Correction of cyanobacteria using the ion network method Cyanobacteria are becoming a very familiar term worldwide, both in terms of their contribution to public health and, in particular, as a dangerous factor negatively affecting the biorhythm of natural and artificial water reservoirs, rivers and sea bays. In many cyanobacteria we encounter high toxicity which may endanger the lives of domestic animals, negatively affects the eyesight and liver and people bathing in water reservoirs contaminated by cyanobacteria often develop skin eczema. They are becoming a global issue of drinking water supply for towns and urban areas where water treatment plants are often no longer able to successfully eliminate their toxic colonies. However, cyanobacteria are not such an unknown concept for humankind, they have existed in nature for billions of years. But their big contemporary expansion has arisen due to negative human interventions into nature where a poorly regulated management system of industrial and domestic waste products and an economically targeted transition from natural to industrial fertilizers in agriculture have been resulting in water pollution in nature. Phosphates, nitrates and other substances from industries, households and wash-off from agricultural land received by watercourses act as a culture medium for the expansion of very viable and progressive colonies of cyanobacteria. As shown by recent years‘ researches, higher water temperature is not that limiting for their formation, if there is enough nutrients for them in the aquatic environment, they are able to reproduce even at temperatures around 10° centigrade. Although the research into new technologies of cyanobacterial blooms removal has been given due attention and financial resources, the results obtained are not appropriate to their contemporary expansion. Existing technologies imply a various degree of negatives which prevent their further spread. The most commonly encountered interventions today therefore involve the application of PAX, aluminium sulphate, ferric sulphate, blue vitriol and the suchlike; chemical substances which are usually effective in the short term, but questionable in the long term, to say the least, contaminating the bottom sediment after being applied, thereby turning it into a toxic sediment. Other popular methods include mud removal and aeration, in addition to being very expensive, the effectiveness of these procedures is disputable and the intervention in the ecosystem in mud removal is explicitly far-reaching. Thus we may conclude that these methods are characterized by a lack of efficiency, too high a price and last but not least, they breed additional environmental burden the significance of which in the long term is difficult to estimate and may prove to be even more considerable than the existing issue with cyanobacteria. The ion network technology The ion network method is a patent-protected technology. It is a physically optimized way of application, specifically-aimed at cyanobacteria and having negligible negative effects on other organisms. The ion network consists in dynamic application of multifactorial and polyfactorial electrolytic (MPE) solution into the water column. The MPE solution is comprised of a set of substances being added into the water column externally using electrochemical methods and electrolysis of substances already present in the water column. The MPE solution includes electrically activated colloidal and nanoparticles that trigger a physicochemical process producing a synergistic effect of negative reactions to the biological activity of cyanobacterial colonies with undetectable impact on the biological activity of other organisms. The MPE solution is a set of ionized coloidized substances that fundamentally affect the life cycle of cyanobacteria. The set of substances is incorporated into the aquatic environment with a powerful ejector jet, creating a blanket ion network. In addition to its high efficiency, the possibility of a preventive intervention and the long-term effect, the technology minimizes the use of extraneous substances. We are talking decagrams of components brought in per 1 ha of water surface against tons of chemical substances in the existing chemical procedures. Coagulation Core technology of the ion network is a physicochemical process of electrocoagulation which involves influencing the surface tension of animate and inanimate particles, resulting in their coagulation and creation of flakes (flocculation). Coagulation in aquatic environment may be achieved by substances known as coagulants, especially metal irons such as aluminium and iron. Experiments with electrolytically produced coagulants have shown a much higher efficiency of cleaning of algae and cyanobacteria compared to PAX and other chemical substances. With this higher efficacy of the ion network, the amount of agent required to clean the water column is by several orders lower, which is associated with lower impact on the ecosystem and costs. The cells keep the altered surface tension for some time after they have been affected and thereby continue affecting the water column.
Today the electrocoagulation method is a known way of water purification; however, little is known as regards its actual effect on living cells and their reaction. Living cells of algae and cyanobacteria are surrounded by a repulsive field on the basis of an electric potential – the so-called Zeta potential. It is important for them to be well spread in the water column in order to be able to maximize the use of light and nutrients. When strained by solarization, cyanobacteria may coagulate spontaneously to protect their photosynthetic apparatus from damage. Quantities such as the Zeta-potential, which would enable „measuring“ the influence effectiveness, cannot be evaluated well enough yet in natural samples which are too variable in comparison with the laboratory ones and therefore remain a mere theory. The effect of the ion network technology on the cells of cyanobacteria has been tested in cooperation with the State Scientific Institution ASCR – Institute of Microbiology. The tests confirmed that cyanobacteria are sedimenting and consequently dying without being destroyed – spilt. The ion network technology represents a new direction in the field of correction technology. Due to the synergistic effect, created by the interconnection of physical, electrochemical and hydrodynamic effects, the effect of the ion network is markedly efficient and environmental friendly. This technology is being continually developed and poses a significant development potential. Contact persons: Josef Kovář e-mail.: josef.kovar@silfor.cz Radomír Bardas e-mail.: r.bardas@seznam.cz |