INFRACORP WATER

Disinfection Technologies ByInfraCorp

InfraCorp provides advanced, multi-barrier disinfection solutions engineered to protect public health across municipal, industrial, and hard-to-treat water streams. Our integrated platforms combine chemical, electrochemical, and physical disinfection technologies to achieve robust pathogen reduction while optimizing safety, operational efficiency, and sustainability.

InfraCorp disinfection technologies  ensures that treated water meets the strictest regulatory standards ,delivering safe, compliant, and environmentally responsible disinfection with minimized chemical consumption and reduced operational footprint

1. Chlorination (Liquid, Gas, or Tablet)

Performance Niche:

  • Primary Use: Residual disinfection for municipal water systems, large-scale pools, and wastewater treatment.
  • What it Kills: Highly effective against a broad spectrum of bacteria and viruses. Less effective against protozoan cysts (like Cryptosporidium) at low doses.

Operational Advantages:

  • Provides a Residual: This is its biggest advantage. Chlorine remains in the water, providing ongoing protection as it travels through pipes, preventing recontamination.
  • Well-Established & Understood: Technology, dosing, and safety protocols are well-known globally.
  • Cost-Effective: Generally inexpensive for initial setup and operation, especially for large volumes.

Key Considerations:

  • Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs): Can form potentially harmful compounds like trihalomethanes (THMs) when reacting with organic matter.
  • Chemical Handling: Requires safe storage and handling of hazardous chemicals (especially chlorine gas).
  • Taste & Odor: Can impart an undesirable taste and smell to the water.
  • Less Effective on Some Pathogens: As mentioned, Cryptosporidium is highly resistant.

2. Ultraviolet (UV) Disinfection

Performance Niche:

  • Primary Use: Point-of-use (under-sink) systems, point-of-entry (whole-house) systems, pharmaceutical manufacturing, beverage production, and wastewater reuse.
  • What it Kills: Extremely effective at inactivating bacteria, viruses, and protozoa (including Cryptosporidium and Giardia). It is a physical process, not a chemical one.

Operational Advantages:

  • No Chemicals Added: Does not alter the water’s taste, odor, or chemistry. Produces no DBPs.
  • Immediate Effect: Water is disinfected instantly as it passes the UV lamp.
  • Effective against Chlorine-Resistant Pathogens: The go-to technology for controlling Cryptosporidium.

Key Considerations:

  • No Residual: Offers no ongoing protection; water can be recontaminated after the UV chamber.
  • Water Quality Dependent: The water must be pre-filtered to be clear. UV light cannot penetrate turbidity or particles that can shield microorganisms.
  • Requires Electricity & Lamp Maintenance: Needs a constant power supply and annual lamp replacement for peak performance.

3. Ozonation

Performance Niche:

  • Primary Use: Bottled water plants, large-scale municipal water treatment (often in Europe), swimming pools, and for controlling taste and odor.
  • What it Kills: A very powerful oxidant and disinfectant. Effective against all pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and protozoa.

Operational Advantages:

  • Extremely Potent: One of the strongest disinfectants available. Works faster than chlorine.
  • Improves Taste & Odor: Effectively breaks down organic compounds that cause issues.
  • No Residual Taste/Odor: Dissipates quickly, leaving no taste in the finished water.

Key Considerations:

  • Non Stable Residual: Ozone decays quickly (minutes), so it cannot protect distribution pipes. A secondary disinfectant (like chlorine) is often still needed.
  • Complex & Costly: High capital and operational costs. Requires on-site generation using specialized equipment and high voltages.
  • Safety Concerns: Ozone is a toxic gas, requiring monitoring and destruction of off-gases.

4. Chlorine Dioxide (ClO₂)

Performance Niche:

  • Primary Use: Municipal water treatment (primarily for taste and odor control, and biofilm removal), disinfection in the food and beverage industry (e.g., poultry processing, vegetable washing), pulp and paper bleaching, and controlling Legionella in building water systems.
  • What it Kills: Excellent against bacteria and viruses. It is notably more effective than chlorine at killing protozoan cysts like Giardia and Cryptosporidium. It is also a superior biocide for removing and preventing biofilm in pipes.

Operational Advantages:

  • Superior Biofilm Control: This is one of its biggest advantages. ClO₂ penetrates and removes the slimy biofilm in pipes that can harbor and protect bacteria, making it excellent for institutional water systems.
  • Effective over a Wide pH Range: Unlike chlorine, whose effectiveness drops as pH rises, ClO₂ remains a potent biocide even in alkaline water (high pH).
  • Minimal Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs): ClO₂ does not react with organic matter to form significant amounts of trihalomethanes (THMs) or haloacetic acids (HAAs), which are regulated DBPs from chlorine. Its primary byproducts, chlorite and chlorate, are regulated instead.
  • Excellent Taste & Odor Control: It effectively destroys phenols and other compounds that cause bad taste and odor, without creating chlorinated phenols which have a very foul odor.
  • Provides a Residual: Like chlorine, it provides a stable residual disinfectant throughout the distribution system.

Key Considerations:

  • Cannot Be Stored; Must Be Generated On-Site: ClO₂ is an unstable gas and is explosive as a concentrated solution under pressure. Therefore, it is almost always generated on-site, moments before use, using specialized equipment.
  • Complex Generation & Cost: The generation equipment and required precursors (usually sodium chlorite and an activator like chlorine or acid) make it more complex and costly to operate than simple chlorination.
  • Regulated Inorganic Byproducts: The disinfection process creates chlorite (ClO₂⁻) and chlorate (ClO₃⁻) ions, which are regulated due to health concerns. Dosing must be carefully controlled to stay within legal limits.

Operator Expertise: Requires more skilled operation and monitoring than basic chlorination systems.

1. Chlorination (Liquid, Gas, or Tablet)

Method Kills Bacteria & Viruses Kills Cryptosporidium Provides Residual Protection Adds Chemicals Key Limitation
Chlorination  Excellent  Poor  Yes  Yes

Creates Trihalomethane (THM)

Byproducts
Chlorine Dioxide Excellent  Good to Excellent  Yes  Yes

Creates Chlorite/Chlorate Byproducts; must be

generated on-site
UV Light Excellent  Excellent  No  No No residual; requires clear water
Ozonation  Excellent  Excellent  No  (On-site) High cost & complexity; no residual

The ChlorineDioxide Decision Guide

You would strongly consider Chlorine Dioxide over other methods when:

  • Biofilm is a Primary Concern: In large buildings (hospitals, hotels), food processing plants, or complex pipe networks where controlling Legionella and other biofilm-associated bacteria is critical.
  • You Have Challenging Water Chemistry: If your water has a high pH or high levels of organic matter (which would lead to high THM formation with chlorine), ClO₂ is a superior alternative.
  • Taste and Odor are Major Issues: For utilities or industries where consumer complaints about taste and smell are a problem, ClO₂ is an excellent solution.
  • You Need a Residual but are Worried about Cryptosporidium: It offers a better balance of residual protection and protozoan cyst inactivation than standard chlorine.

Chlorine Dioxide is a premium chemical disinfectant that solves several of the key limitations of chlorine,  It’s a technology chosen for specific, often challenging, water treatment scenarios