MIOX process?

[Devin]

I have been talking with my county lately trying to get a better handle on my local water supply. I was under the impression that it was treated with chloramine because I did the little overnight sniff test, and the water still smelled like chlorine the next day when pouring back and forth from container to container. The county informed me that they disinfect the water using the MIOX (mixed oxidant) process. The sent me a link on it, but I don't see what the by-products of this process are. All I know is that it smells a lot like chlorine or something chlorine-like. I did some searching on it, but didn't find much information. There was a thread on this forum where someone mentioned that it produces bleach, which can be removed via charcoal filtration. Is there any other way to treat this? Anybody else have any more information about this MIOX process?

When I first started brewing with extracts, I used the local water supply. All of my brews had this strange taste that I finally narrowed down to the local water supply. Since then, I have been using RO water (and have also transitioned to all-grain). I am interested in trying to use my local water again now that I have a water report for it, but I am concerned about this disinfecting process and what it leaves in the water.

Thanks,

Devin

 

[ajdelange]

Never heard of these guys but they say the combine salt, electricity and water to produce 'mixed oxidants' which sanitize the water.

I don't know about the 'mixed' bit but if you pass current through a salt solution chloride ions get oxidized at the anode to produce chlorine gas and sodium ions get reduced at the cathode producing sodium metal which quickly reduces water to produce hydrogen gas, Na+ and OH- ions. If the chlorine is routed around to the cathode compartment it reacts with Cl2 + HOH + 2OH- --> HCl + HOCl + 2OH- --> 2H2O + Cl- + OCl-. The hypochlorite ion is an oxidizing agent, the same ion as is produced by the addition of chlorine gas from a railroad car or sodium hyprochlorite to water at the treatment plant except that the raw materials are salt and electricity which are much safer to ship and handle than chlorine gas (and even hypochlorite - the largest release of chlorine from a water treatment plant in the US was from a hypochlorite plant).

Thus the end result is the same as if your water is chlorinated. They could, of course, add ammonia downstream of the chlorine production station in which case you would have chloramine - also an oxidizing agent.

In any event if standing overnight doesn't do the trick a Campden tablet should.

 

[Devin]

Thanks for the input, ajdelange.

 

[mattd2]

As ajdalange said (I think???) it sounds like they are using the chloralkali process to produce sodium hypochlorite onsite to use as a disinfectant. Rather than transporting chlorine or sodium hypochlorite around. Basically they built a small bleach plant on site rather than shipping in bleach from a larger producer.
I guess the question to ask them, as ajdelange kind of alluded to, is if they add ammonia to the water. Might be easier for a non technical person that is likely answering the question to give you a straight yes/no answer.

 

[ajdelange]

Yes, that's what I was trying to convey. I understand that modern swimming pools are chlorinated this way.

The overnight stand and sniff test is not elegant but practical in the sense that if you still smell chlorine in the morning you still have chlorine to deal with be it from stubborn chlorine or chloramine. The other thing one can do is obtain a total plus free chlorine test kit (they are not expensive) and test for the presence of chloramine.