Bromine as a Water Disinfectant

There are several domestic water filters which use bromine for disinfection.

However, I've learned that bromine is not so common in drinking water applications.

Is Br more effective than Cl? Are there any health effects with prolong consumption of Br?

Taxonomy

• Drinking Water Security
• Heath & Safety
• Treatment Methods
• Chemical Treatment
• Drinking Water Treatment
• Disinfection

7 Answers

1. Cl is more accessible and readily available than Br, hence its common. Thats the advantage of using Cl.

2. Chlorine dioxide is a generally good disinfectant that does not produce much chlorinated DBPs but it does produce oxidized DBPs. It is also required to be produced on site, and it does not leave a good residual in distribution, and produces chlorate and chlorite DBPs. It is also not very good at detoxifying algal toxins.

3. A far more simple and safe disinfectant is Chlorine Dioxide, and there will be no DBP's that can develop, check TwinOxide.us. TwinOxide will be active between pH 4 to 11, it is by far the most effective product agains all waterborne pathogens.

4. Bromine is a good biocide especially at high pH but not accepted by WHO for drinking water. Chlorine is very good disinfectant but looses efficiency above 8 pH. UV is used in many domestic water fiters or ozone. Chlorine dioxide can be good alternative for larger systems

   1 Comment

   1. Chlorine dioxide is not stable and is rapidly decomposed by light. It also produces harmful byproducts, chlorate and chlorite. The UK limit is 0.5ppm for the sum total of chlorine dioxide, chlorite and chlorate but this limit is often exceeded as there is no simple test to evaluate the level. It is no use sending samples to a sophisticated laboratory as by the time the sample got there, it would no longer be representative

5. Bruce is correct relative to public water systems. There are however, POU devices (such as by Halosource) that are designed so that virtually no brominated byproducts are produced.  The bromine is selectively transferred to the microbe and does not go generally into solution. Bromine is an excellent disinfectant, especially in the  presence of ammonia and amines. I think its ideal application is in wastewater disinfection and for poor quality drinking water using the appropriate device.

   1 Comment

   1. I agree with Joe.  Any device that can capture the Br residual before someone drinks it and after it has disinfected the water is acceptable for drinking water applications.  

6. Bromine is a good disinfectant but can be very difficult to handle. Its use attached to resins for point of use devices is well established and effective if the instructions are followed. Combined with a filtration system and with an appropriate CT it certainly works, although some of the same constraints as chlorine apply. However, much much less is known about the disinfection by-products associated with its use as a disinfectant. WHO has recently reviewed bromine and when the second addendum to the fourth edition is published at the end of the year it will be covered.

7. The EPA allows iodine for emergency disinfection but bromine is not listed as an acceptable disinfectant for drinking water.  Bromine is more commonly used to disinfect pools, spas and other water features.  Bromine has an odor and taste which is why it may not be acceptable or widely practiced in drinking water.  WHO guidelines for emergency disinfection only suggests chlorine.  I hope this helps.