Methods for the on-site production of chloramine and uses thereof

• US 9,388,044 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nalco Company (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Amit, Rice, Laura E., Elliott, Randall, Lu, Yu-Mei, Tu, Wen Li
• Primary Examiner(s): Swain, Melissa
• Application Number:
  US13/249,972
• Publication Number:
  US 20120021062A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,747 Days
• Field of Search: 423/351, 423/383, 423/413, 423/463, 423/470, 210/753, 210/754, 210/756
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: C01B 21/091 Chloramine, i.e. NH2Cl or dichloramine, i.e. NHCl2
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/50 by addition or application of a germicide or by oligodynamic treatment C02F1/4606, C02F1/467, C02F1/76 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/766 by means of halogens other than chlorine or of halogenated compounds containing halogen other than chlorine
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2209/06 pH
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2209/29 Chlorine compounds
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2303/04 Disinfection
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2303/20 Prevention of biofouling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 10/37 using solar energy

Abstract

A method of producing stable disinfectant for use as a biocidal composition. The method comprises: providing reagents, asynchronously feeding the reagents into a wide space, and allowing all the reagents to come into contact and mix with each other. The reagents comprise: a) an amine source in concentrated form, b) an oxidizing halogen compound in concentrated form, and c) a diluent. The use of asynchronous feeding and a wide space results in a dynamic biocide regimen. This regimen results in a changing environment that infestations have difficulty adapting to. This method also imparts superior results due to the avoidance of channeling effects which would otherwise weaken the effects of the biocide.

Claims

1. A method of producing stable disinfectant for use as a biocidal composition in a process water system, the method comprising the steps of:

providing items, the items consisting of;

a) an amine source in concentrated form said concentrated form characterized as the amine source being within a diluent and the amine source comprises between 5% and 80% of the molar ratio of the combined diluent and amine source,

b) an oxidizing halogen compound in concentrated form said concentrated form characterized as the halogen compound being within a diluent and the halogen compound comprises between 3% and 18% of the molar ratio of the combined diluent and halogen compound, and

c) water;

creating an amine-free flow of water through a first feed;

asynchronously feeding the halogen compound in a concentrated form into the first feed line;

when it is determined that a chlorine demand of the process water system is such that the oxidizing halogen compound alone will not operate as an effective biocidal composition because the water contains items that reduce the oxidizing halogen compound or render the oxidizing halogen compound inert, asynchronously feeding the amine source in a concentrated form via a halogen-free second feed line into a wide space such that the concentrated amine, concentrated halogen, and water come into contact and mix with each other in the wide space wherein the wide space is a tank constructed and arranged such that the wide space has a diameter larger than both the first and second feed lines and a transition from the first and second feed lines to the tank is not streamlined and thereby a flow from the first and second feed lines results in eddies which mixes the items so that for a time when the halogen is not fed into the tank there is still remaining halogen in the tank mixing with remaining amine whose reaction products are formed and fed into the process water system thereby creating a dynamic chlorine residual which is more widely distributed than if the tank were streamlined; and

when it is determined that the halogen demand is low adding amine source and not adding halogen compound to the wide space thereby quenching free hypochlorous acid in the process water system, wherein a molar ratio of amine to oxidizing halogen is within a range of 7;

1 to 10;

1.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the amine source is chloramine.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the oxidizing halogen compound is a chlorine source.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the oxidizing halogen compound is sodium hypochlorite.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the flow is passed according to a batch process.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the flow is passed according to a continuous dose process.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the flow is passed according to a slug dose process.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the process water system is one selected from the group consisting of:

cooling water systems, domestic water systems, boiler water systems, biofouling control of reverse osmosis membrane systems, cleaning of reverse osmosis membrane systems, ballast water systems, and waste water treatment systems.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the process water system is one component of a food and beverage process system selected from the group consisting of:

flume water treatment, washing of fruits, washing of salads, and washing of vegetables.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the process water system is a paper manufacturing system.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the process water system is one component of a paper manufacturing system selected from the group consisting of:

machine chests, head box waters, broke chests, and shower water.