"EMPOWERED" WATER-THE "GREEN" DISINFECTANT

Disinfecting water is practiced world-wide to kill pathogenic microorganisms that contaminate water supplies. There are many disinfectants used at lowest concentrations possible and these include chlorine, chlorine dioxide, ozone, iodine, combination of halogens, quaternary ammonium salts(quats), exposure to ultra violet rays etc. By far the most commonly used and least cost process is chlorination. But handling hazards posed by chlorine have led efforts to find a safer disinfectant for use universally. The electrolyzed water, a new concept, operationalized recently appears to offer an alternate option.

"A new eco-friendly technique to clean and disinfect food, particularly poultry, and food contact surfaces is effective against Salmonella, E.coli and, Campylobacter and a range of other pathogens, according to EAU Technologies.The Empowered Water process, which has just been awarded five-year patent protection, from the United States Patent Office, uses a combination of electrolysis cell technology, salt and electricity. It changes the ionic structure of water to create non-toxic, oxidized antimicrobial solutions and reduced antioxidant cleaning solutions, said the company".

The hypochlorous acid generated by the process is supposed to be 80 times more effective than chlorine though chlorine also achieves disinfection at relatively low levels of 0.2-0.4 ppm. What is interesting is that the empowered water is both a cleaner like detergent as well as a disinfectant like chlorine. The generator designed for producing electrolyzed water can be a boon to the food industry if the cost is affordable. As the technology is patented, the cost is likely to be high and may be affordable only to large scale industries like poultry, dairy and others.
 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com