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Thai scientists unveil saltwater Covid-19 disinfectant device


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Thai scientists unveil saltwater Covid-19 disinfectant device

By The Nation

 

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Scientists at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) have unveiled a breakthrough in the battle to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and other diseases.

 

A PSU Faculty of Science research team has developed a device that uses simple technology to produce hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite to disinfect any surface.

 

The device uses only water and salt, making it a convenient and almost free way of producing a constant supply of disinfectant.

 

PSU has handed the research knowledge to government agencies and schools in nine southern provinces – Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Trang, Satun, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

 

The device is designed to replace regular disinfectants, including relatively expensive alcohol-based cleansers.

 

Dr Warakorn Limbut, a PSU chemical scientist, said the new disinfectant device uses electrodes immersed in a container of salt and water (sodium chloride solution). When an electric current is passed through the solution, the positive electrode produces hypochlorous acid with a pH level 4.0 to 6.5 – a weak acid that is highly effective in destroying bacteria and viruses. Meanwhile the negative electrode produces sodium hydroxide with a pH of 8-14 – the main ingredient of bleach.

 

Warakorn hailed the commitment of Faculty of Science students, who worked for one year to develop the device. He said knowledge from the project will now be used for commercial applications to help society.

 

“In future, we will work with businesses to develop more efficient use of hypochlorous acids and hypochlorites in a larger machine.”

 

The research was part of PSU’s efforts to prevent the spread of disease and protect the health of Thai people, he added.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/edandtech/30402243

 

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-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2021-02-04
 
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1 minute ago, pseudorabies said:

Sodium hydroxide is NOT the main ingredient in bleach.  Sodium hypochlorite is.  

 

Congrats on their achievement but these guys need to get out more.  In most countries this is available at most grocery stores.

Thought bleach was hydrogen peroxide H2O2.

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5 minutes ago, pseudorabies said:

No... Hydrogen peroxide is hydrogen peroxide 555

Bleach is ~2.5% sodium hypochlorite.  Diluted 10-fold further for use as disinfectant.

Seems a little complicated than that....

 

Oxidizing bleaching agents that do not contain chlorine are usually based on peroxides such as hydrogen peroxide, sodium percarbonate, and sodium perborate. These bleaches are called 'non-chlorine bleach,' 'oxygen bleach' or 'color-safe bleach.'[2]

 

We learn something new everyday....well I do!!!

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1 minute ago, Surelynot said:

Seems a little complicated than that....

 

Oxidizing bleaching agents that do not contain chlorine are usually based on peroxides such as hydrogen peroxide, sodium percarbonate, and sodium perborate. These bleaches are called 'non-chlorine bleach,' 'oxygen bleach' or 'color-safe bleach.'[2]

 

We learn something new everyday....well I do!!!

When it comes to science, everything is always more complicated than it appears...

 

Bleach is different than H2O2.  All of the hydrogen peroxide solutions that I've worked with at home or in labs were just H2O2 and water.  No chlorine (exception being Aosept solutions for contact lense disinfection which is H2O2 + NaCl).

 

It's all about the oxygen free radicals.  Oxygen is incredibly toxic although you wouldn't think it since so many life forms depend on it for, well, life.  But most organisms have layers of defenses to keep oxygen and the toxic oxygen radicals that are generated in-check.  And it's why bleach and H2O2 are so effective at disinfecting and sterilizing.  I've gotten some H2O2 burns in the past and they are nasty.

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Silver water has been made for centuries, personally I have been making Silver Water ( proper name is Colloidal water ) at home I use a 27 volt transformer to make but its possible to use 3 x 9 volt batteries connected together in series to make 27 volts which works fine, I have been making it in Thailand and giving it away to friends and family who will use it, it's uses are far reaching i.e. add 5% to moisturising cream, shampoo, liquid soap etc etc which will make them anti bacterial, the other uses are many fold so I suggest you look at You Tube, but be warned that Pharmaceutical always knock it for financial reasons.
 
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15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The device uses only water and salt, making it a convenient and almost free way of producing a constant supply of disinfectant.

They could pump that directly out of the Chao Phraya river?

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15 hours ago, pseudorabies said:

Sodium hydroxide is NOT the main ingredient in bleach.  Sodium hypochlorite is.  

 

Congrats on their achievement but these guys need to get out more.  In most countries this is available at most grocery stores.

The pitfalls of living in a bubble.

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I remember in 1994, that there was a Thai Inventor's award given at Seacon Square to Thai young scientists, who had invented an oil skimmer that I had been selling in the UK from 1974 onwards that they had copied from Vikoma, a European Patent holder. We were manufacturing the above mentioned electrolysis plants from 1974 onwards in the UK under license from an Italian Company and later similar EDR plants for Ionics USA. There are 1,000s of patents and patent applications for the exact same type of electro-chlorinators, this is a typical Thai copy of an existing device. 

Sodium hydroxide is produced (along with chlorine and hydrogen) via the chloralkali process. This involves the electrolysis of an aqueous solution of sodium chloride. The sodium hydroxide builds up at the cathode, where water is reduced to hydrogen gas and hydroxide ion:

2Na+ + 2H2O + 2e → H2 + 2NaOH
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14 hours ago, YAHF said:
Silver water has been made for centuries, personally I have been making Silver Water ( proper name is Colloidal water ) at home I use a 27 volt transformer to make but its possible to use 3 x 9 volt batteries connected together in series to make 27 volts which works fine, I have been making it in Thailand and giving it away to friends and family who will use it, it's uses are far reaching i.e. add 5% to moisturising cream, shampoo, liquid soap etc etc which will make them anti bacterial, the other uses are many fold so I suggest you look at You Tube, but be warned that Pharmaceutical always knock it for financial reasons.
 

 

tell us how you made your thing ?  where to buy supply ?

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20 hours ago, stubuzz said:

 

They could have saved some time if they had checked out YouTube before hand.

Yes, indeed. But admitting that you got the idea from YouTube wouldn't have enticed any grant money.

 

Besides... that technology has been used on an industrial scale for decades, for example to disinfect swimming pools and tap water.

 

Well done, Dr. Warakorn, for finally having caught up to the rest of the world! 

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20 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

Yes, indeed. But admitting that you got the idea from YouTube wouldn't have enticed any grant money.

 

Besides... that technology has been used on an industrial scale for decades, for example to disinfect swimming pools and tap water.

 

Well done, Dr. Warakorn, for finally having caught up to the rest of the world! 

To be fair, this might just be some undergrad student's projects that they needed to finish in order to graduate.  It could have been a slow day for Thai media who decided to pick this up as an example of Thai scientific know-how.

 

I would see something similar from applicants for medicinal chemistry jobs who were just coming out of their PhD studies.  Most of the time their projects consisted of determining the chemical synthesis of complex biological molecules produced by plants or fungi.  There wouldn't be much practical use for the process since it is usually easier to extract it from the natural source.  Or define the enzymes in the metabolic pathway responsible for the compound's synthesis and then use those to produce the compound.  But I guess you've got to graduate somehow.

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20 hours ago, Surelynot said:

bleach was hydrogen peroxide H2O2.

Although hydrogen peroxide has bleaching properties it is not the same as household bleach. Technically, it is classed as 'non-chlorine bleach' as hydrogen peroxide solution has a different chemical make-up to bleach. ... Hydrogen peroxide, on the other hand, is pretty safe to use in lower concentrations.

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20 hours ago, stubuzz said:

They could have saved some time if they had checked out YouTube before hand.

Thanks interesting.

However, not a very green solution when using a car engine and an 80 Ah or so12 volt battery to produce electricity for the process...:whistling:, but probably some solar panels could work...????????

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