Electrified water approved for use as miracle cleanser

ElectroCide, or electrolyzed water, could replace chlorine and ammonia based cleansers.

Wed, Feb 25 2009 at 3:49 PM EST

Image: Electrolyzer Corporation

It turns out the writers on Captain Planet presaged a technology that has only now garnered acceptance by the U.S. government — ElectroCide. One of the secret weapons the Planeteers had in their arsenal was an electrolyzed water cannon that could neutralize the most toxic pollution bad guys.

This isn't too far off from reality. The Electrolyzer Corporation's electrocide system may spell the end of conventional chemical cleansers (see video link below).

In the electrolyzer unit, an electric field is passed between three chambers — one containing salt water in the center and two containing tap. The current separates the sodium chloride molecules in the salt water and the free ions (both positive and negative) are drawn into the tap water on either side. The result is a set of two new nontoxic chemicals — a sodium hydroxide degreaser and a hypochrlorous acid sanitizer.

The sanitizer is so powerful it can clean anthrax on contact, not to mention the more common salmonella that has plagued the food industry as of late. (Over 76 million infections and 350,000 hospitalizations from food-born viruses and bacteria.) And the degreaser is said to rival the power of the most toxic chemicals currently in use.

The process been has been widely used in Russia and Japan for some time, but only recently has it been approved by the big three agencies in the U.S. — the FDA, the EPA and the USDA. Now commercial businesses like the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica, recently featured in an L.A. times article, can use the device on site to produce its own nontoxic, high-powered cleansers.

Its green in three ways. No more toxic chemicals which means better employee and customer safety and no more shipping for all the solvents and chemical cleansers normally used. And while there is some electricity used in the process, it is very minimal and produces a gallon of "miracle water" for one cent.

The obstacles to adoption? There is a drawback of shelf-life. The solution is inherently unstable and so only lasts a short time once produced. And the other big drawback is that it just seems "too good to be true." We're so used to pungent chemical fumes, that it seems hard to imagine "clean" without "chemical."

You can watch the video at the LA Times.