04 Jul 2013 Radical Waters extends its ECA technology to carbon columns

Radical Waters International recently added a new patent to its patent portfolio, one for new “Activated Granular Carbon”. The company says this is a progressive step in extending its ECA systems (electrochemically-activated water), a non-traditional “chemical-free CIP” that has been widely adopted by the beverage and other food industry markets.

Granular Activated Charcoal (GAC) is a highly porous carbon matrix which serves as a substrate in water treatment facilities to absorb compounds, such as chlorine and other unwanted contaminants in pre-process water.

Often housed in columns, as with all filtration systems, regular maintenance is required to remove the filtered contaminants, build-up of biofilm and microbial activity from the filter bed and effectively restore the carbon to its original state.

Conventional treatments include dosing small amounts of chlorine into the raw water supply pre-filtration to remove any unwanted microbial activity, however, continuous low level dosing of biocidal agents into the incoming stream can result in a progressive escalation of tolerance by any microbial organisms established in the GAC.

These organisms typically cling to the porous surface and traditional procedures to regenerate GAC columns involves back-flushing, chlorine shock treatment, steam treatment and biocidal interventions where microbial populations have become established in the filter bed.

Radical Waters ECA technology has proven very effective in the regeneration of carbon columns, where it replaces the traditional methods of steam and biocides. The effectiveness of ECA is its ability to adjust the surface charge of the carbon granules promoting the release of both inorganic and organic biofilm deposits.

Radical Waters sales manager, Anton Louw comments, “It is imperative that we inform our customers so that ECA is viewed as a holistic solution for sanitation in plants as opposed to just an alternative CIP solution. While we have had immense success with our ECA CIP, GAC cleaning points the technology in a new direction and should certainly be considered by plants. After all, the ECA system is already installed and it stands to reason that it should be used to its maximum benefit”

The Radical Waters ECA GAC Patent addresses and encompasses:

• Increases the lapse time for recurrence of contamination in GAC columns.
• Reduces microbial contamination to acceptable limits.
• Rejuvenates and regenerates the GAC particles.
• Ease of operation.
• Extreme effectiveness in removing bio film in the column.
• Non-hazardous, environmentally friendly treatment.
• Reduces energy, water and chemical requirements and therefore saves money.

Radical Waters; www.radicalwaters.com

Other Radical Waters news

Radical Waters has formed an Executive Committee that will report directly to its Chairman, Dion Friedland, for the management and future growth of its business. The ExCo will include the following members of management, all of whom have played important roles in Radical Waters transition to a global company.

• Zahida Dhansay – Vice President, Finance and Production
• Philip Nel – Vice President, Technical and R&D
• Derik Du Plessis – Vice President, Sector Sales (The Americas) and Engineering Design
• Anton Louw – Vice President, Sector Sales (Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, Middle East)
• Nikki Frieslaar – Vice President, Operations and Marketing

This revised management structure follows Carla Fiford’s decision to curtail her travelling for personal reasons, which was an essential requirement of her role as MD. She will, however, remain on the Radical Waters board of directors.