Electrolytic Bromine: A Greener Biocide - Sponsored Whitepaper

The word “green” is today being applied to more and more products in commerce and generally indicates that the product so designated has superior attributes from the environmental standpoint. In the cooling water management business, we are seeing “green” applied to a number of different products; non-chemical devices claim to be green as their use eliminates discharge of “hazardous” chemicals to the environment, solid feed products claim to be green due to reduced potential for hazardous chemical spills, while at least one biocide is claimed to be “greener” than others due to reduced product toxicity.

Given the obvious commercial appeal of calling your product green in today's marketplace, an independent definition of “green” is needed. Our friends at the USEPA have kindly provided their view point by using the definition in “The Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry”1. Review of this document shows that several of these principals can be applied to typical AWT member firms as follows:

- Design safer chemicals and products - Use renewable feedstocks - Design chemicals and products to degrade after use - Minimize the potential for accidents