GreshamH
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- Joined: 4/27/2011
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Re:are there any problems with using sodium thiosulphate and cloram-x together ?
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Tuesday, April 24, 2012 4:49 PM
Cloram-X removes chlorine, chloramines and ammonia. No need for sodium thiosulphate
 Originally Posted by
CHLORINE This is the most commonly used disinfectant substance found in tap water in the world. This is because it is highly effective and inexpensive and the technology, in water treatment, is well documented and understood. The chlorine content of any water sample can be easily determined with available chlorine test kits. The best kind of kit is one, which will give two different, but related, measurements: * (1) “free, available chlorine” and * (2) “combined available chlorine”. In the United States the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and various federal, state and local public health agencies have required that for overall human health that the amount of trihalomethanes (mostly as chloroform, CHCl3) be significantly reduced or totally eliminated from drinking water. The source of trihalomethanes in drinking water comes mainly from the reaction of “free, available chlorine” with low levels of dissolved organic substances in the treated water. The obvious problem with reducing “free, available chlorine” is that disease-causing organisms (e.g. polio virus, typhoid fever bacteria, and fecal coliform bacteria) would likely make it through the water treatment process and arrive at the customers’ taps. “Free, available chlorine” is known, chemically, as “hypochlorite”. The hypochlorite ion, OCl-, is the same ion that is found in common, household bleach products. As every homemaker knows, bleach is one of the best disinfectants available. Some small water treatment companies even “batch treat” their water supplies by adding the required amount of industrial bleach solution to a large tank of water before it gets distributed through the water supply system. The larger water treatment companies simply add chlorine gas directly to the water treatment stream and thereby produce the hypochlorite in situ. The actual concentration of hypochlorite in the delivered water will vary from day to day and from season to season depending upon the conditions of the feed water and how the chlorine is added to the water. The removal of chlorine; called “dechlorination” is relatively simple and can be achieved by a number of chemical substances. In addition, when water contained almost exclusively “free, available chlorine” it could be strongly aerated for a few days at room temperature and most (but usually not all) of the chlorine would dissipate. This was called “aging” the water. The actual chemical reaction that occurs between hypochlorite ions and ClorAm-X ™ is illustrated in the following chemical equation: OCl- + HOCH2SO3Na -> H2NCH2SO4Na + Cl- This results in the formation of chloride, Cl- and sulfate, SO4-2 ions. As natural water sources around the US and, indeed, around the world became more and more polluted it became necessary to more aggressively treat water to insure a healthy product. This also meant adding increasing amounts of chlorine so that the water treatment agencies could insure that the chlorine residual being delivered to the customer was sufficient to maintain safe water throughout the ever aging distribution systems. As chlorine content (as “free, available chlorine”) increased so did the trihalomethane content. Trihalomethanes are known cancer-causing agents (carcinogens). To counteract the trihalomethane threat and still provide safe water is was known that by increasing the “combined, available chlorine” content one could both make the water safe and eliminate the carcinogens. “Combined, available chlorine” is better know as “chloramines”. CHLORAMINES These substances are formed from the reaction between chlorine (or hypochlorite) and ammonia or ammonium compounds in water. There are three substances, which can be called chloramines. These are * (1) monochloramine, NH2Cl, * (2) dichloramine, NHCl2, and * (3) trichloramine, or nitrogen trichloride, NCl3. The formation of these compounds are relatively easy to understand if one looks at the ammonia molecule, NH3, which consists of a central nitrogen atom, N, with three hydrogen atoms, H, attached. Any or all three of the hydrogens can be removed in a chemical reaction and each can be replaced by a chlorine atom, Cl. The chemical reaction between monochloramine and ClorAm-X ™ is illustrated by the following chemical reaction: NH2Cl + HOCH2SO3Na -> H2NCH2SO3Na + H+ + OCl- The OCl- is hypochlorite. This ion then reacts with the sulfonate end of the ClorAm-X ™ molecule for form harmless chloride ions, Cl- (see the previous section “CHLORINE”). In water treatment the first such compound, monochloramine, is the most desirable due to its stability in solution and its ability to kill viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms. In actual practice, there is always a small percentage of the total chloramine content present as dichloramine, but never any trichloramine. The trichloramine is very unstable and rapidly decomposes to free nitrogen and chlorine (that’s why one should never mix bleach and household ammonia (or ammonia-containing cleaners)). When dechlorinated with ordinary dechlorinators the chloramines release the bound ammonia into the water. In addition, the chloramines are resistant to dissipation, even when the water is strongly aerated. The removal, or destruction, of chloramines is called “dechloramination”. There is only one substance which not only dechloraminates water, but is also stable in solution, is nontoxic and has been determined by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it does not come under their regulation. ClorAm-X ™ is, therefore, suitable for use on fishes and aquatic invertebrates intended for human consumption. This substance is found in ClorAm-X ™ and is protected by US and foreign patents. SPECIFICATIONS ClorAm-X ™ is a single-phase, dechlorinating (chlorine removing), deaminating (ammonia removing), and dechloraminating (chloramine removing) agent. It is a white powder that is essentially odorless (upon long-term storage the product may develop a very slight odor) and completely soluble in water. Dosage: use 1 teaspoon (~ 5 mL) per 10 gallon of water.
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