The South African market’s interest in the MIOX on-site chemical generator for industrial water purification has picked up considerably in the three years since local filtration equipment supplier Filcon Filters was awarded the distributorship for the US technology.

The MIOX on-site chemical generator combines salt, water and electricity to generate water disinfection chemistries on site and on demand, eliminating the need for delivery, storage and handling of hazardous chemicals.

Filcon Filters’ David Harris explains that the MIOX’s patented mixed oxidant solution (MOS), or hypochlorite chemistry, could achieve operational savings of between 50% and 80%.

The on-site generator improves facility safety, lowers general corrosion rates, increases performance and saves money by reducing the chemical dosage by between 15% and 25%.

In South Africa, the MIOX generator has caught the interest of municipalities, the farming sector, abattoirs and the food and beverage industry, among others.

Ostrich meat supplier Klein Karoo International’s Ostriwell Abattoir, in the Western Cape, currently uses a MIOX on-site chemical generator for its water treatment requirements.

Harris says the technology is widely used internationally, with installations in over 50 countries, cleaning over 26-billion litres of water a day.

Global Installations
Citing examples of global installations, Harris reports that, in one instance, the MIOX generator eliminated biofilm and algae growth in a cooling tower basin within two weeks.

A district cooling service in the US installed an MIOX MOS generator to improve safety and biological control without increasing the use of existing biocides, which included sodium hypochlorite and isothiazolin. The installation of the MIOX generator eliminated the transportation, handling and storage of 28 000 lb/y of hazardous chemicals. Since the initial installation, Thermal Chicago has upgraded many of its district cooling systems with MIOX on-site chemical generators for treating cooling water.

Filcon Filters has offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg and will be exhibiting at the Electra Mining Africa show.

Hall 5 B33