Molecular Storage of Ozone in a Clathrate Hydrate: An Attempt at Preserving Ozone at High Concentrations

This paper reports an experimental study of the formation of a mixed O(3)+ O(2)+ CO(2) hydrate and its frozen storage under atmospheric pressure, which aimed to establish a hydrate-based technology for preserving ozone (O(3)), a chemically unstable substance, for various industrial, medical and consumer uses. By improving the experimental technique that we recently devised for forming an O(3)+ O(2)+ CO(2) hydrate, we succeeded in significantly increasing the fraction of ozone contained in the hydrate. For a hydrate formed at a system pressure of 3.0 MPa, the mass fraction of ozone was initially about 0.9%; and even after a 20-day storage at −25°C and atmospheric pressure, it was still about 0.6%. These results support the prospect of establishing an economical, safe, and easy-to-handle ozone-preservation technology of practical use.