EN16282 (New EU Standard for ventilation in Commercial Kitchens) is a new standard for ventilation in commercial kitchens issued by the European Union in 2017. This new standard covers everything from hood to point of discharge.

It took the EU 14 years to finally set the quality requirements for functionality, safety and environment.

Section 8 of this standard involves the air purification technologies, which includes the requirement for treating kitchen exhaust air. Air treatment can both reduce fire hazards and solve odorous air problems. This is the prerequisite for installing a heat exchanger in the exhaust air stream so as to achieve heat recovery.

EU Standard for Ventilation in Commercial Kitchens

One reason for this new standard is Ecodesign Directive, an action adopted by the EU in 2005 to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. This new standard has quickly been spreading across Europe, resulting in significant reductions in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

We have read through the standard. The following is a summary of the standard related to the use of ozone generators:

General Requirement for Air Purification

  • To ensure safety, components that are immersed in air stream should be able to withstand at least a constant temperature over 60 °C.
  • The installation of the air purification system must be easy to access for later maintenance and cleaning.
  • System components exposed to UV or ozone must comprise of suitable materials.
  • If the ozone generated is emitted at ground level, then its concentration should be lower than applicable limit values.
  • If ozone sensors are to be used, they should be clearly labeled “OZONE SENSOR” and have unique traceable calibration certificate.
  • For connections between ozone generators and kitchen exhaust duct, they shall be clearly marked “OZONE” every 10 meters.

New Requirements for Air-fed Ozone Generators

In addition to the general requirement for commercial air treatment techniques and ozone generators, the standard claims that oxygen-fed ozone generators should be used when total exhaust flows exceed 2,500 m³/h. The reason why air-fed ozone generators are not used is that an excessive amount of nitrogen oxide and nitric acid will be produced.

The standard states:

“NOTE: To safe-guard against NOx and HNO3 build-up in the extract air, an oxygen-fed ozone generator will be used for a total extract flow exceeding 2500 m³/h.”

EU Standard for Ventilation in Commercial Kitchens

New Requirements for Ozone Generators

New requirements from EN16282 for oxygen-fed ozone generators are as follows:

  • The installation, repair and maintenance of ozone generators should be performed by personnel educated by manufacturers only.
  • An ozone generator can only operate when an exhaust fan is running.
  • A flow and/or pressure sensor should be used to ensure that ozone is not released into the building. If the system contains a pressure sensor, it should be configured to shut down the ozone system when the differential pressure drops below 20Pa.
  • Inspection hatches on the exhaust ducts should have warning signs written “Warning-ozone Treatment”.