It is a well-known fact that animals living within water enclosures are regularly bombarded with disinfecting agents, to ward off contaminations and diseases. “On a visit to the zoo, I noticed that the sea lions were suffering from cataract,” says Owen.
He asked the zookeeper for an explanation, who “was sure that it is the chlorine they use to keep the water clean that causes the problem. I found this unacceptable. The sea lions were suffering. We knew why. And yet there was no alternative available to keep the enclosure clean,” Owen remembers.
Fuelled by this frustration, Owen embarked on seeking an alternative. The aim was to find a non-chlorine and non-ozone based water sanitisation solution while being at least equally effective, safe to animals, humans and the environment, with none of the adverse effects of chlorine or ozone.
Owen’s research branched in several directions. “One of them was focusing on understanding the impact of electrical charge, frequency and light on living organisms,” he explains. Through this research, Owen came across the scientific principles of electro-chemically activated solutions (ECAS).
Through the application of electrical current to saline water, it becomes electrochemically activated. It is in a metastable state. Characterised by exceptional antimicrobial activity – based on the interaction of the oxidative ions, the high redox potential (> 1,100 mV) and the low pH – ECAS are superior to common chemical disinfectants.
“Advanced ECAS are effective against a wide range of pathogens upon contact – removing viruses, bacteria, germs, fungi and their spores. It is an environmentally friendly, fast-acting disinfectant solution with no petrochemical ingredients,” says Owen.
In Russia, ECAS were used for the treatment of drinking water in their national space programme and hospitals for disinfecting purposes since the 1970s. In the 1980s, ECAS became popular in Japan as well, used to sterilise medical instruments, followed by applications in the cultivation of plants and livestock farming.
#Explained 1|4 with Prof. @Reynolds_UWE, @UWEBristol
Interested in the #Science behind #ECAS | #ESOL? Let’s look at the historic development and use of Electro-Chemically Activated Solutions (ECAS) first. https://t.co/sKpbBAR9j0
— Global Ecology Group (@gegecology) June 30, 2020
After some time has passed, the so-called relaxation time, ECAS reacts back into its original state. Thus, only water and salts remain. “The ECAS principle seemed feasible for the problem of the sea lions in the zoo, and I founded Pure Water Science and developed a ‘free radical’ generation chamber for commercial applications in the United Kingdom,” says Owen.
Since then, Owen has been fully committed to researching and developing a wide range of eco-technologies – alternative environmentally friendly solutions for water, soil, air and waste remediation. Owen’s know-how has been instrumental in meeting real-world disasters with ethically responsible countermeasures.
Up to now, Owen promotes and furthers the use of affordable and versatile ECAS. Amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, he developed and advanced an ECAS fogging system, keeping surfaces in our homes, offices, hospitals, stores and vehicles safe at all times, with no adverse effects on humans or the environment.
Meanwhile, the ECAS technology has also evolved. With new high-performance materials for electrolysis systems, the industrial application of ECAS has become more established as an eco-friendly and user-friendly technology in many different fields all over the world.
And the sea lions? They can attest to the positive effects of ECAS: systems installed in water parks and zoological centres prove to be highly effective at replacing chlorine dose systems in zoological water enclosures and significantly reducing the occurrence of cataracts in sea lions and penguins.
→ To maintain best practice animal husbandry and staff and visitor hygiene, Zoos Victoria rely on a range of chemicals for cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting. For better environmental outcomes, Zoos Victoria plans to reduce their dependence on chemicals by using electrolysed water [page 43].
Electrochemically activated solutions (ECAS), or simply electrolysed water, manufactured by the Global Ecology Group (GEG), is a unique disinfectant with the germ-killing properties of chlorine but is non-toxic, and safe to humans, animals and the environment. ECAS contain hypochlorous acid – known more widely as HOCl. It is 100 times more effective as a disinfectant than bleach, killing germs and viruses instantly.
→ A unique non-toxic disinfectant with rapid germ-killing properties.
ECAS exterminates 99.95 percent of germs that it comes into contact with – it causes bacteria to literally burst by breaking their cell membrane apart. ECAS is also characterised by a rapid killing time demonstrated on Escherichia coli (E. col), SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Norovirus, Avian influenza virus (AI), Swine influenza virus (SIV), human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV), Poliovirus, Legionella bacteria, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA) and Clostridioides difficile bacteria (C. diff).
→ It exterminates 99.9% of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa.
In addition to the drinking water industry, ECAS and ECAS generators are commercially available in various other industrial sectors, delivered through either spraying or static and mobile decontamination fogging systems. The ECAS fogging systems are ideal to sanitise buildings and vehicles, while sprays are great for sanitising surfaces and hands. ECAS has been widely and safely used in the food industry.
→ Delivered through static and mobile fogging systems, or through spraying.
ECAS – made from salt (NaCl), water (H2O) and electricity – works by oxidising pathogens and is non-toxic, rapidly degradable and has a broad-spectrum of antimicrobial activity. ECAS is produced via the electrolysis of a low mineral salt solution in an electrochemical cell. This results in a split: a positively-charged solution and a negatively-charged one. The negative solution contains a mix of relatively short-lived reactive oxidants that kill pathogens. After use, ECAS ultimately reverts to salt and water.
→ ECAS is made from salt (NaCl), water (H2O) and electricity.
Numerous studies have demonstrated the virucidal activity of electrolysed water against a broad range of targets. The broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity of electrolysed water enables high-level disinfection as defined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and their favourable biocompatibility means that electrolysed water is ideally suited as both an environmental decontaminant and in the control or treatment of skin surface or mucous membrane infections. It is expected that surface disinfection with ECAS to significantly reduces coronavirus infectivity on surfaces within one minute exposure time and a similar effect against the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2).
→ Some examples of scientific evidence:
→ GEG ECAS Overview