Patent ID: 8257649

Claim:
A process of producing hydroxyls comprising: activating one or more UV-lamps, each of which creates one or more coronas when generating UV-radiation, wherein each of the coronas has a radius associated therewith, each of the coronas is a region of near-infrared light in proximity to a surface of the UV-lamp that is produced when the UV-lamp is operating to generate UV-radiation, the one or more UV-lamps placed inside a housing having an interior surface and an exterior surface, the interior surface defining an interior space having one or more apertures to permit the entrance and exit of air into and out of the interior space; passing air through a humidifier to produce moist air, with at least 5% ambient humidity, through the interior space of the housing; and wherein the coronas from the UV-lamps fill substantially all of the interior space of the housing, with a positional arrangement of UV-lamps as follows: if only one UV-lamp is present, the UV-lamp is positioned relative to the interior surface so that the distance from the lamp to the interior surface is from 5% to 25% of the radius of the corona; and if more than one UV-lamp is present, the coronas of adjacent UV-lamps overlap each other by a maximum amount of between 5% and 25% of the radius of the corona.