, which can be developed as a simple indicator to
the toxic potential of ozone by-products in textile effluents.
The ozonation mechanisms of anionic sulphonated azo dye
were elucidated (Turhan and Ozturkcan 2013). The molecu-
lar structure of RO16 dye contains both electron-donating
groups (-OH, -NHR) and electron-withdrawing groups (-SO3
and -SO2R). In general, aromatic rings substituted with elec-
tron-donor groups are highly reactive with ozone at carbon
atoms in ortho- and para- positions due to high electron den-
sities. Thus ozone reactions may occur predominantly on
these electron-rich sites. It was found that although nearly
complete decolorization can be achieved within 8-min ozo-
nation by the breakdown of chromophore groups, there
was still 30% COD residual in wastewater. This was owed
to the presence of electron-deficient sites on RO16 molecu-
lar as well as ozonated by-products. Benincá et al. (2013)
reported an interesting phenomenon concerning the dif-
ference in color removal of azo dye solution (Ponceau 4R)
from synthetic water and industrial wastewater. The results
indicated that it took no more than 600 s for complete color
removal in synthetic dye solution (pH = 5.8), as ozone is able
to cleave the azo bond and electron-rich organic functional
groups in dye molecule. The color removal in real industrial
wastewater (pH = 4.7), however, did not exceed 50% under
nearly identical reaction conditions. The reason for such
behavior was probably the formation of suspended solids
from matters initially dissolved, although not fully under-
stood (Lin and Lin 1993).
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 Table 8: The latest investigations of dyeing wastewater ozonation.

Ozone oxidation Wastewater quality Reaction conditions Main results Reference

Ozonation catalyzed Concentration of basic yellow 87: Ozone dose: 500 mg/l, gas The removal efficiency of BY 87 (99%) and COD Zhu et al. 2014
by sheet loaded with 216 mg/l, pH: 6.6 flow: 0.5 l/min, temperature: (60%) can be sustained with O3/BY 87 mole
Cu/Zn/Al/Zr catalyst 22±0.5°C ratios of 0.98–21.3
Ozonation catalyzed COD: 142±6 mg/l, Colour: 33±3 times, Ozone dose: 10.8 mg/l, gas Catalytic ozonation effectively removed organic Wu et al. 2016a
by iron shavings pH: 7.37±0.14, BOD5: 1±0.5 mg/l flow: 500 ml/min, catalyst pollutants with COD decreasing from 142 to 70
dose: 20 g/l mg/l, below discharge limit
Ozonation catalyzed Concentration of Reactive Black 5: Ozone dose: 4.0 mg/min, COD removal reached 46% in catalytic ozonation Hu et al. 2016
by copper oxide 800 mg/l, pH: 5.1, COD: 625 mg/l catalyst dose: 1 g/l after 60-min reaction, while it was only 29% in
non-catalytic ozonation
Ozonation COD: 70±30 mg/l, pH: 7.4–7.5 Ozone doses: 10–60 mg/l 50 mg/l color removal was complete and at Mezzanotte et al.
60 mg O3/l, the final aldehyde concentration 2013
ranged between 0.72 and 1.02 mg/l
Ozonation, activated COD: 156–252 mg/l, BOD5: 13.5– Ozone dose: 0.25 mg/mg Outflows with COD of 43 mg/l, BOD5 of 6.6 mg/l, Zou 2015
carbon and BAF 21.7 mg/l, color: 58–76 times COD, apparent density of AC: and color of 5.6 times were obtained after the
402 kg/m3 combined treatment
Ozonation-anaerobic COD: 1714 mg/l, NH4+-N: 1.7 mg/l, Ozone doses: 0.13–0.52 g/l Anaerobic treatment removed COD and color. Punzi et al. 2015
process pH: 10 Ozonation further reduced the organic content,
especially the aromatic compounds
Ozonation Concentration of reactive orange Ozone dose: 24 mg/l min COD of basic dyestuff wastewater was reduced Turhan and
16: 500 mg/l, COD: 881 mg/l, 69.7% after ozone bubbling treatment Ozturkcan 2013
pH: 6.24
Ozonation catalyzed Concentration of Reactive Red 2: Ozone doses: 10–20 mg/l, The maximum mineralization rate of RR2 dye was Zhang et al. 2013a
by Fe(II) 0.45 mmol/l, pH: 7 flow rate: 50–400 ml/min, about 60%, under optimized operation condition
Fe(II) doses: 0–50 mg/l of Fe(II) 50 mg/l, pH 7, ozone dose 20 mg/l, flow
rate 200 ml/min
Ozonation COD: 8677±757 mg/l, apparent color: Ozone flow rate: 1.158 mg/s, Azo dye aqueous solution was completely Benincá et al. 2013
263 mg PtCo/l, azo dye: 60 mg/l pH(synthetic): 5.8, degraded after only 600 s, and a substantial
pH(wastewater): 4.7–9.4 reduction of TOC (around 45%) was noticed
Ozonation with COD: 2308 mg/l, color: 630 mg Ozone dose: 5.2 g/h, current 65% color removal, 76% turbidity removal, and García-Morales
electrocoagulation PtCo/l, alkalinity: 224 mg/l, pH: 7.23 density (EC): 0.2915 mA/cm2 37% COD reduction could be attained by using et al. 2013
(EC) the integrated process
Ozonation catalyzed Indigo carmine concentration: Ozone dose: 5 mg/l, catalyst Nearly complete removal of indigo carmine was Torres-Blancas et al.
by bio-composite 1000 mg/l, pH: 3 dose: 1000 mg/l, water obtained after 20 min by catalytic ozonation 2015
bath: 19±2°C
Ozonation with BAF COD: 70–100 mg/l, UV254: 1.0–1.5, Ozone doses: 0–40 mg/l, With the ozone dosage of 35 mg/l and HRT of Wu et al. 2016b
Color: 130–200 times, BOD: hydraulic retention time BAF of 2.5 h, COD of effluent from O3-BAF process
C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment

5–10 mg/l (HRT) of BAF: 2.5 h was below 50 mg/l

Ozonation catalyzed Reactive Black 5 solution: 2.0 g/l, Ozone dose: 1600 mg/h, Acute toxicity tests showed that pre-treatment Guo et al. 2013
by interior micro pH: 3.0, COD: 1422.4 mg/l 120 cm3 iron scraps filling by IM generated effluents that were more toxic

via University of Ottawa OCUL

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electrolysis (IM) with 480 cm3 AC compared with initial wastewater.
25
26 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
4.4.2 Catalytic ozonation of dyeing wastewater
The employment of catalytic ozonation could improve the
mineralization of simulated dyeing wastewater as a result
of radical-mediated reactions, besides nearly complete
color removal. The ozonation of Basic Yellow 87 (BY 87)
in synthetic wastewater catalyzed by Cu/Zn/Al/Zr cata-
lyst (i.e. CuO, ZnO, Al2O3, and ZrO2), which was loaded on
porous copper fiber sintered sheet, was evaluated (Zhu
et al. 2014). The removal efficiency of COD and TOC was
improved by two times and five times, respectively, by the
assistance of catalyst chip as compared to non-catalytic
ozonation. For a typical heterogeneous catalytic process,
physical adsorption for gaseous ozone took place due
to the presence of hydrophobicity surface and relatively
small pore size on catalyst chip surface. The BY 87 and its
by-products can be subsequently degraded by oxidizing
species on catalyst surface. Torres-Blancas et al. (2015)
developed a novel method synthesizing iron particles sup-
ported on deoiled Pimenta dioica L. Merrill husk for the
catalytic ozonation of indigo carmine. The acidic pH was
found to be the optimized condition for decolorization as
well as mineralization due to the presence of Fenton reac-
tions introduced by bio-composite catalyst. The reaction
mechanisms of Reactive Red 2 dye with ozone catalyzed by
Fe(II) in homogenous solution were investigated (Zhang
et al. 2013a). It was found that the second-order reaction
constant k2 was improved significantly by Fe(II)-catalytic
ozonation (2248 m-1 s) in comparison with non-catalytic
ozonation (1056 m-1 s). From the chemical reaction point
of view, the carbon atoms with chromophore azo-linkage
or with strong electron density were primarily attacked by
ozone. In addition, ozone can also undergo cycloaddition
reactions with unsaturated bonds, leading to the forma-
tion of carbonyl group (-C = O) or nitroso group (-N = O).
The toxicity evolution of diazo dye C.I. Reactive Black 5 in
aqueous solution subjected to integrated process of inte-
rior micro-electrolysis (IM) with ozonation was evaluated
(Guo et al. 2013). Although nearly complete decolorization
and 77.8% removal of COD can be achieved, the acute tox-
icity derived from Daphnia magna activity tests increased
in short period of IM-ozonation before eventually being
reduced under long ozonation exposure. This might be
stemmed from the broken azo bonds in RB5 by redox
reaction in IM process, thus producing naphthalene and
benzene derivatives with high toxicity (Maleki et al. 2010).
The evolution of intermediate compounds, change of
biodegradability, and decolorization in catalytic ozona-
tion of industrial dyeing wastewater have been evaluated.
Wu et al. (2016a) employed the iron shavings in catalytic
ozonation of organic pollutants from actual bio-treated
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dyeing and finishing wastewater. The results indicated
that among 218 organic species detected by liquid chro-
matography-mass spectrometry, 58, 77, 79, and 4 species
were completely removed, partially removed, increased,
and newly generated, respectively. The BOD5/COD value
increased from 0.01 to 0.17, suggesting an improvement
in biodegradability. The acute toxicity of inhibitory effect
decreased from 51% to 33%, owing to the removal of
hazardous compounds by direct ozonation, indirect ˙OH
oxidation, and co-precipitation. Based on the molecular
structural analysis including molecular weight distri-
bution, three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix
fluorescence, and variation study in organic pollutant
species, the authors summarized that catalytic ozonation
exhibited efficient performance in removing both polar
and non-polar organic pollutants. In order to elucidate
the reaction mechanism of dye molecule with ozone, the
catalytic performance of carbon aerogel supported copper
oxide in ozonation of dyeing wastewater was investigated
(Hu et al. 2016). The UV-Vis spectrum analysis showed that
the reduction of maximum absorbance in visible region
was more rapid than that in UV region. This suggested
that the azo structures whose absorbance lies in visible
region were more efficiently destructed than those (aryl
and naphthalene-like moieties) in UV absorption region.
An integrated process containing ozonation and electro-
coagulation was employed for the treatment of industrial
indigo carmine dye wastewater (García-Morales et al.
2013). Results showed that the integrated process enabled
more efficient COD, color, and turbidity elimination than
non-catalytic ozonation. The authors speculated that the
synergistic effect resulted from the removal of hardness,
alkalinity, and conductivity in wastewater, which served
as radical scavengers in ozone oxidation, by means of
electrocoagulation.
4.4.3 Ozonation combined with biological process for
treating dyeing wastewater
The research activity of dyeing wastewater treatment by
biological process combined with ozonation was focused
on the genotoxicity evolution. The genotoxicity reduction
of bio-treated dyeing wastewater (BTDW) collected from
a cotton textile factory after ozonation coupled with acti-
vated carbon adsorption and BAF was evaluated (Zou 2015).
The actual genotoxicity of BTDW was greatly reduced from
38.40 μg 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide/l (initial) to 1.33 μg
4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide/l under optimized operation
conditions. The elimination of genotoxicity was ascribed
to the changes of toxic organic structures comprising
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benzene rings and naphthalene rings according to UV-
visible absorbance analysis. In addition, the anaerobic
biological treatment combined with ozonation has been
applied for treating textile wastewater. Punzi et al. (2015)
employed a novel anaerobic-ozonation process, in which
ozonation functioned as post-treatment for biological
process, for the purpose of degrading the real textile efflu-
ent received from Ten Cate, the Netherlands. The acute
toxicity of untreated and treated wastewater was evalu-
ated through Microtox® and A. salina toxicity tests. The
results suggested that after 6 min of ozone exposure, the
effluent was 20 times less toxic than the raw one accord-
ing to Microtox and non-toxic according to Artemia. Cor-
respondingly, mutagenicity was detected in the raw and
biologically treated effluent (p-value = 5.407 e-10 and 0.027,
respectively) and the effluent after 1 min of ozonation
(p-value < 2.2 e-16). Nearly no mutagenicity was detected
after longer ozonation. This supports the findings that the
produced azo dyes and aromatic amines during treatment
can be mutagenic and carcinogenic. The ozonation-BAF
was used in order to elucidate the removal behavior of
fluorescent DOM in biologically treated textile wastewater
(Wu et al. 2016b). On the basis of high-performance liquid
chromatography with multi-excitation/emission fluores-
cence scan analysis, the removal of triple-excitation peaks
at emission of 460 nm was the dominant pathway for color
and UV254 reduction by ozonation. The decomposition of
fluorescent DOM species was established in the order of
humic substances, hydrophobic aniline-like species, and
hydrophilic aniline-like species.
In summary, nearly complete decolorization of dyeing
wastewater by ozonation could be feasibly achieved
because of the selective reactivity of ozone with chromo-
phore groups (i.e. azo structures). The further mineraliza-
tion of decolorization intermediates could be realized by
catalytic ozonation, owing to radical-mediated reactions.
The toxicity of dyeing wastewater subjected to ozonation,
however, will be increased due to the generation of naph-
thalene, benzene derivatives, and aromatic amines during
treatment, which are more mutagenic and carcinogenic
than raw dyeing compounds.
4.5 Ozonation of municipal wastewater
Municipal wastewater treatment plants have been devel-
oped preliminarily to protect natural aquatic systems
and water resources by eliminating EfOM, nutrients, and
pathogens. It is well established, however, that the emerg-
ing contaminants including pharmaceutically active com-
pounds, personal care products, and endocrine disrupting
C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 27
compounds are often detected in biologically treated
municipal wastewater (BTMW) (Schwarzenbach et al.
2006). Although these compounds are usually presented in
ng/l–μg/l concentration range in effluent, they may cause
ecological risks such as feminization of higher organisms;
microbiological resistance; and finally, accumulation in
soil, plants, and animals (Pal et al. 2010). Thus, further
ozonation treatments of BTMW effluent are of fundamen-
tal concern with special emphasis on the elimination of
emerging contaminants as well as the elucidation of chem-
ical reaction mechanisms of EfOM (Table 9).
4.5.1 Non-catalytic ozonation of BTMW
Special emphasis has been paid on the organic trans-
formation and elimination of micro-pollutants in BTMW
subjected to non-catalytic ozonation. The reactivity of
EfOM from municipal wastewater treatment plant with
ozone was examined by Jin et al. (2016). The EfOM could
be categorized into four fractions according to their
hydrophobicities, of which hydrophobic acid (HOA) and
hydrophobic neutral (HON) were especially studied. It
was noticeable that HOA was first changed into HON, and
then the majority of HON fraction was subsequently con-
verted to HI by further ozonation. This can be explained
that although raw HOA and HON consisted of consider-
ably high ratios of aromatic carbon, HON had higher pro-
portion of aliphatic carbon and carboxylic carbon than
HOA (Lin et al. 2014b), demonstrating the higher reactiv-
ity of HOA with ozone than that of HON. The non-catalytic
ozonation was employed for the remediation of micro-
pollutants in BTMW (Prieto-Rodríguez et al. 2013, Uslu
et al. 2015). P
­ rieto-Rodríguez et al. (2013), for example,
have identified 66 target micro-pollutants, with 16 of
those at initial concentration over 1000 ng/l, composing
88% of initial effluent pollutant load. Without carbonate
stripping or pH adjustment, 98% of micro-pollutants had
been degraded after treatment of 60 min and ozone con-
sumption of 9.5 mg/l. Importantly, the DOC of real BTMW
effluent before ozonation was 12.6 mg/l and was still 11.8
mg/l after treatment. It was possibly related to the produc-
tion of intermediates formed during ozonation, as neither
complete degradation nor mineralization was attained.
As the application of ozonation in improving the quality
of municipal wastewater effluents was limited by a large
number of structurally diverse micropollutants as well
as the varying quality of wastewater matrices, a strategy
predicting the elimination of ozone-refractory micropoll-
utants in BTMW was proposed (Lee et al. 2013). It was con-
firmed that a DOC-normalized ozone dose, coupled with
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Table 9: The latest investigations of municipal wastewater ozonation.

Ozone oxidation Wastewater quality Reaction conditions Main results Reference

Ozonation DOC: 17.08±1.81 mg/l, Ozone doses: 0.42– The aromaticity of HON decreased at Jin et al. 2016
UV254: 0.135±0.005 cm-1, 2.24 mg O3/mg DOC ozone dosage up to 2.24 mgO3/mg DOC),
pH: 7.33±0.23 while aliphatics and ketones increased
at ozone dose of 0.42 mgO3/mg DOC
Ozonation DOC: 13–23 mg/l, pH: 8, Ozone dose: 0.69 g/h 90% of micropollutants degradation was Prieto-Rodríguez
total inorganic carbon: achieved after 20 min of treatment and et al. 2013
89–132 mg/l the ozone consumption of 3.4 mg/l
Ozonation DOC: 4.5–7.5 mg/l, Ozone doses: 0.5– A significant reduction (average 71%) in Reaume et al.
UV254: 0.07–0.13 cm-1, 0.8 mgO3/mg DOC wastewater genotoxicity was observed 2015
pH: 6.5–7.5 after ozonation
Ozonation DOC: 6.7–9.4 mg/l, Ozone doses: The increase of ozone dosage from Yan et al. 2014
UV254: 0.126–0.234 cm-1, 0–1.0 mgO3/mg DOC 0.26 to 0.96 mg O3/mg DOC produced
pH: 7.7–7.9 aldehyde from 41.5 to 114.7 mg/l,
elevating the deformed larvae from 2.2%
to 24.1%
Ozonation DOC: 4.7–26 mg/l, Ozone doses: 0.25– A single indicator has been used Lee et al. 2013
pH: 6.9–7.6, HCO3-: 1.5 g O3/g DOC to predict the elimination of micro-
1.3–6.6 mm pollutants in BTMW, using kinetic models
Ozonation catalyzed by DOC: 2.3–4.5 mg/l, Ozone dose: 20 mg/l, Ozonation of effluent over TiO2 or GAC Barry et al. 2014
TiO2 or GAC pH: 7.5 solid catalyst dose: was no more effective on trace organic
1 g/l, H2O2 dose: removal than non-catalytic ozonation
1 mg/3 mgO3
Ozonation TOC: 5–6 mg/l, pH: Ozone doses: Overall degradation of pharmaceuticals Uslu et al. 2015
7–7.2, pharmaceutical 5–50 μm, water bath: in BTMW was > 76% at ozone doses of
substance: 1 μm 20°C 0.33 mg O3/mg DOC or higher
Photocatalytic TOC: 35.3 mg/l, pH: 8.31, Ozone dose: 10 mg/l, Photocatalytic ozonation gave rise to Rey et al. 2014
ozonation UV254: 0.253 cm-1, BOD: catalyst dose: 0.5 g/l, complete elimination of micropollutants
32 mg/l light intensity: in 40 min, with TOC removal up to 64%
550 W/m in 2 h.

rate constants for selected micropollutants with ozone
and ˙OH, and the measurement of ˙OH exposure would be
the key parameters for the prediction. For example, the
elimination of ozone refractory micropollutants was well
predicted by measuring ˙OH exposure with the decrease of
probe compound p-chlorobenzoic acid.
In light of genotoxicity evaluation, it was observed that
the inhibition in respirometric assays was reduced from 12%
(before ozonation) to 0% after ozonation treatment (Prieto-
Rodríguez et al. 2013), which is similar with the reports in
Reaume et al. (2015). Nevertheless, toxicity assays after ozo-
nation showed no inhibition on V. fisheri bioluminescence
emissions (Prieto-Rodríguez et al. 2013), while Stalter et al.
(2010) reported an increase of toxicity in sewage effluents
subjected to ozonation. This can be attributed to the for-
mation of toxic ozonated by-products. The increased geno-
toxicity, derived from developmental retardation of fish
embryos, has been found in ozonated secondary effluents
from municipal wastewater treatment plants (Yan et al.
2014). The results indicated that the consumption of 0.5 mg
O3/mg DOC by wastewater will produce 67.7 mg/l of total
aldehyde (mixture of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propi-
onaldehyde, and glyoxal), increasing the larval deformity
by 53.8%. It is thus proposed that the employment of bio-
filtration as a post-treatment process may be effective in
removing the toxic by-products including aldehydes, thus
reducing embryo toxicity induced by ozone.
4.5.2 Catalytic ozonation of BTMW
The improved performances of municipal wastewater
ozonation catalyzed by heterogeneous or homogenous
promoters have been investigated. TiO2 nano composites
supported on magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotubes
were attempted to improve the photocatalytic ozonation
of micro-pollutants in municipal wastewater treatment
plant effluents (Yu et al. 2015). The results indicated that
although only 44.9% of mineralization degree can be
achieved by non-catalytic ozonation, the initial molecu-
lar structures of target compounds can be completely
destroyed by ozone. By contrast, the employment of

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photocatalytic ozonation enabled 65.7% reduction of TOC,
demonstrating a lower concentration of intermediates
including phenolic and carboxylate compounds. This was
ascribed to the enhancement of ˙OH generation by pho-
tocatalytic ozonation. It was interesting to note that an
obvious improvement of ˙OH generation was observed in
the presence of H2O2 when delivered ozone dose exceeded
an “ozone dose threshold” (Barry et al. 2014). This thresh-
old occurs due to the reactions between ozone and
initiators/promoters within wastewater matrix, also accel-
erating ˙OH generation (Mvula et al. 2009). As a result, the
authors (Barry et al. 2014) defined the ozone dose thresh-
old responsible for exhausting ozonation with these com-
pounds, below which the addition of H2O2 revealed little
effect on radical generation.
In conclusion, it is well established that EfOM can
be further reduced by catalytic and non-catalytic ozona-
tion, as evidenced by TOC reduction and organic structure
transformation. An increase of EfOM genotoxicity after
ozonation will be, however, recognized, which may be
attributable to formation of higher toxic ozonated by-prod-
ucts such as total aldehyde than raw organic compounds.
4.6 Ozonation reactor
Due to the resistance of mass transfer and the limited
dissolution from gaseous to aqueous phase, substantial
efforts have been made in the design of ozonation reactor
for the purpose of extending its HRT in water and
improving mass transfer coefficient. Table 10 lists the
recent research efforts addressing the design and opera-
tional performance of ozonation reactor in wastewater
treatment. The effectiveness of microbubble-ozonation
­
(average diameter of 45 μm) and macrobubble-ozonation
(average diameter of 1 mm) for treating refractory acrylic
fiber wastewater was, for example, evaluated (Zheng et al.
2015). As depicted in Figure 10A, a TCRI microbubble
generator was used to produce microbubbles, whereas a
40-μm micropore titanium plate was employed to generate
macrobubbles for comparison. The results suggested that
removal of COD, NH4+-N, UV254 in microbubble-ozonation
was 25%, 9%, 35% higher than those achieved in macro-
bubble-ozonation. This was due to the prolonged HRT of
microbubble in reactor, the enhanced mass-transfer of
microbubble ozone from gaseous to aqueous phase, and
consequently the higher dissolved ozone concentration,
being beneficial to greater ˙OH generation. Importantly, it
was found that the gas holdup, ozone mass-transfer coef-
ficient, and ozone utilization efficiency in microbubble-
ozonation were 6.6, 2.2, and 1.5 times higher than those of
macrobubble-ozonation.
The observed promoting effect could also be ascribed
to the defined gaseous and liquid movement regulated
by ozone reactor. Gogate et al. (2014) described a novel
patented combinative reactor, OzonixTM, utilizing the

Table 10: The recent investigations focusing on ozonation reactor.

Ozone oxidation Pollutant Reactor Reactor Bubbling pattern Reference

performance

O3/UV Coking wastewater Pilot-scale FBR HRAa: 0.432 g/day Bottom bubbling Lin et al. 2014a
O3/acoustic cavitation Bacteria OzonixTM BIb: 97.5% Along the water Gogate et al. 2014
flow tube
O3 Acrylic fiber wastewater Tubular reactor MTCc: 0.3767 min-1 Bottom bubbling Zheng et al. 2015
O3 Oxalate PCD OORd: 0.01 mg/(l s) No bubbling used Ajo et al. 2015
Catalytic ozonation Methylene blue Quadrate vessel DCe: 0.255 min-1 Bottom bubbling Zhang et al. 2013b
Catalytic ozonation Catechol FBR kf: 0.0839 min-1 Bottom bubbling Moussavi et al. 2014
O3 Acid Red 14 MTMCRg KGah: 3.5 s-1 Inner tube bubbling Sun et al. 2014
Catalytic ozonation Phenolic wastewater Rotating Packed Bed KGai: 0.111 s-1 Gas inlet bubbling Zeng et al. 2012
a
Health risk assessment: the reduction of total carcinogenic substance exposure to surface water per day.
b
Bacteria inactivation: 97.5% for sulfate-reducing bacteria reduction.
c
Mass-transfer coefficient: the MTC of microbubble-ozonation was 2.2 times higher than that of macrobubble-ozonation.
d
Oxalate oxidation rate: the degradation rate of oxalate was 0.01 mg/(l s) in PCD reactor, while the reaction rate of oxalate with ozone was
0.00058 mg/(l s).
e
Decolorization: the best performance of decolorization rate of methylene blue was 0.255 min-1 using catalytic ozonation under pH 9.
f
Pseudo-first order reaction rate: the reaction rate of catechol by catalytic ozonation was 0.0839 min-1 which was 6.8 times as big as non-
catalytic ozonation.
g
Microporous tube-in-tube microchannel reactor.
h
The overall volumetric mass-transfer coefficient increased from 2.7 to 3.5 s-1 with pH rising from 3 to 9.
i
The overall volumetric mass-transfer coefficient increased from 0.054 to 0.111 s-1 with the increase of rotation speed from 150 to 1400 rpm.

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30 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment

Reactor
A B

Pump

Reservoir Microbubble
generator

Valve2 Inlet

Outlet Off-gas
Valve1

Ozone
generator Flowmeter Valve3 2% KCI
Tail-gas treatment

C D Wastewater intlet

Wastewater Wastewater
intlet outlet
Ozone gas
Ozone gas under Ozone gas inlet
pressure Wastewater outlet

Baffles

Ozone gas under

pressure

Figure 10: The schematic configurations of ozone reactors, microbubble reactor (A), hybridized reactor (B), Torricelli contact tank (C), and
Otto jet aerator (D). [(A) was adapted from Zheng et al. 2015, (B) was adapted from Gogate et al. 2014, original drawings of (C) and (D) were
done by us. In schematic (B), 1: hydrodynamic cavitation; 2: ozone injection zone, 3: main reactor vessel with ultrasound, 4: final stage
based on electrochemistry].

synergistic effects of ozone, hydrodynamic cavitation,
acoustic cavitation, and electrochemical oxidation/precipi-
tation in water and wastewater treatment (Figure 10B). The
hybrid OzonixTM reactor is a self-contained 53-ft-long mobile
trailer with an onboard diesel generator and fully automatic
PLC controls. The most important part is the ozone injec-
tion zone, in which ozone gas can be injected along water
flow inside the pipe. Subsequently, the turbulence created
by acoustic cavitation could strengthen ozone dissolution.
In this circumstance, ozone mass transfer limitation can
be eliminated as a result. The authors also tested the effi-
ciency of OzonixTM on 776 bacteria samples taken from 282
wells in Fayetteville Shale over a 3-year period (Gogate et al.
2014). The results indicated that bacteria inhibition of acid-
producing bacteria was 96.5% and sulfate-reducing bacte-
ria was 97.5%, suggesting a superior microbial inactivation
ability of this hybridized reactor.
Several other industrial ozonation reactors includ-
ing porous diffuser contact tank, Raschig Ring contact
tower, improved vortex diffuser, Gagnaux repeat diffuser,
Van der Made-Welsbach diffuser, Torricelli contact tank,
Otto jet aerator, and Yonkerssonic ultrasonic mixer have
also been implemented for industrial wastewater post-
ozonation (Chu et al. 2002). The Torricelli contact tank,
for example, is implanted with baffles of 2-m height and
inlet-outlet water tubes of 10–12-m height in order to regu-
late the flow pattern of ozone gas and to extend its HRT,
as illustrated in Figure 10C. The wastewater mixed with
ozone gas is delivered into reactor through the relatively
long inlet water tube, flowing at fixed direction along
baffles with maximum flow velocity of 160 mm/s. Particu-
larly, the solubility of ozone in this case can be increased
because the residual ozone released from aqueous phase
is under pressure in the reactor according to Henry’s Law.
Under this circumstance, the actual oxidation potential of
ozone could be strengthened as a result of increased solu-
bility on the basis of Nernst equation. The Otto-de Frise
and the Siemens-Otto ozone contactors are equipped with
down flow and long distance Otto jet aerator (Figure 10D),
thus the utilization efficiency of ozone can be improved
arising from prolonged contact time with water (Chu et al.
2002).

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The pilot-scale fluidized bed reactor (FBR) imple-
mented with ozone reaction and UV irradiation, for
example, was designed (Figure 11) aiming at reducing
the toxicity of bio-treated coking wastewater (Lin et al.
2014a). The internal components (i.e. draft tube, baffles,
and funnel internal) installed in FBR were used to control
flow pattern and thus to produce inner loop of liquid and
gas, thus decreasing the ineffective volume of FBR while
extending HRT of ozone gas and increasing the ozone
mass transfer and the utilization of ozone from chemi-
cal engineering points of view (Zhang et al. 2012). The
FBR was manufactured from stainless steel, with total
effective volume of 1.3 m3 and geometric dimensions of
ϕ 1.2 m × 3.0 m. Under the reaction conditions of ozone
delivery rate of 240 g/h, initial pH 6.5–7.5, HRT of 2 h, and
wastewater flow rate at 1 m3/h, the total benzo[a]pyrene
(BaP) toxic equivalent concentration (TEQBaP) was reduced
from 0.65±0.08 μg/l (influent) to 0.41±0.06 μg/l (effluent),
corresponding to a 0.432 g/day reduction of carcinogenic
substances.
The state-of-the-art ozonation reactor, PCD device,
has attracted considerable attention in potable and
wastewater treatment. The highly superior novelties of
PCD are the in situ generation of oxidizing agents (e.g.
ozone and ˙OH) and the avoidance of ozone delivery from
conventional ozone generator into ozonation reactor
(Kornev et al. 2014, Ajo et al. 2015). As gas-liquid contact
surface is the primary interface in mass transfer of ozone
and ˙OH formation site, Ajo et al. (2015) reported that
the ozonation of oxalate in laboratory-scaled PCD was
conducted from the perspective of optimizing contact
Figure 11: The schematic configuration (A) and real figure (B) of the pilot-scale ozone/UV fluidized bed reactor designed for advanced
­treatment of industrial wastewater (1: storage tank, 2–3: ozone/UV fluidized bed reactor, 4: filtering tank, 5: tail gas destruction reactor,
6: jet pump, 7: UV lamp, 8: air compressor, 9: ozone generator, 10: sample inlet, 11: sample outlet, 12: ozonated air, 13: gas inlet, 14: tail gas
outlet; adapted from Lin et al. 2014a).
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C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 31
surface area at different discharge powers. As shown
in Figure 12, the corona discharge chamber was assem-
bled by wire-plate electrode, which is connected to
pulse power generator with pulse repetition frequency
of 200–840 pulses per second. During the operation,
aqueous solution was showered through the discharge
zone wherein ozone (some other reactive species should
be produced at the same time, i.e. ˙OH) was generated,
and the purification of water droplet occurred simulta-
neously. The results suggested that the optimal contact
area was increased linearly with growing discharge
power, indicating the enhanced ˙OH utilization in oxalate
oxidation. The predominant role of ˙OH by minimum of
an order of magnitude surpassing ozone in oxalate oxi-
dation was observed.
In summary, extending HRT of ozone in solution,
increasing partial pressure over solution, enhancing the
gas-liquid mixing extent, and integrating in situ genera-
tion of ozone with decontaminant reactions are frequently
applied to accelerate ozone dissolution and utilization
efficiency, which are of significance for its practical
applications.
4.7 E
 nergy analysis for ozonation
application
The energy consumption of wastewater ozonation
mainly depends on the generation of ozone and the
maintenance of gas-liquid contact reactions. Theoreti-
cally, the electricity consumption to produce 1200-g
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32 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
PC
Pressure relief
Plate electrode
Perforated plate
Wire electrode Insulator
HV conductor
PCD reactor
PIC
PC
Container tank
Sample port
PC
Drain port
Figure 12: The schematic configurations of laboratory-scaled PCD
device for wastewater treatment in continuous flow (adapted with
permission from Ajo et al. 2015. Copyright 2015, American Chemical
Society).
ozone is 1-kWh electric power, corresponding to the
energy consumption of 0.82 kWh/kg O3 (Alonso et al.
2005). In reality, only a small part of electric power is,
however, utilized to produce ozone, while the majority is
depleted in the form of heat, and the power loss is even
more significant when air with lower oxygen content
is fed. Eliasson et al. (1987), for instance, calculated a
maximum ozone yield efficiency of 33% (400 g O3/kWh)
in oxygen feed and 17% (200 g O3/kWh) in dried air feed
on the basis of Boltzmann equation. The ozone genera-
tion efficiency of actual ozone generator is, however,
around 130 g O3/kWh when pure oxygen is fed, which
is much lower than that derived from thermodynamic
calculation (Chang et al. 1991), although some rela-
tively higher ozone generation efficiency can be reached
in specific operation conditions. Therefore, roughly
10% electric power is utilized for production of ozone,
mainly restricted by the side reactions along silent dis-
charge process. Concerning the economic aspect, the
cost of ozone production is estimated to be 2.32 $/kg O3
with the charging standard of electricity being 0.093 $/
kWh for industrial usage, thus the electric consumption
of ozone generation is around 25 kWh/kg O3 supplied by
air (He et al. 2003).
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Besides the maintenance of contact reactions, involv-
ing the transport of gaseous ozone from ozone generator
to reactor and the gas agitation driven by ozone bubble
also consumes a large amount of energy for wastewater
ozonation. It was analyzed that, for an ozone treatment
system at the Belmont Water Treatment Plant, Philadel-
phia, the energy consumption ratios of ozone genera-
tion, ozone-water contacting, equipment maintenance,
and preheating system are 67.1%, 21.2%, 8.9%, and 2.8%,
respectively, relative to the total energy input (Bean 1959).
Recently, increasing research attempts have been
made to reduce the energy efficiency of ozonation with
organic pollutants, defined as energy consumed per unit
mass contaminant or DOC removed, by coupling with
other physical-chemical technologies, as compared in
Table 11. The observed synergistic effect is supported by
the fact that combined technologies can enhance the gen-
eration of radical species in comparison to non-catalytic
ozonation and the elimination of pollutant as well as
the energy efficiency under identical energy input can
be therefore increased. Mehrjouei et al. (2014) indicated
that the energy efficiency of removing unit concentra-
tion oxalic acid by photocatalytic ozonation (TiO2/UVA/
O3) was two and nine times lower than catalytic ozonation
(TiO2/O3) and photocatalysis (TiO2/UVA/O2), respectively.
Basically, TiO2/UVA/O3 gave rise to the highest yield rate
of ˙OH, as a result of the remarkable capture of conductive
electron by ozone, being capable of inhibiting the recom-
bination of photo-generated charge. The energy efficiency
of ozone-based technologies can also be evaluated by the
energy consumed per unit mass of DOC eliminated. Kopf
et al. (2000) reported that the energy efficiency of TiO2/
UV/O3, TiO2/UV, and O3 for degrading monochloroacetic
acid was 5.4, 19, and 110 kWh/g DOC, respectively, which
was ascribed to the synergistic effect of combined tech-
nologies responsible for improved ˙OH generation.
5 Conclusions and future prospects
This paper presents general knowledge concerning the
generation of ozone, the basic physicochemical proper-
ties of ozone, and its application in water and waste-
water treatment. The production of oxygen atom from
molecular oxygen excitation and the Three-body Colli-
sion Reaction are the preliminary reactions for ozone
generation. The application of silent discharge is most
effective and practical for ozone generation, although
several ozone generation approaches have been practi-
cally developed. The thermal decomposition of ozone
and the chemical depletion of ozone consumed by oxygen
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Table 11: The specific energy consumption analysis of ozone-based technologies.

Ozone-based Pollutants Ozone yield efficiency Energy efficiency Reference

Technology

Photocatalytic Oxalic acid 30 W/135±5 mg/l O3 0.007 kW·h/mm (photocatalytic ozonation); Mehrjouei et al.
ozonation 0.017 kW·h/mm (catalytic ozonation) 2014
Photocatalytic Monochloroacetic acid 0.045 kW·h/g O3 5.4 kW·h/g DOC reduction (photocatalytic Kopf et al. 2000
ozonation ozonation)
19 kW·h/g DOC reduction (photocatalysis)
110 kW·h/g DOC reduction (ozonation)
Photocatalytic Methanol – 0.019 €/mm (photocatalytic ozonation) Mena et al. 2012
ozonation 0.028 €/mm (ozonation)
0.59 €/mm (photocatalysis)
O3/H2O2 Parachlorobenzoic acid 18–26 kW·h/kg O3 H2O2/O3 increases the energy requirement Rosenfeldt et al.
by 35% compared to O3 alonea 2006
O3/H2O2 Parachlorobenzoic acid – 0.035 kW·h/m3 (ozonation)b Katsoyiannis
0.043 kW·h/m3 (H2O2/ozonation)b et al. 2011
Ultrasonic/O3 Triphenylmethane dye – 4 kW·h/t dye Zhou et al. 2012
Electrochemical Congo Red dye – 528 kW·h/m3 (ozonation)c Elahmadi et al.
oxidation/O3 254 kW·h/m3 (electrochemical ozonation)c 2009
Photocatalytic Dichloroacetonitrile – 300 kW·h/kg (ozonation) Shin et al. 2013
ozonation 835 kW·h/kg (photocatalytic ozonation)
4550 kW·h/kg (photocatalysis)
a
The energy efficiency was measured as a function of ˙OH exposure at the equimolar concentration of H2O2 with O3.
b
The energy efficiency was measured for 90% pCBA transformation.
c
The energy efficiency was measured for 80% TOC removal.

atom and nitrogen-containing active species, however,
adversely affect ozone yield efficiency. Therefore, cooling
of discharge gap, mix of inert gas, and pulsed power have
been used in ozone generator for improving its opera-
tion condition, with the basic characteristics (e.g. ioni-
zation followed by avalanche that results in breakdown
and conductive channel) of silent discharge remaining
unchanged. Further investigations focusing on discharge
steps should be conducted, aiming at controlling the
rise of temperature in discharge gap and thus inhibiting
thermal decomposition of ozone.
Ozone is strongly reactive with a selection of pollut-
ants and extensively used in pollution control due to its
solubility and chemical reactivity. The dissolution behav-
ior of ozone, determined by partial pressure of gaseous
ozone, water temperature, mass transfer condition, dis-
solved organic or inorganic matters, and solution pH, is
the basis of its wide applications in water and waste­water
treatment. Other physical properties of ozone such as
odor and color may also be closely related to its applica-
tions. From the viewpoints of chemistry reactions, inor-
ganic pollutants can be directly oxidized by ozone by
means of electron transfer or oxygen-atom transfer reac-
tions. The organic compounds containing electron-rich
or unsaturated functional groups can be selectively ozo-
nated through electrophilic substitution or 1,3-dipolar
cycloaddition, respectively. Also, the organic compounds
structured by carbonyl groups, carbon-nitrogen double
or triple bonds can be oxidized at electron-deficient posi-
tions, e.g. carbon atom. The radical-mediated reactions,
on the other hand, are initiated upon ozone decomposi-
tion, which is catalyzed by homogenous and heteroge-
neous catalysts. The main surface and compositional
characteristics of heterogeneous catalysts correlated with
catalytic activities, however, have not been thoroughly
elucidated, and the standardized relationship between
these essential characteristics and catalysts’ synthesis
routes has not been established.
Ozone-based technologies are able to effectively inac-
tivate micro-organisms and decompose organic pollutants
for the purpose of drinking water disinfection and indus-
trial wastewater treatment, respectively. The employment
of ozone reaction integrated with various oxidative or
physical separation technologies should be taken into
account of the specific wastewater metrics. Nevertheless,
the applications of ozonation have several limitations in
treating water and wastewater. The biological regrowth,
for instance, cannot be completely inhibited in the dis-
tribution system, and some DBPs will be simultaneously
produced by ozone disinfection. Further oxidation of
industrial wastewater by means of ozonation is remark-
ably hindered by inadequate oxidation capability of

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34 C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment
ozone, ultimately resulting in the accumulation of small
molecular fatty acids and saturated aliphatic compounds.
Although the oxidation capability of ozone for removing
pollutants can be improved by coupling with various cata-
lysts, less efforts have been addressed on the pollutants
elimination in practical industrial wastewater, to which
the radical scavenging effect of inorganic carbons and
DOM has to be specially paid.
Overall, all these limitations will make ozone-based
technologies as not devoid of drawbacks. In order to develop
the technologies with high efficiency, operability, and low
energy consumption, further researches should focus on
ozone generator with higher productivity, structure-activity
relationship of catalysts with ozone chemistry, and design
of ozonation reactor. The combination of ozone reaction
with bio-filter, for example, is a promising attempt to over-
come the basic shortcomings of ozone reaction, as ozone
recalcitrant compounds are conversely more biodegrad-
able. It is of top priority to synthesize the state-of-the-art
and highly reactive ozone catalysts to accelerate decom-
position of ozone and therefore generation of oxygen-
containing radicals. This can be achieved by optimizing
crystal structures, electronic properties, chemical composi-
tions, morphologies, and surface states of catalysts. Finally,
research activities of high performance of ozone reactor
should be concentrated on the coordination of chemical
reaction kinetics with fluid dynamics, the practical appli-
cation of counter current flow pattern, and the utilization
of exhausted tail gas by means of multi-level series con-
nection of reactors. The implementation of counter current
flow pattern between liquid and gas inside the FBR, for
example, could enhance mass transfer of ozone in water
and thus accelerate its dissolution to a large extent.
Acknowledgments: We gratefully acknowledge the finan-
cial support from the National Natural Science Founda-
tion of China (nos. U1201234, 51278199, 21037001) and the
Research Project of Production, Education and Research
of Guangdong Province, China (nos. 2012B091100450,
2013ZP0017).
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Bionotes
Chaohai Wei
School of Environment and Energy, South
China University of Technology, Guangzhou,
510006, P.R. China
cechwei@scut.edu.cn
Chaohai Wei obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry
from China University of Geosciences and his Master’s degree in
Environmental Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology. He
completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at South China Univer-
sity of Technology (SCUT) and was promoted as a professor in SCUT
by 1999. Prof. Wei has presided over 103 research projects and pub-
lished over 390 peer-reviewed papers. Profoundly, he has designed
over 30 practical projects serving for actual wastewater treatment
plants. His research interests are pollution control theories in
industrial wastewater and river basin, particularly focusing on novel
reactors and processes for wastewater treatment, energy saving and
energy recovery from wastewater treatment, and integration and
optimization of wastewater treatment systems.
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Fengzhen Zhang
School of Environment and Energy, South
China University of Technology, Guangzhou,
510006, P.R. China
Fengzhen Zhang graduated from Shenzhen University with a
Master’s degree in Applied Chemistry in 2013 and from Northwest
University for Nationalities with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical
Engineering and Technology in 2010. He joined South China Univer-
sity of Technology as a doctoral candidate in 2013 under Prof. Wei’s
supervision. His research interests focus on catalytic ozonation of
industrial wastewater and high-performance ozonation reactor. He
has obtained a National Scholarship for Postgraduates and is the
winner of Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts oral prize
during the 8th National Conference on Environmental Chemistry.
Yun Hu
School of Environment and Energy, South
China University of Technology, Guangzhou,
510006, P.R. China
Yun Hu obtained her PhD degree in Applied Chemistry from Osaka
Prefecture University in 2006. She was elected as an Outstand-
ing Young Teacher in the Hundred Talents Program by South China
University of Technology (SCUT) in 2007, after 2 years serving as
Research Fellow in Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. She
is now a professor in SCUT, concentrating on the pollution control
and resource recovery from contaminated water or air by means
of photocatalysis and adsorption. Prof. Hu has published over 50
papers, including two recent research articles in Applied Catalysis
B: Environmental.
C. Wei et al.: Ozonation in water treatment 41
Chunhua Feng
School of Environment and Energy, South
China University of Technology, Guangzhou,
510006, P.R. China
Chunhua Feng graduated with a PhD degree in Chemical Engineer-
ing from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2007.
Dr. Feng is now a professor at School of Environment and Engineer-
ing, South China University of Technology (SCUT), China. He is
serving as an associate director for Center of Environment Science,
SCUT. He was elected in Program for New Century excellent talents
in University, Ministry of Education, China (2012). His research
interests lie in energy/resource recovery from wastes and bioelec-
trochemical technology for wastewater treatment.
Haizhen Wu
School of Bioscience and Bioengineering,
South China University of Technology,
Guangzhou, 510006, P.R. China
Haizhen Wu obtained her PhD degree in Biological Engineering
from South China University of Technology (SCUT) in 2008. She
is currently an associate professor in School of Bioscience and
Bioengineering, SCUT. Her research interests are concentrated on
the biodegradation of pollutants in contaminated soil as well as
wastewater, the identification of functional micro-organisms and the
development of high-performance bio-reactors. She has published
more than 40 peer-reviewed papers and presided twice over the
National Natural Science Foundations of China.
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Graphical abstract
Chaohai Wei, Fengzhen Zhang, Yun
Hu, Chunhua Feng and Haizhen Wu
Ozonation in water treatment: the
generation, basic properties of
ozone and its practical application
DOI 10.1515/revce-2016-0008
Rev Chem Eng 2016; x(x): xxx–xxx
View publication stats
Rev Chem Eng 2016 | Volume x | Issue x
Review: Ozone can be generated by
pulse corona discharge, principally
avoiding excess thermal decomposi-
tion of ozone, and potentially in-situ
reacting with pollutants dispersed
throughout discharge gap.
Keywords: energy consumption;
ozone generation; ozone reactor;
physicochemical properties; water
treatment.
- 10.1515/revce-2016-0008
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via University of Ottawa OCUL