Chlorine and its Function in the Disinfection Process
Chlorine is one of the most widely used disinfectant. It is very effective for the deactivation of pathogenic microorganisms. Chlorine can be easily applied, measured and controlled. It is also relatively inexpensive.
Chlorine destroys pathogens such as bacteria and viruses by breaking the chemical bonds in their molecules. The chlorine compounds exchange atoms with other compounds, such as enzymes in bacteria and other cells. When enzymes come in contact with chlorine, one or more of the hydrogen atoms in the molecule are replaced by chlorine. This causes the entire molecule to change shape or fall apart. The then enzymes function improperly, causing the cell or bacterium will die.
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Since hypeochlorous acid is neutral it is able to penetrate the cell wall, rather than the negatively charged hypochlorite ion. Which results in the destruction of the pathogens. This cause the microorganisms to either die or suffer from reproductive failure.
The efficiency of disinfection is determined by the pH of the water. Disinfection with chlorine will take place optimally when the pH is between 5,5 and 7,5 (Lenntech, 2016).
Chloromines
Chlorine reacts with ammonia to for a series of chlorinate ammonia compounds called chlorimines. This includes monochlorimine (NH2Cl), dichlorimine (NHCl2) and trichloramine/ nitrogen trichloride (NCl3). The products of the reaction varies with the pH, ratio of Cl2 added to ammonia present, and contact time (Viljoen, 1996).
In recent years many water treatment facilities have switched to the use of chloramine in the disinfectant process due to the main reason that it is more stable then chlorine and therefor has a longer retention time which means it is more economical to
The chemicals that Clorox bleach contains are water, sodium hypochlorite, sodium chloride, coco-betaine, fragrance, sodium carbonate, sodium chlorate, sodium hydroxide, sodium [olyacrylate, and sodium xylene sulfonate. Sodium hypochlorite has several short term potential health risks such as causing irritation and burns when in contact with skin, causing eye damage and irritation when in contact with eyes, irritating the nose, throat, and lungs upon inhalation, which can cause shortness of breath and pulmonary edema at higher exposures, and can also cause headache, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. Chronic health effects include bronchitis after repeated exposure to inhalation. Fragrance can cause skin irritation, allergy, and has been linked to organ system toxicity. Sodium carbonate can be corrosive to the gastro intestinal tract if ingested. It can also cause blistering when in contact with skin and can be corrosive to eyes and cause conjuctival edema and corneal destruction. Sodium chlorate can irritate and burn skin and eyes, and can cause nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, as well as damage the kidneys and affect the liver. High levels of sodium chlorate can reduce the body’s ability to transport oxygen and at very high levels, exposure can lead to death. Sodium hydroxide is corrosive to skin and
The bacteria produce a number of products including urease and vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA). VacA damages endosomal and lysosomal membranes and leads to cell death. Urease helps increase the environmental pH to become less
9. After the 48 hour time period the inhibition of the Escherichia coli bacteria around the disinfectant disks was measured. A ruler was used to measure the clearing from the edge of the disk to the perimeter of the clearing. Irregularities in the clearing were not included in the area of clearing.
This implies that products of its breaking down, chloramines form very slowly yet there are still a lot of ammonia compounds in water to be broken. On the other hand, the experimental results show that chloramine destruction in water that already had chloramines under the change of pH is exponential with decrease in pH. This also reinforces the importance of pH change in chloramine treatment even if it is
harmful bacteria. It is a chemical used to disinfect water(Department of Health, n.d.,para 2). Chlorine is a yellow-green gas, and has an odor similar to bleach in room temperature (Department of Health,n.d.,para 1). Chlorination can protect people protect people from E-coli, Rotavirus, Salmonella, Adenoviruses, and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, all sicknesses (Dewar,2010-2013,para 2). Chlorine is a chemical used to disinfect water.
The leisure pool (swimming pool) is one of the main sources which attracts the public to the centre. In order to keep the pool clean, a chemical known as chlorine. Chlorine is chemical that is toxic, irritant and is pale green. Chlorine is proven is kill bacteria that are hazardous to humans through a chemical reaction. This chemical reaction takes place as once the chlorine is placed in the water it breaks down in to various chemicals which including two chemicals known as hypochlorous acid (HOCI) and hypochlorite ion (OCI-). These two specific chemicals kill microorganism and bacteria by destroying the enzymes inside the cell as the lipids (fats) on the cell walls are attacked by the chemicals. Once this process occurs the cells are oxidized and are made harmless.
CSI is the only disinfection method for which multiple field evaluations of efficacy have been published in the peer-reviewed literature. The efficacy of CSI has also been well documented in long-term care facilities, and in office and apartment buildings. The efficacy of CSI in eradicating Legionella has been documented in hospitals worldwide using a multiple-hospital survey in 16 hospitals with 5-11 years of experience. Just within five years of treatment with CSI, half of the hospitals successfully decreased their Legionella to 0%. The installation of a CSI system eliminated the Legionella from the water and no cases of Legionnaires Disease have been diagnosed. These we hospitals that had previously utilized other disinfection methods such as attempted other disinfection methods including superheat and flush, ultraviolet light, and hyperchlorination but were
Animals actually require chlorine to live as well. When chlorine reacts with sodium, it becomes table salt – a basic everyday ingredient that supports our digestive, muscle, and immune systems.
Chlorine’s main uses or applications vary from large uses or just small needs or wants. These small needs or wants would include things like table salt, sea salt for seasoning, or even rock salt. Larger uses would include things like bleach liquid for clothes and chemical warfares which have since been banned. Chlorine production happens by passing an electrical current through a solution of brine (which is also called electrolysis). Chlorine has no biological roles as inhaling large amounts would lead to fatality although, small amounts were used as medicine in the 50’s.
Chlorine also mixes easily with water, forming an acid molecule made of hydrogen, oxygen,which has a lot of different molecules in it and chlorine atoms. This is the main ingredient of bleach, and we use it to kill bacteria in water, to make it safe to swim in and to drink if you drink too much u may get sick and could possibly die.
Chlorine is a halogen containing organic compound that is necessary to all known species of life and occurs commonly in the Earth’s crust and seawater. Its symbol is CI, has atomic number 17 and is known as the second lightest halogen (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016). We have known chlorine in the form of sodium chloride as rock salt to be used as a food preservative as early as 3000BC, and brine as early as 6000BC. Chlorine was recognized as a gas in 1630. Elemental chlorine is a yellow/green gas, with a distinctive odor. (Boundless, 2016)
Bleach or sodium hypochlorite is a common household cleaner in an average Canadian home, but what is the effect of bleach on human health? Some background information about bleach before we begin is that it is a pale yellow liquid that has a chlorine odor (Sodium 2016). The manufacturers generally supply bleach as a dilute aqueous solution because it is extremely reactive and unstable. Bleach will eventually decompose into a variety of by-products, such as oxygen, chlorine gas, and salt (Schueller 2014). To prevent this decomposition from occurring too rapidly, bleach should be stored away from light or heat. The active ingredient in sodium hypochlorite; consists of a negatively charged hypochlorite ion (CLO-) and positively charged sodium
The research from this report shows that the advantages of chlorination as a disinfection outweighs its disadvantages. Chlorination still remains the best disinfection process for our drinking water even though it has some long-term health concerns. Due to a lack of evidence it can be concluded to be the best disinfection process for our drinking water supply. No other alternative can match up to it, but as the technology is getting more advanced, in the future there may be a completely new system to disinfect our drinking water without producing
They can also cause illness by discharging toxins of two types that can kill cells, exotoxins are released by live bacteria and endotoxins are poisons that are released
The process of chlorinating water for the purpose purifying it, has only been around for just over a hundred years. Although the process has been seen to have a great effect, in reducing the amount of disease caught from drinking water (such as typhoid and cholera), it’s been a heated debate for years. The first case of water being disinfected on a mass scale, was done by a man named John L. Leal. Leal was a physician by profession, but was thought by many to be a bit of a mad man at the time, because of his idea that chlorine had the properties to disinfect water for drinking. It was thought at the time, that if chlorine is poisonous when in a gaseous state, then what’s to say that it’s not poisonous when it’s added to water (creating calcium hydrochloride), which it was (reference 1).Leal spent years of his life observing the effects were when very small amounts of chloride of lime was added to bacteria filled water. He observed in more cases than not that the chlorine of lime in the water, ended up killing almost all of the bacteria while leaving it at a similar PH level of water. During the year of 1908, soon after Leal was given a job at the Jersey City Water Supply, and with the help of his friend George Warren Fuller (an engineer). In complete secrecy they installed a ‘chloride of lime feed facility’ at the Boon Reservoir, which was the main reservoir for Jersey City (reference 1). Three months after he committed this daring act, he was called to court