An ozone sterilizer is able to harness the unique powers of ozone by producing it inside the sterilizer from the ambient air, by applying electrical energy to combine O2 with O to form O3. This capability is well-suited for sterilizing delicate medical devices, like endoscopes, that cannot withstand the high heat and humidity of standard steam autoclaving. Approved by the FDA in 2003 as a new sterilization process for low-temperature sterilization, its microbial efficacy has been proven with a variety of microorganisms, including the most resistant Geobacillus stearothermophilus, (which is often the bacterium of choice for biological indicators).

Ozone is a unique antimicrobial agent. In fact, it is the most aggressive oxidizing antimicrobial agent known to man. Ozone is formed by applying electrical energy to the oxygen molecule, which splits some portion of those oxygen molecules in half, into singlets of O. Those single O atoms attach to O2 for a very short time period, becoming O3, which has a half-life in its natural state of about 20 minutes before, on its own, it converts back to oxygen by releasing its singlet of O. During that active phase as ozone, it reacts to any organic compound by oxidizing double carbon bonds. So, unlike a lot of other disinfection sterilization technologies, in the act of literally taking a cell membrane apart, in destroying the cell, it converts itself back to oxygen which is a very benign waste product. If you look at water that has been disinfected with a chlorinated compound versus ozone, you’ll see dead microorganisms in the chlorinated water. If the water has been treated correctly with ozone you should literally see nothing because it should break it down to just its basic elements which are hydrogen and CO2.