One of the 21st century’s greatest challenges is a severe shortage of clean water. Water is now being polluted faster then ever by agricultural runoff, and general and industrial waste that infrastructure was never designed to deal with. According to Keith Boulais at Premier Materials Technology, old line cleaning technologies are failing miserably or are just not cost-effective, especially when it comes to new pollutants, such as PFAS, PAHs, excessive nutrients, fracking water, coal ash, personal care products residues and drugs.
No one wants polluted water in a leisure boating environment and keeping water clean can be a surprisingly natural process via a new category of technologies known as Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP). The EcoSOAR Ionizer is the most advanced of these technologies and the only process currently available in the world that produces superoxide (O_2) on a large scale. The O_2 technology cleans the water column and sediment of organic pollutants, anaerobic bacteria, metals etc. It also significantly raises the dissolved oxygen level of the water column and sediment helping to promote water body health. Here’s the science. O_2 (superoxide) is a type of oxygen that contains an extra electron. It is this electron that gives it its special oxidising power. Here is an oxidation rating scale (Daniels. 2002): Chlorine is 1.00 Ozone is 1.52 O_2 (superoxide) is 2.37 O_2 (superoxide) is as old as Earth’s oxygen atmosphere and is actually ubiquitous in the environment. It regulates the bio-availability of trace metals in the ocean, it is produced by fungus as a by-product that remediates such contaminants as excessive nutrients and coal ash, and is produced by corals to protect against bacteria and viruses, and to control the availability of nutrients in the reef.
O_2 (superoxide) operates via a mechanism called Fenton Chemistry that was discovered by British chemist Hank Fenton in the 1890s. In this mechanism, the O_2 preferentially reacts with carbon atoms in any organic molecule. It is able to virtually dismantle an organic contaminant atom and return such atoms to the ecosphere for recycling. This means that there is no secondary pollution to deal with; all of the individual atoms cleaved from the contaminant are available for re-use. A good example is oil, which is primarily hydrogen and carbon. An oil molecule treated with O_2 is changed to CO2 and water. The same reaction will occur with organic pollutants such as algae/cyanobacteria and anaerobic bacteria. O_2 (superoxide) is created from the open atmosphere without the use of any chemicals. It’s one of the safest water body treatments, handles the most pollutants, and is the only one that cleans both the water column and the sediment. The EcoSOAR Ionizer is a highly portable unit, measuring 51in (129.5cm) long x 31in (79cm) wide x 41in (104cm) high. It weighs 1,010lbs (458kg) and requires 220V three-phase power (which can be obtained via solar) to operate at 4.5kW/hr. The unit can be installed on a trailer (as seen bottom right) with a back-up generator. It could be the ideal solution to keeping water clean, and free from invasive weeds and potentially hazardous pollutants. E: keith@premiermaterials.com
