Bromine
|
Chlorine
|
Effective Disinfectant Form
|
| Hypobromous Acid (HOBr) and Bromamines |
Hypochlorous Acid |
Reaction with Ammonia
|
| Reacts to form Bromamines |
Reacts to form Chloramines |
| Major species present are NHBr2
and NBr3 |
Major compound present is NH2Cl |
| Does not affect disinfection |
Reduces disinfection ability |
Bromamines or Chloramines as Bactericides
|
| Bromamines are excellent bactericides and
exhibit activity similar to HOBr. |
Chloramines are poor bactericides and
have only 5% of activity of HOCl. |
Bromamines or Chloramines as Viricides
|
| Bromamines are excellent and exhibit
activity similar to HOBr. |
Chloramines are not effective viricides. |
Ammonia removal
|
| Bromine is an effective disinfectant in
the presence of NH3. Low levels of NH3 are
therefore acceptable. |
Must super-chlorinate to reduce ammonia
level. It is necessary to improve Chlorine effectiveness as a
disinfectant by eliminating Chloramines. |
Disinfection pH dependence
|
| Bromine has no significant pH dependence
in the range 7-8 pH. |
Chlorine is strongly pH dependent and has
only 22% effectiveness of its active form of HOCl at pH 8.0. |
Eye Irritation
|
| Bromine produces a significant reduction
in eye irritation. |
Chlorine disinfection can produce eye
irritation from the formation of Chloramines. |
Halogen Odours
|
| Bromine has noticeably less halogen odour
than pools comparably treated with Chlorine. |
Most "Chlorine" odours result
from chloramines which arise from heavy bather load or improper
maintenance. |
