Sodium Chlorite/Chlorine Dioxide
Jonathon T. Busch
Disinfecting Municipal Drinking Water
Chlorine dioxide is a wide spectrum oxidizing biocide. The primary use of chlorine dioxide is as a disinfectant to treat municipal drinking water. It is also used for a variety of other antimicrobial uses, including: waste-water disinfection, sanitation of hard surfaces, as a disinfectant in rinses for fruits and vegetables, disinfection of cooling towers, Legionella control, mollusk control, and as a biocidal agent in oil well and fracking water.
One major non-antimicrobial use of chlorine dioxide is as a bleaching agent in pulp and paper production.
Sodium Chlorite/Chlorine Dioxide Facts
- ClO2 is a disinfectant compound capable of destroying a wide variety of disease-causing bacteria, viruses, fungi, molds and algae (known as pathogens).
- Chlorine dioxide does not occur naturally in the environment. It is a manufactured gas, and typically is produced onsite at a facility from one of its precursors, sodium chlorite or sodium chlorate.
- It dissolves easily in water, and does not affect the taste of water when used as a drinking water disinfectant.
Learn more at ChemicalSafetyFacts.org.