ION enhancement

Abstract

A method and apparatus for treating a body of water to kill microorganisms by enhancing the concentration metal ions therein. The apparatus comprising a dispenser with a first housing having a water accessible compartment containing a source of a N-halohydantoin compound for releasing the N-halohydantoin compound when contacted by the body of water with the at least one N-halohydantoin having the formula:wherein R and R1 each independently comprises an alkyl group, and wherein X and Y are independently selected from the group consisting of bromine, chlorine and hydrogen and a second housing having a water accessible compartment containing an insoluble metal ion donor for releasing metal ions when contacted by the body of water containing the N-halohydantoin.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to currently pending U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61 / 126,105; filed on May 1, 2008; titled ION ENHANCEMENT and is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 12 / 001,351 filed Dec. 11, 2007 which claims priority form provisional application 60 / 878,016 filed Dec. 29, 2006 which are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates generally to water treatment and more specifically, to the combination of a metal ion donor and a source of a N-halohydantoin compound such as Dichlorodimethylhydatoin to enhance the effectiveness of the metal ion donor in killing microorganisms in a body of water.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0003]NoneREFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX[0004]NoneBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0005]The concept of treating a body of water with a source of metallic ions to kill bacteria in the body of water is known in t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]Briefly, the present invention comprises a method and a device for killing microorganisms in a body of water through the enhancement of a concentration of metal ion donor even in situations where the metal ion donors are generally insoluble or not sufficiently soluble in the body of water to maintain an effective concentration of the metal ion donor in soluble form in the body of water. The device generally comprises a first housing having a water accessible compartment containing a source of a N-halohydantoin compound such as Dichlorodimethylhydatoin for releasing the Dichlorodimethylhydatoin compound when contacted by the body of water and a second housing having a water accessible compartment containing a metal ion donor for releasing metal ions to kill the microorganisms in the body of water when contacted by water containing the Dichlorodimethylhydatoin compound to thereby increase the effectiveness of the metal ion donor.

[0010]The method includes the steps of adding a metal ion donor to the body of water and adding sufficient Dichlorodimethylhydatoin compound to the body of water to interact with the metal ion donor to enhance the metal ion concentration to effectively to kill microorganisms. A further embodiment includes the tabletizing of the Dichlorodimethylhydatoin compound with a metal ion donor so that the combination can be placed in a body of water to be disinfected.

Problems solved by technology

However, if the concentration of metallic ions such as silver ions in a body of water is too low the ability to kill microorganisms is reduced or lost.

Conversely, if the concentration of metallic ions such as silver ions is too high it can potentially lead to undesired effects such as causing the user's skin to turn yellow and staining clothes.

One of the problems associated with the use of silver for killing microorganisms is that silver has a tendency to complex with other compounds and become increasingly insoluble thereby reducing the effective microorganisms killing ability of the silver.

For example, it would not be anticipated that silver chloride when used in combination with sodium bromide would be an effective prolong disinfectant system because of the combination's tendency to form insoluble silver bromide crystals, which are not believed to be biologically active in aqueous environments.

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