Tuesday 28 August 2012

Chlorine Dioxide Disinfection and Water Treatment in the Bottling Plant


Chlorine dioxide has been used for treatment of drinking water for many years. Application in the bottling plant for treatment of the water is fairly common and use as a disinfectant for water-contact surfaces is increasing.

Ozone has been used classically for terminal disinfection in the bottle washing process or as treatment of the final rinse water.  Treatment of the water itself is also common despite several disadvantages. These are predominantly the high cost and tendency to create damaging bromates and ketones. 

Chlorinated disinfectants have been used for treatment of water, but in the bottled water industry this is avoided, to prevent formation of halomethanes and haloacids, both of which can produce a taint in bottled water. 

Chlorine dioxide is quite different and does not have the disadvantages of other chlorine-containing compounds. Chlorine dioxide is a gas which dissolves easily in water. The breakdown products are chlorides  which are used by the body in several natural metabolic processes.

Chlorine dioxide is excellent in removing biofilm and is often used in the health care sector for this reason. Application in the brewing industry has been known for many years. What are the applications in the bottling plant?

There are different ways of generating chlorine dioxide.  For automatic and continuous use, the gas is generated by a chemical reaction between two materials which are automatically monitored and mixed. On a cost basis the initial outlay and running costs are much less than using an ozone installation.

                                Chlorine Dioxide Generator for Bottling Plants

For treatment of pipe work and other water-contact surfaces, it is possible to generate the chlorine dioxide manually by mixing a chlorate with a suitable acid and using the mixture immediately. However, stabilised forms of chlorine dioxide are available which remain stable for extended periods if stored correctly.  Several stabilisation systems are used, many relying on careful control of pH.

Chlorine dioxide sources in tablet form are also available, useful for disinfecting water coolers.

5 comments:

  1. How about applying clo2 gas. Easy inexpensive and very safe. EPA approved for this exact need(s)Sachet product that generates the vapor into the air in small to medium size applications. No chemicals to mix simply touch "pouch" to water and you determine how many ppm's for how long (in what size space) you believe needs to be achieved to get the job done. Very small ppms needed is my opinion and pretty quickly. Already doing it for agriculture fruits, berries...produce. Same product makes a liquid if you would rather use as spray or mist. Now at your finger tips, clo2 very affordable, bleach, Cl alternative. Great published peer reviews at Odorscience.

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    1. Dear Greg,

      Many thanks for the info. Send me a link and I will look into it. One query - we all know that ClO2 can be explosive under certain conditions, presumably there is no problem with generating ClO2 in larger areas, such as whole rooms, or spraying the liquid version in confined areas such as spray chamber?

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  2. Thank you for your response. www.odorscience.net and please go to the technology tab. Clo2 is only explosive at more than 10% of volume. It's the heat that you must worry about. Our products are packed in the ONLY dry sodium chlorite filling facility in the worry to insure no pre-release. In larger areas we carry the clo2 with humidity. With humidity there is no chance of explosion or heat. Thanks again. --Greg Bohle

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  3. There are number of techniques which can be applied to purify the water. The technique utilized depends on the quantity you want to manage. Thanks!
    Sanosil

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