Chlorination System: A Cost-Effective Approach to Water Disinfection

In a country where a majority of the population is struggling to get access to safe drinking water, it is not surprising that waterborne diseases like cholera, dysentery, and typhoid are a big menace. The need for safe, purified drinking water can be addressed across individual households, but in many ways, our best bet is to make drinking water safe at the source or en masse. It may be pertinent to note here that India’s drinking water demand comprises about 4-6% of the total water demand. Currently, about 30% of the Indian rural population does not have access to drinking water, and only 7 states have full availability of drinking water across their rural areas. Globally, too, the water demand is scaling up at unprecedented rates. The global water consumption is nearly doubling every 20 years, a rate that is twice the percentage at which the population is growing. At the same time, it is concerning that out of the 3% of the remaining freshwater sources on the earth’s surface, less than 0.4% are accessible. Given the circumstances, we at Rite Water Solutions feel obligated to contribute towards water-crisis management in every possible manner. According to us, a cost-effective and efficient disinfection technology is one of the best solutions to this problem.

About the Solution

It may be pertinent to note here that India’s drinking water demand comprises about 4-6% of the total water demand. Currently, about 30% of the Indian rural population does not have access to drinking water, and only 7 states have full availability of drinking water across their rural areas. Globally, too, the water demand is scaling up at unprecedented rates. The global water consumption is nearly doubling every 20 years, a rate that is twice the percentage at which the population is growing.

At the same time, it is concerning that out of the 3% of the remaining freshwater sources on the earth’s surface, less than 0.4% are accessible.

Given the circumstances, we at Rite Water Solutions feel obligated to contribute towards water-crisis management in every possible manner. According to us, a cost-effective and efficient disinfection technology is one of the best solutions to this problem.

There are, as we all know, several ways to disinfect and purify drinking water. The most commonly used ones are:

Boiling – best for individual use but labour intensive.

Water purification systems using RO, UV technologies – best for household, office, or commercial kitchen usage.

Water purification using chlorination systems – a technology that has now been tried and tested for centuries to disinfect and purify drinking water for the masses.

History

The earliest attempts at using chlorination - as a water disinfection process – can be traced back to the late 1890s. In 1897, Maidstone, England, was the first town to have its water supply fully chlorinated. The process was more rigorously implemented in Lincoln, England in 1905, when chloride of lime (calcium hypochlorite) was used to complete the chlorination process.

Naturally, the process has since evolved manifold.

How Does Modern Day
Chlorination Work?

Chlorination involves adding a specified amount of chlorine to the water. Most commonly, chlorine is manufactured by electrolysing common salt. The resulting halogen gas (Chlorine) is then liquefied at high pressure for transportation. At the point of usage, it is reconverted to a gaseous state and added to the water being treated. Chlorination can also be achieved by adding chlorine compounds like sodium hypochlorite solution or calcium hypochlorite granules.

When dissolved in the water, chlorine becomes a super-effective disinfectant. It kills disease-bearing microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and protozoa by a process called Oxidation. Simply put, the molecules of chlorine break up the cells in the microorganisms and kill them.

Notably, the ratio of the chlorine to the water must be strictly maintained. If an inadequate amount of chlorine is used, the purification process might remain incomplete. If excessive quantities are used, it would have detrimental effects on human health. The amount of chlorine used must be enough to neutralise the microorganisms as well as to maintain a safe amount of Free Residual Chlorine or FRC. FRC is the leftover chlorine that has not already been used in the purification process. It ensures that the treated water is not recontaminated while being transported or in storage. Per the recommendations of WHO, FRC content in safe drinking water should be between 0.2 to 0.5 mg per litre.

Here are some features of Solar ENCEE CHLOR that make it a unique chlorination system:

The chlorine does not get deteriorated when it is kept unused and stored in the container
The only raw material required while using the chlorine generator is salt.
It is made in a compact size and with easy-to-use mechanics.
The machine is fully automated.
It helps in eliminating hazardous gas and deteriorates chlorine that occurs in the form of bleaching powder and hypochlorite.
No chemical is used, therefore, users are not dependent on suppliers for chemicals.
The machine provides an eco-friendly solution for water disinfection.
It can supply water to people in villages where there are frequent electricity shortages.
It generates 30 gms of Chlorine per batch, which is lesser than most electro chlorinators

ENCEE Chlor consists of four units; the electrolyzer is the generator. The rectifier is a power pack. Apart from this, there’s a dosing tank and a dosing pump.

With just these four units the water disinfection plant is ready to use.

How Does Modern Day
Chlorination Work?

Absolutely. Public water treatment plants that:

How is Chlorination System
Cost-Effective?

Chlorine, as previously discussed, is derived most commonly from salt. And as you already know, salt is one of the most commonly occurring natural substances. Additionally, the process of deriving chlorine through electrolysis does not require investment intensive mechanism. This makes the chlorination system the most cost-effective primary water treatment solution, especially when a huge quantity of water is required to be treated.

Do Chlorination Systems Only
Disinfect Drinking Water?

Not at all. Chlorination is also the most effective way to disinfect your pools, hot tubs, etc. While chlorine kills most bacteria within a minute, it takes longer to destroy some other microorganisms like the Hepatitis A virus (approximately 16 minutes), and parasites like Giardia (approximately 45 minutes) and Cryptosporidium (approximately 11 days).

Chlorination is also a must for waste and sewage treatment facilities. Water from waste treatment plants (WTPs) and sewage treatment plants (STPs) flows back into the river or other naturally occurring water bodies. Naturally, then, the contaminants present in the wastewater from WTPs and STPs must be removed before they are released into any water bodies. Chlorination helps achieve this at least cost with maximum efficiency.

Auto Chlorination Systems

When dealing with public health and safety, accuracy and integrity are non-negotiable. As discussed earlier, chlorination works best when the dosage of chlorine to the water being treated is accurate. Most chlorination systems in India are manually operated, which makes maintenance of this ratio prone to human error.

Here’s where our Auto Chlorination Systems can help. Rite Water Solutions, in association with Siemens Water Technologies, has come up with a fully automatic, safe, and accurate system for chlorine dosing. This system is ideal for WTPs, STPs, and ETPs, where maintenance of accurate, timely chlorine dosing is of utmost importance. The system delivers this while also maintaining high safety standards for gas handling.

Some of the standout features of our
Auto Chlorination System are:

High accuracy vacuum-based gas chlorinator.
PLC control to regulate chlorine dosing based on ppm level of treated water.
Controller with a learning algorithm based on fuzzy logic.
Automatic switchover module from empty to standby gas supply.
Chlorine analyser to continuously monitor the ppm level of the chlorinated water
Detection system equipped with an alarm to alert users in case of gas leakage.
Ultrasonic flow transmitter.

With chlorination systems, we can together make water safe for everyone! For more insights, get in touch with Rite Water Solutions today.

Rite Water Solutions is a water disinfection company that solely focuses on providing effective and affordable water disinfection and purification solutions to the rural and urban populations of the country.