On site electro chlorinator

[ashimo]

Hello everyone there,
Does any one has experience in using the on-site electrochlorinator system in your water treatment plant. I need to know the following information as compared to chlorine gas ;
1. Its effectiveness as a disinfectant
2. Its cost effectivess in terms of investment, maintenance up keep and operations

Best rgds,
Ashimo

 

[kenvlach]

I think its main advantage is safety – not dealing with chlorine cylinders or big tanks of sodium hypochlorite solution.
It is as effective as the sodium hypochlorite concentration created.
It is fairly simple and you don’t need someone specially qualified to work with chlorine gas, and you don’t need much of an RMPP.
Seems to be popular for salt-water pools.

See the links in the following thread.
Chlorine generator for pool/spa treatment
thread164-45317

 

[ashimo]

Thanks Kenvlach for yr reply.

I am more interested on potable water treatment applications. How do you monitor its reliability in terms of chlorine residual after treatment and what about its efficiency in terms of cost of electricity and maintenance as compared to using chlorine.

Best rgds,

Ashimo

 

[bimr]

Very few people use the onsite chlorine generators because the equipment is horrendously expensive. A sales rep. told me one time that there is not a lot of interest because of the high equipment cost.

The equipment works fine, the cost of the equipment is the problem.

You are making chlorine with these units so the disinfection capability is the same as chlorine or sodium hypochlorite. You just have to calculate the equivalent dosage.

Most users getting away from chlorine are converting to sodium hypochlorite.

 

[bimr]

Here is an engineering evaluation of this subject that should answer your questions:

http://www.consulthai.com/2002/news/papers/On-site_versus-screen .pdf

 

[ashimo]

Thanks bimr for the evaluation report you forward to me, it does help in answering my enquiries.

Would you by the way, has any comparison report between On site Hypochlorite Generators with Gas Chlorination Systems. Apart from the issues of safety and requirement for gas scrubber systems, would it be economical to use gas chlorine compared to on site generators if commercial hypochlorite is expensive. I agree with you that the capital cost for on site generators are very expensive.

Best rgds,

Ashimo

 

[bimr]

There is no question that chlorine gas is the cheapest product, and it probably is the most trouble free as far as operation and maintenance among the various alternatives.

However, there are some hidden costs for use of chlorine gas. You must have a risk management plan, once you store a regulated amount of chlorine onsite. You have to pay some consultant for that and then pay to have it periodically updated.

If you use chlorine gas, the most recent NFPA regulations also call out specific requirements for a gas dispensing room that must be enclosed to prevent offsite chlorine gas release. You also have to install a scrubber in case of a release.

Unless you have a very large operation, it is not worth while to use chlorine gas. Only at the largest chlorine users will the overhead costs for using chlorine gas be covered by the savings from the cheaper chlorine gas.

How much chlorine are you using?