How to Prepare an Industrial Ozone System RFQ: A Specification Checklist

Short answer: a useful industrial ozone system RFQ gives every bidder the same treatment objective, operating cases, ozone-duty definition, system boundary, site conditions, required documents and response format. Mark unknown inputs as TBD with a named owner and closure route. Do not begin with only a catalogue model or “quote X kg/h”—that can produce technically different offers that look comparable only on price.

This guide is for owners, EPC teams, consultants, plant engineers and technical buyers preparing an enquiry, request for quotation or tender. Its purpose is not to pre-design the supplier's equipment. It creates a controlled project basis so each supplier can propose a configuration, state its assumptions and exceptions, and return data in the same structure.

Use this RFQ after the treatment task is understood. If the process boundary is still unclear, first review what a complete industrial ozone system includes. If the ozone duty has not been defined, use the ozone-generator sizing guide. If the selected package cannot yet be reconciled with the site, use the utility and site-preparation checklist.

Why is “please quote an X kg/h ozone generator” not enough?

A mass-output rating does not state why ozone is being applied, whether the number is generated or transferred ozone, which water or gas condition governs, what ozone concentration is required, or what equipment lies inside the price. It also does not define feed gas, cooling, contacting, residual-gas management, controls, installation, testing or documentation.

Two suppliers can therefore respond to the same headline kg/h with different:

• normal, peak and minimum operating assumptions;
• feed-gas routes and gas-phase ozone concentrations;
• unit arrangements, turndown and availability philosophies;
• included auxiliaries and physical battery limits;
• site power, cooling, process and controls responsibilities;
• performance guarantees and reference conditions;
• factory/site tests, documents, training and spares; and
• commercial exclusions, delivery basis and warranty terms.

The RFQ must make those differences visible before a commercial comparison begins.

Use three field states: Required, Optional and TBD

Every RFQ field should have a status. This prevents missing information from becoming a hidden supplier assumption.

• Required: needed for a technically responsive offer. Provide the value or require the bidder to state it.
• Optional: useful for optimization or comparison but not essential to the first technical proposal.
• TBD: not yet confirmed. Name the party that will close it, the evidence required and whether a controlled preliminary assumption is permitted.

Do not write “standard”, “as required” or “by others” without a definition. State which standard and edition, what requirement or design case applies, and which party is responsible. If the answer is genuinely unknown, a visible TBD is more useful than false precision.

Copyable industrial ozone system RFQ field matrix

Create one working matrix and issue the same revision to every bidder. Add columns for buyer input, field status, bidder response, deviation, supporting document and responsible party.

The matrix is a procurement structure, not a universal ozone-system specification. Delete non-applicable rows, add application-specific requirements, and attach the underlying water analyses, process data, drawings and owner standards.

1. Define the project and treatment result

Begin with the decision the ozone system must support. The supplier needs to know the application, where ozone enters the process and how success will be accepted.

Include:

• project name, site country and installation location;
• new plant, expansion, replacement or retrofit status;
• application and treatment position in the overall process;
• treatment objective and measurable acceptance endpoint;
• upstream and downstream processes that affect or depend on ozonation;
• required operating date and any planned outage or tie-in window; and
• owner, EPC, consultant and operator contacts for technical clarification.

“Disinfection”, “colour removal” or “oxidation” alone is not an acceptance endpoint. State the measurable result, sampling location, operating condition and party responsible for confirming it. Where the chemistry or transfer behavior is uncertain, identify whether a treatability or pilot study is available or remains to be defined.

2. Issue process data and operating cases

A single average flow hides the conditions that often govern selection. Give separate cases for minimum, normal, peak, start-up, maintenance and any approved future condition that the system must address.

For a water-treatment application, provide as available:

• flow or batch volume, operating hours and variation by season or production cycle;
• temperature, pressure, pH, turbidity, suspended solids and relevant organic load;
• target compounds, microbiological endpoint or other treatment objective;
• bromide or other by-product-relevant chemistry where applicable;
• representative laboratory analyses, sampling dates and expected variation;
• existing contact volume, hydraulic arrangement and available pressure; and
• known process restrictions, downstream residual limits and discharge conditions.

Do not copy a dose from another plant and label it a design requirement. The water matrix, target, transfer arrangement and acceptance basis may be different.

3. State the ozone-duty and sizing basis

The RFQ should state how every ozone number is defined. At minimum, distinguish:

• generated ozone output: mass produced by the generator per unit time;
• applied ozone dose: ozone introduced relative to treated flow or volume;
• transferred ozone dose: ozone actually transferred into the process phase;
• dissolved residual: ozone remaining at a named measurement location and time; and
• gas-phase concentration: concentration with its unit and temperature/pressure reference basis.

For each minimum, normal and peak operating case, ask the bidder to state offered generated capacity, ozone concentration, gas flow, number of operating/standby units, turndown basis and expected utility demand. Any design allowance must say what it covers—such as measured variability, maintenance availability or an approved future case—instead of applying a universal percentage.

The final selection may fall within GUOLIN's 10–800 g/h compact range, 1–10 kg/h selection range or 10–150 kg/h large-system range. These are catalogue-supported selection bands, not a substitute for the project design basis.

4. Draw the complete-system and battery-limit boundary

List the functions the project requires, then assign each physical item and connection to supplier, owner, EPC or third party. A complete treatment function can be coordinated without every item being included in one supplier's price.

Confirm the proposed scope for:

• conditioned air, supplied oxygen or an on-site PSA oxygen-generation system;
• ozone generator modules, power electronics, local controls and internal instrumentation;
• cooling and heat-rejection equipment;
• ozone injection, mixing or diffusion, side-stream pumps and contact vessels;
• residual-gas collection, monitoring and an off-gas destructor where the process requires it;
• interconnecting piping, valves, cabling, supports, insulation and field instruments;
• skids, room installation or a containerized ozone-system boundary;
• civil work, lifting, installation, tie-ins, commissioning and operator training; and
• documentation, certificates, initial spares and long-term service responsibility.

Require the bidder to return an inclusion, exclusion and deviation schedule. The phrase “complete system” should never replace a line-by-line responsibility matrix.

5. Attach the site utility and interface basis

The buyer should state what the site can provide; the bidder should state what the offered package requires under the quoted operating cases. Use the same units and reference conditions on both sides.

Cover electrical supply and grounding, feed-gas source and quality, cooling-water or heat-rejection conditions, room/environmental data, process connections, drains, ventilation, access, lifting and plant DCS/SCADA interfaces. Ask for normal, peak and starting conditions where relevant—not one brochure number.

The site-preparation matrix gives the full field set and closure method. At RFQ stage, require each bidder to identify any site condition that derates the offered equipment or changes an auxiliary requirement.

6. Define controls, safety and local-compliance responsibilities

State the plant control philosophy and require the bidder to describe how its package integrates with it. The response should cover local/remote modes, start permissives, alarms, trips, emergency shutdown, restart behavior, signal direction, I/O or communication protocol, data logging and the boundary with site automation.

Also request the proposed hazard controls for ozone-bearing gas, oxygen service, pressure, backflow, ventilation, ambient monitoring, off-gas and safe maintenance. Numerical setpoints and compliance statements must be tied to the actual jurisdiction, risk assessment, applicable standard edition and offered equipment. Do not paste another project's alarm value into an international RFQ.

7. Specify documents, tests and acceptance evidence

Connect each required document to a project decision or stage. A practical schedule may include:

• With the proposal: technical response, offered configuration, data sheets, preliminary scope/battery limits, deviations, utility summary, layout, reference evidence and commercial response.
• After award or design release: design basis, P&ID, general arrangement, load/utility schedules, I/O list, cause-and-effect, material schedule and responsibility matrix.
• Before shipment: approved drawings, inspection/test plan, factory records, certificates, packing list and preservation/shipping requirements.
• At site: installation checks, loop and interlock tests, commissioning records, training, O&M manuals, as-built documents and spare-parts handover.
• For performance acceptance: agreed operating case, measurement points, instruments and calibration status, sampling method, duration, calculation method, witnesses and pass/fail criteria.

Not every project needs the same test protocol. The acceptance plan must measure the performance actually promised under the conditions used to evaluate the bid.

8. Require a structured bidder response schedule

Do not ask suppliers to respond only in their own brochure format. Provide a line-by-line schedule with these columns:

1. RFQ requirement or field ID;
2. buyer value and status: required, optional or TBD;
3. bidder's offered value or response;
4. complies, deviates or not applicable;
5. assumption, exclusion or qualification;
6. supporting drawing, data sheet, calculation or certificate;
7. included party and physical battery limit; and
8. clarification owner and closure date.

Then add supplier-completed commercial fields for price and currency, tax/freight basis, quotation validity, delivery or lead time, payment terms, warranty, recommended spares, training, commissioning/service scope and any recurring or optional cost. These are response fields—not universal GUOLIN terms.

How should industrial ozone system bids be compared?

Normalize the technical and scope basis before scoring price. If one bid includes oxygen generation, cooling, injection, off-gas treatment, site commissioning and test evidence while another prices only the generator, their totals do not represent the same purchase.

Create a clarification register and bring every material deviation to one of four outcomes: accepted difference, priced option, bidder correction or unresolved exception. Only compare commercial totals after the remaining differences are visible and evaluated on the same project-defined basis.

A practical comparison should separate:

• responsiveness: complete submission, required evidence and declared deviations;
• technical fit: operating cases, guarantees, turndown, availability and interface compatibility;
• scope completeness: included equipment, services, tests, documents and battery limits;
• project execution: engineering, manufacturing, installation support, schedule and acceptance route; and
• commercial basis: normalized price, options, exclusions, lifecycle items and supplier-stated terms.

Common RFQ mistakes that create non-comparable proposals

• Specifying only average flow or nominal kg/h and omitting the governing peak/minimum cases.
• Using “dose” without saying whether it is generated, applied, transferred or residual ozone.
• Requesting one gas concentration without defining its unit and reference condition.
• Writing “complete system” without an equipment, service and responsibility matrix.
• Leaving feed gas, cooling, contacting, off-gas or controls outside both supplier and EPC scope.
• Turning unknown process data into an unlabelled typical value.
• Requesting compliance with “all applicable standards” without jurisdiction, edition or precedence.
• Comparing purchase prices before deviations, utilities, tests, spares and service are normalized.
• Defining acceptance after award rather than in the RFQ.

RFQ starter block to send with your project files

Project: [name, country, new/retrofit]
Treatment objective and acceptance endpoint: [state measurable result]
Operating cases: [minimum / normal / peak flow and conditions]
Water or gas analyses: [attach files; list missing items as TBD]
Ozone-duty basis: [generated / applied / transferred / residual; units and reference conditions]
Required availability: [operating hours, maintenance case, approved future case]
Proposed system boundary: [supplier / owner / EPC / existing equipment]
Site interfaces: [power, feed gas, cooling, process, room, controls]
Required documents and tests: [proposal / design / FAT / SAT / acceptance]
Bidder response: [offered values, deviations, inclusions, evidence and supplier-stated commercial terms]

GUOLIN is China’s only publicly listed ozone-system manufacturer, with complete-system design, manufacturing and integration capabilities. That capability supports a coordinated technical review; the final configuration, guarantees, supply boundary and commercial terms remain project-specific.

Attach the completed matrix, available analyses, process diagram and site utility information to the GUOLIN project-review form. If the application or equipment family is still open, compare the treatment-solution routes and complete industrial ozone-system ranges first.