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Home » Technologies » High-Concentration Bleach Generator

High-Concentration Bleach Generator


Portable bleach generator for purifying and disinfecting drinking water in remote locations


ERDC’s Bleach Generator produces cleaner and safer water even in the most remote locations

This technology is a high-concentration, portable bleach generator—vital for disinfecting water when treatment facilities are off-line and during floods and other natural disasters. This highly efficient technology uses electro-chlorination to generate high-concentration bleach from saltwater brine and adds the solution to water treatment systems as it is being produced, enabling faster access to clean water.

Existing processes produce low-concentration (~1%) bleach solutions that are insufficient for disinfecting drinking water. ERDC’s bleach generator has the capability to generate 7% concentration bleach on-site, while using less power than existing processes. Additionally, it safely vents flammable hydrogen gas byproducts to eliminate build-up. The bleach generator works with any water-purification system and can be combined with Water Diagnostics Operations Gear (WaterDOG) within the breakthrough Water Assessment and Purification Toolkit (WAsP), providing portable, reverse osmosis water purification with electro-chlorination, UV sanitation, and water-monitoring capability.

Benefits:

  • Robust: Generates higher concentrations of bleach (7%) than competing systems (1%)
  • Portable: Features small form factor, can be transported to remote locations
  • Safe: Provides cleaner and safer water (killing harmful biologicals) while safely venting hydrogen gas 
  • Efficient: Uses less power than existing technologies
  • Flexible: Offers the ability to select bleach concentration levels using computer controls

Applications:

  • Remediation (e.g., water purification, filtration, testing, recycling) 
  • Wastewater treatment
  • Disinfecting (e.g., water, surfaces, hospitals)
  • Municipalities (e.g., public works)
  • Manufacturing (e.g., textiles, recycling, food processing)
  • Disaster relief
  • Military (e.g., bases, command centers, expeditionary forces)
Bleach generator operating in the field

Patents

  • US10077197B2

Resources

  • Fact sheet for WAsP Toolkit 
  • ERDC article

Technology Category

Environment & Energy, Materials

Tags

Bleach, Chlorine Generator, Electro-chlorination, Wastewater Treatment, Water Purification, Water Quality, Water Treatment

Affiliated Lab

Geospatial Research Laboratory

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Contact Details

ERDCWERX
1622 Washington Street
Vicksburg, MS 39180

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