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Ozone treatment has become a core technology in modern water treatment, food processing, air purification and industrial sanitation. Behind every reliable ozone system there is one critical component that determines performance, operating cost and stability over many years of operation: the oxygen generator that feeds the ozone generator. As plants move away from gas cylinders and liquid oxygen supply contracts, industrial oxygen generator systems are rapidly becoming the preferred choice.
Industrial ozone systems typically achieve higher ozone concentration, better process control and lower lifecycle cost when they are supplied by an onsite Oxygen generator rather than by ambient air or delivered oxygen gas.
In practice, this means many plants are redesigning their ozone lines around a central Oxygen generator skid that produces concentrated oxygen from compressed air and then delivers it to one or more ozone generators. This shift changes not only how the gas is supplied, but also how engineers think about energy efficiency, redundancy, maintenance and automation across the entire treatment line.
In this guide, we will look at how an Oxygen generator works in an ozone system, what is required for installation, why concentrated oxygen improves performance compared with ambient or dry air, and how to specify custom Oxygen generator solutions that match your process, capacity and reliability targets.
What’s the Role of Oxygen Generators in Ozone Generation?
Installation of Onsite Oxygen Generators for Ozone Generation
What Are the Benefits of Concentrated Oxygen Instead of Ambient or Dry Air?
Get Custom Designed Oxygen Generating Systems with Advanced Gas Technologies
The role of an industrial Oxygen generator in ozone generation is to provide a continuous stream of high purity oxygen that feeds the ozone generator, enabling higher ozone concentration, greater output per kilowatt and more stable process performance than systems that rely on ambient air.
An ozone generator converts oxygen into ozone by passing the gas through a high voltage discharge or a suitable ultraviolet source. The quality of that inlet gas determines how much ozone you can produce, how much electrical energy is required per kilogram of ozone, and how stable the ozone concentration stays through daily load changes. When you feed the ozone generator with air, you rely on only about twenty one percent oxygen and carry a large amount of nitrogen and other inert gases through the discharge gap. When you feed it with oxygen from an Oxygen generator, you can supply around ninety to ninety three percent oxygen and remove most of the inert load.
Most industrial Oxygen generator systems use pressure swing adsorption technology. Compressed air passes through vessels filled with zeolite molecular sieve that preferentially adsorbs nitrogen. When the bed is pressurized, nitrogen is retained and an oxygen rich stream flows out to a buffer tank. When the bed is depressurized, nitrogen is desorbed and exhausted, and the bed is ready for the next cycle. By cycling twin or multiple towers, the Oxygen generator delivers a continuous flow of oxygen, typically in the ninety to ninety three percent purity range with low dew point and low hydrocarbon content.
Because the Oxygen generator is designed for continuous duty, it can match the operating patterns of an ozone system. Ozone generators for large water plants often run twenty four hours a day, with only small shifts in load. Onsite Oxygen generator skids are therefore built as integrated systems that include filtration, refrigerated or adsorption dryers, air and oxygen buffer tanks, and the adsorption columns on a single frame. Operators simply connect the air inlet from a compressor and the oxygen outlet to the ozone line.
The Oxygen generator also plays a safety and quality role. Many modern systems include automatic venting functions that continuously monitor oxygen purity, vent off low purity gas and only open the product line when the setpoint purity is reached. Some units integrate PLC based controls with alarms, data logging and remote connectivity so that oxygen flow, purity and pressure are tracked and can be tied into the plant SCADA.
Installing an onsite Oxygen generator for ozone generation involves providing clean compressed air, placing the Oxygen generator skid in a suitable utility area, connecting the oxygen outlet to the ozone generator feed line with appropriate pressure regulation and ensuring ventilation, electrical power and control integration meet the site’s safety and reliability requirements.
From the perspective of a plant engineer, an onsite Oxygen generator and ozone system is part of the utility infrastructure in the same way as compressed air, cooling water or low voltage power distribution. The first step is always to evaluate the required oxygen flow and purity needed to reach the target ozone production. Modern PSA based Oxygen generator equipment for ozone service can deliver oxygen flows from a few normal cubic meters per hour up to hundreds of normal cubic meters per hour per skid, with product purity generally in the ninety to ninety three percent range.
The heart of the installation is the Oxygen generator skid. A typical integrated unit for ozone generation incorporates a refrigerated dryer, multi stage filtration, an air buffer tank to stabilize inlet conditions, one or more adsorption towers, and an oxygen buffer tank at the outlet. This skid is usually installed on a concrete slab in a clean, dry equipment room with sufficient ventilation and access for maintenance. Ambient temperature limits specified by the manufacturer must be respected to keep the adsorption process efficient.
Upstream of the Oxygen generator, a compressor sized for the design flow and pressure is required. For ozone applications, the compressor and air treatment line must ensure very low oil carryover and low moisture content, since oil and water vapor can both reduce adsorption performance and contaminate the ozone generator dielectric. Downstream, the oxygen product line is usually routed in stainless steel tubing or suitable oxygen rated piping to the ozone generator inlet manifold. Pressure control valves and flow meters are placed close to the ozone equipment to fine tune the oxygen feed rate and to protect the ozone generator from overpressure.
Electrical and control integration is the final major step. Most industrial Oxygen generator skids are supplied with PLC based control panels and offer standard communication interfaces such as Modbus or Ethernet, as well as potential free contacts for remote start or alarm. Connecting these to the plant control system allows operators to monitor oxygen purity, pressure and flow, log operating hours and schedule maintenance based on real data instead of fixed intervals. With proper design, the Oxygen generator can be interlocked with the ozone generator so that ozone production stops automatically if oxygen purity or pressure falls outside of set limits.
Using concentrated oxygen from an Oxygen generator instead of ambient or dry air significantly increases ozone concentration, reduces specific energy consumption, improves mass transfer into water and enables more compact, controllable ozone systems.
The most important benefit is the increase in ozone concentration. When an ozone generator is supplied with compressed air, typical ozone concentrations are only about two to four percent by weight. When the same generator is supplied with concentrated oxygen, ozone concentration can rise into the six to fifteen percent range, with many industrial systems designed around six to ten percent. This higher concentration means that for the same gas flow, a much larger mass of ozone is delivered to the process per unit of time.
Higher ozone concentration also improves mass transfer into water or process fluids. According to well established mass transfer and reaction kinetics, ozone dissolution efficiency depends on both concentration in the gas phase and contactor design. By feeding concentrated oxygen based ozone, engineers can often reduce gas flow, downsize contactors and still achieve higher dissolved ozone residuals at the point of use. This is particularly important in high demand applications such as industrial wastewater treatment, where dissolved ozone must reach specific milligram per liter levels within short contact times.
Energy efficiency is another critical advantage. Several studies and industry comparisons show that ozone concentration can increase three to four times when switching from air to oxygen feed, while specific energy consumption per kilogram of ozone can fall by roughly one half or more, especially at low to medium ozone concentrations. Because the Oxygen generator uses compressed air as a feedstock and separates nitrogen efficiently, the power required by the ozone generator is used more directly for converting oxygen to ozone instead of wasting energy on inert gases. Over the life of a plant, this reduction in energy can represent a major cost saving.
A further advantage of an Oxygen generator system is process stability. Dry air feed systems depend heavily on ambient conditions. Temperature and humidity fluctuations can change ozone output dramatically if air drying is not perfectly controlled. With an Oxygen generator, the feed gas is already dried and conditioned inside the skid. The oxygen purity leaving the Oxygen generator is much less sensitive to external weather, which in turn makes ozone output more stable and easier to control within tight tolerances.
These benefits can be summarized in a simple comparison of air based and Oxygen generator based ozone systems:
| Feed gas source | Typical ozone concentration by weight | Relative energy use per kilogram of ozone | Typical application size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry compressed air | About 2 to 4 percent | Baseline, often fifteen to eighteen kilowatt hours per kilogram | Small plants and pilot systems |
| Oxygen from generator | About 6 to 15 percent | Around half or less of air based systems | Medium and large industrial plants |
For operators, this translates into more compact ozone generators, smaller contactors, less power capacity, and better control of treatment results, all driven by the stable concentrated oxygen stream supplied by the Oxygen generator.
Custom designed Oxygen generator systems that use advanced gas technologies allow industrial plants to match oxygen capacity, purity, redundancy and automation to their exact ozone demand profile, delivering better lifecycle cost and higher reliability than generic standardized units.
In many projects, a standard catalogue Oxygen generator cannot fully meet the needs of the ozone process. For example, a municipal water plant may have multiple parallel ozone trains that run at different capacities through the year. An industrial customer may need oxygen for several processes, not only ozone. In these cases, engineers increasingly turn to customized Oxygen generator solutions based on modular adsorption units, integrated air treatment and advanced control.
Custom design typically begins with a detailed analysis of gas demand. This includes minimum, normal and peak oxygen flow for each ozone generator, required purity, acceptable pressure range, and the number of hours per year the system will operate. From there, different configurations of Oxygen generator modules can be evaluated. Multi tower or multi bank designs, where several adsorption modules operate in parallel and are controlled by a central PLC, allow capacity to be turned up or down in steps while maintaining constant purity.
Advanced gas technologies also extend to the mechanical and control design of the Oxygen generator. Some modern units use integrated valve manifolds, high cycle life valves and food grade stainless steel piping inside the skid to reduce leakage and pressure drop. Other systems integrate refrigerated dryers, filters, air tanks and oxygen tanks on a single frame for true plug and play installation. Remote connectivity, multi language human machine interface, and automatic venting of off spec gas are now common options for industrial Oxygen generator systems.
When specifying a custom Oxygen generator for ozone generation, it is helpful to compare design options along a few key dimensions:
| Design aspect | Example choices in a custom Oxygen generator system | Impact on ozone application |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity configuration | Single large module or several smaller modules in parallel | Balances redundancy and turndown capability |
| Oxygen purity setpoint | Around ninety to ninety three percent | Higher purity can increase ozone output but raises cost |
| Control and monitoring | Local panel only or full PLC with remote connectivity | Enhances reliability, diagnostics and optimization |
| Integration level | Standalone Oxygen generator or full skid with air treatment and tanks | Simplifies installation and reduces footprint |
By combining these design choices, plant owners can build an Oxygen generator solution that fits their existing ozone system or future expansion plans, rather than forcing the process to adapt to a fixed standard unit. The result is a better match between capital expenditure, energy cost, maintenance effort and production reliability.
An onsite industrial Oxygen generator is one of the most powerful upgrades you can make to any serious ozone installation, because it directly improves ozone concentration, energy efficiency and process control while freeing your plant from the constraints of delivered gas.
Ozone is an exceptionally strong oxidant, but to harness it effectively, engineers must first supply high quality oxygen to the ozone generator. An Oxygen generator based on advanced adsorption technology delivers that oxygen consistently from compressed air, reducing dependence on cylinder deliveries or liquid oxygen contracts. Compared with ambient or even carefully dried air as a feed gas, oxygen from an Oxygen generator allows the ozone generator to reach significantly higher ozone concentrations at lower specific energy consumption, which in turn improves mass transfer and treatment efficiency in water and air processes.
Installing an Oxygen generator for ozone service does require careful attention to compressed air quality, skid layout, piping, ventilation and integration into plant control systems. When these aspects are handled with the same discipline applied to other utilities, the resulting system is robust, safe and easy to operate around the clock. For plants with complex or variable gas demand, custom designed Oxygen generator systems that use modular adsorption technology and sophisticated controls can be configured to match actual operating profiles and to provide redundancy, flexibility and high reliability.
For decision makers evaluating ozone systems today, the question is no longer whether to use an Oxygen generator, but how to choose and configure the right Oxygen generator solution for the process. By focusing on the role of the Oxygen generator, its installation requirements and the benefits of concentrated oxygen feed, engineers can design ozone systems that deliver better performance, lower operating costs and long term stability in demanding industrial and municipal applications.
