Water sanitation system, new to North America, to be tested in Avon Lake

Water, salt and electricity is not a combination that most would think of as safe, let alone productive. But Avon Lake Regional Water is pursuing a plan, the first of its kind in North America, to take care of its water disinfectant needs in-house with just that simple combination. The utility is in the process of switching its water disinfectant system from one based on chlorine gas to relying on sodium hypochlorite. When that switch was publicized in March, Regional Water's Chief Utilities Executive Robert Munro said that sodium hypochlorite is much safer for both the staff at the utility and the general public. But another major advantage of sodium hypochlorite is its relatively simple composition of water, sodium (salt) and electricity. Thanks to this short recipe and through a partnership with South Korean company TechWin, Munro said the water department will test a system to produce up to two-thirds of its needed supply of the chemical completely in-house. "Typically water and electricity isn't something you want to think about mixing, but if you've ever heard of a saltwater pool it's the same concept," Munro said. "It's the same type of process." The process sees water and salt mixed into a slurry which is then run over metal plates that are electrically charged. Sodium hypochlorite is produced from the resultant chemical reaction and can be used to disinfect water in the same way as chlorine gas. "It's not a new concept, it's just that this technology is not in the United States yet as far as creating it in a high-strength dose," Munro said. Some municipal utilities in the U.S. do already produce their own sodium hypochlorite, but Munro said those are "low power" systems that more or less have to run constantly to meet the plant's demand. "They are running 24/7, 365 (days a year)," he said. "Whereas this system created at high strength really opens up many opportunities." The system TechWin is bringing to Avon Lake will be much more powerful and efficient in the production process, allowing it to run less frequently and produce more. The partnership was facilitated by the Cleveland Water Alliance after it learned that Avon Lake was switching over to sodium hypochlorite. According to Munro, TechWin will give the system to the utility, with Regional Water only needing to pay for some related equipment to make the system work. The production of the system is a $6 million investment for the company, but when it arrives the water department will take ownership, Munro said. The exchange will be that the system will serve as a test case for TechWin, providing crucial data on how the system works in American water treatment facilities and using Avon Lake as a "demonstration site" for its technology in the U.S. Munro said TechWin will build the entire system inside a shipping container in South Korea and send it overseas via freighter to the port of Cleveland. The hope is that the system is delivered to Avon Lake by November and Munro said the plan is to have it up and running in the first quarter of 2025. "We look at this system of being able to generate sodium hypochlorite on-site as a very self-sustaining maneuver," Munro said. "We just have to have salt, electricity and water. So if there's supply chain issues like everyone experienced during the pandemic, we are a little more self-sufficient." If the system does work as hoped, it is easily scalable and could be grown to cover all the disinfectant needs of Avon Lake Regional Water or even beyond. "We could scale this system so that we could really diversify our revenue and offer this product, just like we sell bulk water outside of Avon Lake, we could look to sell this sodium hypochlorite to maybe other water utilities, or community pools," Munto said. "And that's really just the tip of the iceberg because this really has the potential if the system performs as we hope it does, that this could really go down the path of selling to large industrial sites like Ford or Lubrizol… It's really a great opportunity." The utility will bring in an outside supply of the disinfectant until its system is up and running and will continue to supplement its in-house production for the foreseeable future. Beyond all the potential benefits directly to the utility and its more than 250,000 users across northern Ohio, Munro said that if the program proved successful, TechWin could be eyeing Ohio as a home for the production of more systems inside the U.S. "What we're really hoping is that it's going to be more than just us benefiting from this," "We are really looking at this as the region that's going to benefit because if this does perform as we hope it does and TechWin would like to start manufacturing them in the U.S., they would like Ohio to be the location for that." Along with TechWin and the Cleveland Water Alliance, Munro thanked the members of the Avon Lake Board of Municipal Utilities, who are elected by the public, for their willingness to explore new possibilities. "If (the board) didn't support this, then we wouldn't be having this conversation," Munro said. "A lot of the credit goes to them for having the progressive mindset that they do… and not being scared to try innovative and new things. "If it doesn't work out if the system doesn't meet our needs, then so be it. But the other side of that coin is, if it does work out we're gonna be in a position for not just our utility but our region to really see some economic development." In early March, Avon Lake Regional Water received two 30-year loans totaling about $32.4 million from the Ohio Water Development Authority for upgrades at the plant. These upgrades included replacing the plant's old chlorine-based filtration system with a new one that uses sodium hypochlorite. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.