Biocide Functionality

On our last post we discussed the benefits of using biocides within your cooling tower. This week, we take a closer look at specific categories of biocide and how they differ in functionality:

• Oxidizing biocides attack microorganisms by oxidizing the cell structure, disrupting nutrients from passing across the cell wall. The are effective in controlling microbiological activity in commercial cleaning, environmental hygiene, disinfection, and industrial/process water treatment activities.
• Non-oxidizing biocides are an industry standard for smaller systems and effective in controlling Legionella, TVC, slime-forming bacteria, sulphate-reducing bacteria, and algae. Studies have shown alternating between oxidizing and non-oxidizing biocides provides optimal microbial control. Alternating biocides provides benefits to the system, such as: unsurpassed bulk water cleanliness, low overall treatment costs, and improvement of heat exchange.
• Enzyme-denaturing biocides target selective enzymes, cell walls, and cytoplasms, preventing microorganisms from normal metabolic activities. Within cooling towers, the most commonly used enzyme-targeting biocides include methylene-bisthiocyanate, heavy metals, and dithiocarbamates. Lesser-used biocides includes those targeting cell walls and cytoplasms which requires a higher dosage for cell adsorption.

Earthwise Environmental can provide biocide recommendations based on on your system’s water chemistry, pH level, internal temperature, design, materials of construction, discharge permits, and cost limitations.