An Alternative To Chlorine Disinfection

Chlorine has been used to disinfect water and wastewater for more than a hundred years, and while chorine has been critical to ensure public safety, it does have some drawbacks. There is a risk of highly toxic emissions, and it also reacts with organic matter in water and wastewater and forms harmful disinfection byproducts.

While there are alternatives to chlorine, such as UV disinfection, some represent a very high investment in terms of capital cost.

Alberto Garibi, VP Business Development of PeroxyChem LLC, joined Water Online Radio for an interview to discuss another alternative wastewater disinfection technology, the VigorOx WWT II.

The VigorOx WWT II is a peracetic acid based disinfectant that can replace chlorination or UV disinfection in a simple and cost-effective way. The technology utilizes a liquid chemical disinfectant that only requires a tank, metering pumps, and analyzers to be implemented — very similar to the common hypochlorite feed systems in use around the country.

Garibi said, “We have seen across the board that peracetic acid has been very effective. We should remember that peracetic acid has been used as an antimicrobial agent for more than 30 years.”

One of the main benefits of converting to the VigorOx WWT II with PeroxyChem is that they offer a complete turnkey solution for municipalities where equipment is installed at the customer site but leased by the municipalities. “There is no capital expense associated with conversion away from chlorine so they can solve critical problems associated with safety or disinfection byproducts without the need of a heavy investment in terms of capital expense,” Garibi said.