Comparison with Competitive Technologies
Don’t be misled by advertising brochures and, to some extent, by EPA labeling for stabilized bromine products.
It’s all about activity reported as chlorine (Cl). Active chlorine is the common denominator in water treatment chemistry.
For example, Albemarle’s EPA label declares the active ingredient is Bromine Chloride … 11%. However, “expressed as chlorine = approximately 7%.” The label also states “Total Available Bromine = 15%.” Since the mole wt. conversion of bromine to chlorine is 2.25, if one divides the 15% Available Bromine (weight percent) by 2.25, one gets an equivalent chlorine percent by weight of 6.67% active Cl.
In contrast, Enviro Tech’s label declares a Total Available Bromine content of 23%. Divided by 2.25 (chlorine equivalency), the result is 10.22% activity, based on active Cl.
Recently a new product has been introduced to the US Market. It is from a company called Justeq, LLC. The product is sulfamic acid-stabilized chlorine. The product has numerously different properties than sulfamic acid-stabilized bromine biocides. Refer to the Patents, Intellectual Property, and Registrations for more information.
Please click on the links below to learn more about how BromMax compares with other technologies:
Technical Information and Bulletins
The process used by Nalco to create Stabrex is quite simple. Sodium bromide is oxidized with sodium hypochlorite (bleach) and subsequently stabilized using a nitrogen-sulfur based organic acid, which is the typical stabilizer for all stabilized bromine formulations and processes. The active bromine (reported as active Cl) is 6.0%. The process has several major drawbacks.
Due to the alkaline conditions created by mixing bleach and sodium bromide, a considerable amount of bromate ion is created, which is a suspected carcinogen and is tightly regulated by the EPA in drinking water, lakes, rivers, and water table aquifers. Secondly, its uppermost concentration is limited by the strength of the commercial bleach (12-15% as NaOCl) that is used to make the product.
In 2002 Enviro Tech discovered a completely new way to make stabilized bromine. The process creates almost 40% fewer salts and inert by-products that plague all manufacturers of stabilized bromine products. The end-product is almost identical to Nalco’s and Albemarle’s, with the exception that we are able to stabilize the bromine at 10.2% (as Cl). This equates to 67% and 48% more active bromine than Nalco or Albemarle, respectively.
Enviro Tech’s process is quite ingenious. Sodium bromide is oxidized by a solid known as trichlor (trichloroisocyanuric acid), which is 91% available chlorine. The trick was to utilize the trichlor and extract its chlorine in a liquid process. Considering trichlor is only very marginally soluble in water makes the process that much more unique. Because trichlor is solid, no extraneous water is introduced to dilute the product as is the case when using 12-15% NaOCl bleach. Also, trichlor contains no solubility-limiting inert NaCl salts.
Please click on any of the links below to learn more about our technical information:
Patents, Intellectual Property and Registrations
BromMax® technology is covered by at least three U.S.-issued patents. In the late 1990s, Nalco applied for and received a patent for its version of stabilized bromine. In 2002 Enviro Tech discovered a completely new way to make stabilized bromine at a higher concentration and with fewer byproducts, and subsequently received a patent on this new production method. For a more in-depth description of this process, see our Technical Information page.
In 2008 a new product has been introduced to the stabilized bromine market by a company called Justeq, LLC. The product is NOT stabilized bromine. It is stabilized CHLORINE with unreacted sodium bromide added to the product. Nalco evaluated this product extensively, as did Great Lakes (Chemtura) and other companies. Nalco has several references to this alternative product in a patent listed below, for your reading convenience.
