Aqueous ozone: Chemistry, physiochemical properties, microbial inactivation, factors influencing antimicrobial effectiveness, and application in food

Abstract

The need for sustainable food production and the demand for fresh and minimally processed foods have prompted remarkable research in novel food processing technologies that ensure safe and shelf‐stable food for a large population. Long‐established techniques such as heating, drying, and freezing have been associated with nutrient loss and high energy consumption. This trend has drawn attention to the practice of employing ozone in several food applications owing to its significant disinfectant and antimicrobial efficiency. The aqueous form of ozone has been found to show greater efficacy than its gaseous form, with faster decomposition rates leaving no harmful residues. The current study presents an overview of the latest scientific literature on the properties, chemistry, and generation of aqueous ozone, emphasizing the factors affecting process efficiency. The review scrupulously focuses on food decontamination, starch modification, pesticide degradation, and seed germination effects of aqueous ozone, highlighting the optimum processing parameters and salient findings of some major studies. A brief insight into the limitations and future trends has also been presented. Aqueous ozone has been acclaimed to have the potential to cause significant changes in the food matrix that could result in constructive modifications with outcomes entirely dependent on the processing conditions. Indirect and direct reactions involving hydroxyl radical and molecular oxygen atoms, respectively, form the basis of the ozone reaction in aqueous media, providing a distinctive kind of advanced oxidation process that offers certain crucial benefits. With a shorter half‐life in water as compared to air, the rapid decomposition of aqueous ozone to oxygen, leaving no harmful residues, adds to its advantages.

Determination of Cetane Number from Fatty Acid Compositions and Structures of Biodiesel

“…Biodiesel is composed of fatty acid esters with various lengths of carbon chains and a number of double bonds. The organic compounds with various allylic position equivalents (APE) tend to have varied oxidation stability of fatty acid esters, which implies that the number of double bonds is not the only factor for determining the characteristics of oxidation stability and other relevant fuel properties, such as the cetane number [36].…”

Air Pollution and Meteorological Parameters in SARS-CoV-2 Virus Spread and Transition

“…Almost all air pollutants are signifi cantly correlated with SARS-CoV-2 cases, except for PM10, but ozone was found to be inversely correlated with SARS-CoV-2 cases [10,34]. This correlation could be explained by the oxidative eff ect of ozone over virus and bacteria [35,36] due to the damage provoked in nucleic acids. Some previous studies have confi rmed ozone inactivate SARS-CoV-2 [36,37], this could indicate ozone technologies are adequate to degrade the virus indoors and prevent infection cases.…”

Advances, Applications, and Comparison of Thermal (Pasteurization, Sterilization, and Aseptic Packaging) against Non-Thermal (Ultrasounds, UV Radiation, Ozonation, High Hydrostatic Pressure) Technologies in Food Processing

“…Ozone can act as a sterilizing agent in either gaseous or aqueous form [162]. Decomposition caused by the aqueous form of ozone is faster than that caused by its gaseous form [163]. Oxygen cylinders or oxygen concentrators are mainly used for ozone production, but the atmospheric source of oxygen through the ambient air can be also used for the same purpose [162].…”

“…Oxygen cylinders or oxygen concentrators are mainly used for ozone production, but the atmospheric source of oxygen through the ambient air can be also used for the same purpose [162]. Ozone is a triatomic gas that does not require storage in a container, as it can be produced on site [163], and it spontaneously decomposes into oxygen [164]. Ozone production begins with the passage of air or oxygen through a high-energy electric field.…”