CA2353499A1

CA2353499A1 - Method for activating water and use of activated water of this type

Info

Publication number: CA2353499A1
Application number: CA002353499A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Michael Kohl; Franz Brucker; Volker Lieske
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung eV
Priority date: 1998-12-03
Filing date: 1999-12-03
Publication date: 2000-06-08
Also published as: EP1144313A1; JP2002531249A; NO20012667D0; WO2000032520A1; DE19855881A1; IL143413A0; WO2000032520A9; NO20012667L; BR9915885A

Abstract

According to the invention, activated water is produced by producing singlet oxygen in a gaseous medium containing oxygen or in the water itself and bringing the singlet-oxygen into contact with the water. Water which has been activated in this way can be advantageously used in the fields of medicine, chemical process engineering, food technology, agriculture, printing, paint technology and/or cleaning technology.

Description

Method for activatioa of water aad usage of water activated is such a maaaer The present invention relates to a method for activation of water and also usage of activated water. Activated water and a method for the production thereof are required in the spheres of medicine, chemical process engineering, food chemistry, agriculture, printing and in further spheres of technology.
The object of the present invention is thereby to indicate a method for activation of water and to make available usages of water activated in such a manner.
This object is achieved by the method according to claim 1 and also the usages according to claim 19. Advantageous developments of the method according to the invention and the usages according to the invention are given in the dependent claims.
According to the method according to the invention water is activated by producing singlet oxygen and bringing this into contact with the water.
Oxygen occurs in its basic state as a triplet molecule 02 and can be converted into the excited singlet state by supplying energy. This excited singlet oxygen is particularly reactive and is itself already used in medicine and chemical process engineering. Relative to this excited singlet oxygen, water molecules for their part act as quenchers so that the excitation energy of the singlet oxygen passes non-radiatively into the water. Activated water is produced.
This activation is revealed in a change in the structure of the water, which structure is formed by hydrogen bonds.
The production of activated water can thereby be effected such that singlet oxygen is produced either in a gaseous, oxygen-containing medium and this now singlet oxygen-containing medium is introduced into the water or by the singlet oxygen being produced directly in the water. For this purpose oxygen must be dissolved in the water or oxygen must be introduced.

Water can be activated in a particularly effective manner if a gaseous oxygen-containing medium, for example air, which already contains singlet oxygen is mixed with the water to be activated by an atomiser. On the other hand, normal untreated air can also be mixed with the water to be activated and be atomised and the thus produced aerosol can be brought into contact with an illuminated photosensitiser in order to produce singlet oxygen.
The production of singlet oxygen is effected in the above described methods by means of a photosensitiser which is introduced into the gaseous, oxygen-containing medium, into the water or into the water-air mixture and irradiated with light. There is thereby meant by the term "light" an electromagnetic radiation from the ultraviolet range to the infrared range.
The photosensitiser can be attached to a formed piece. It is advantageous if the formed piece and the photosensitiser are water-insoluble materials so that the singlet oxygen can be produced within the water directly in contact with the water to be activated.
It is favourable for a high production rate of singlet oxygen if the formed piece contains a polymer matrix and is for example porous or has a rough surface since in this way the contact surface between the formed piece and the dissolved oxygen or the surrounding water is enlarged. For improved introduction of the exciting light, the matrix of the formed piece can be transparent. For example, the formed piece can be made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Water-insoluble porphyrins, phthalocyanines, chlorins, tetraphenylporphyrins, benzoporphyrin derivatives, purpurins, pheophorbides, and the metal complexes thereof, especially copper (II) phthalocyanine, rose bengal or 5-amino-levulinic acid are suitable as photosensitiser.
The irradiation of the formed piece can be effected by an artificial light source or also directly by means of daylight, i.e. the sun. The formed piece can thereby contain the light source as an integral element.

By using a polymer or polymerised monomer matrix, photosensitisers can also be used which are not able to be coated on the surface of the formed piece but - instead are attached by the polymer matrix.
The activated water can now be used surprisingly in medicine, chemical process engineering, food technology, agriculture, printing, painting technology and also in cleaning technology.
On the one hand the activated water is suitable as a wetting agent as it improves the wetting properties of surfaces. Consequently it is suitable as a supplement or as a solvent itself for coating materials, such as for example printing inks, paints, varnish in printing and painting technology.
The advantageous wetting properties can also be used for improved wetting of plants with sprays in agriculture or also for improved contact of cleaning agents with the objects to be cleaned, activated water being used as a supplement to or as a solvent of sprays, pouring water or also cleaning liquids.
Furthermore an improvement was shown in the living and growth conditions of fish and of other aquatic organisms by means of improving the water quality when using activated water. This was established for example in coloured perch (scalar and discus fish). Plant growth is also improved by watering with activated water.
Further advantageous application areas of activated water are in wetting, watering, air humidification, in water sterilisation, in therapy of illnesses and also in increasing the health and/or the wellbeing of humans, animals and also plants. Thus illnesses which are for example virally or bacterially induced and also fungal attacks can be treated and cured with activated water. Activated water is particularly suitable for the treatment of infections with herpes simplex or the fungal yeast candida albicans.

' Activated water can be used as a therapeutic measure and to increase the wellbeing and the constitution of living beings. By means of for example air humidification with activated water in the case of therapeutic treatment of a - patient, for example by means of chemotherapy, the wellbeing and the constitution of the patient is improved.
A few application examples of activated water are described subsequently.
There are shown:
Fig. 1 infrared spectra of varying length of activated water;
Fig. 2 the lengths of beans which were watered with normal or activated water;
Fig. 3 bean plants with varying waterings;
Fig. 4 the weight of seedlings of different plant sorts which have been watered with normal or activated water;
Fig. 5 the course of a method for degradation of toxic substances;
Fig.6 the toxic substance concentration after a degradation method according to Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 the bacterial growth in normal and activated water.
Fig. 1 shows the infrared spectra of water after half an hour, one and a half or two and a half hours activation according to the method according to the invention.
The activation of water is shown clearly in a change of the structure of the water formed by hydrogen bonds, which is represented in a characteristic displacement of the vibration bands as in Fig. 1. It can be detected immediately that the peak position is displaced with increasing activation from approximately 1.91 ~,m via 1.92 ~.m up to 1.94 ~,m. Furthermore, further shoulders and side bands appear for example at approximately 1.99 ~,m or 2.045 ~.m by means of activation.
Example 1 A patient was treated in whom a herpes simplex infection by the virus HSV 1 was detected. This attack led to a completely white area of attack, the size of one's palm, on the right abdomen surface, with blisters filled with liquid.
The patient complained of pain. The cause of the infection was unknown. It had already lasted for over seven years, various conventional traditional therapies having remained unsuccessful.
A first therapy was carned out with 0.25 1 of activated water to drink daily and also daily washing of the infected place with activated water. After three days, a clear reddening of the afflicted place was shown, formation of blisters no longer being able to be detected. The patient was free of pain. After four weeks a complete normal skin appearance occurred and the patient has remained to date completely complaint-free.
Example 2 A thrush fungal infection of the skin on the head caused by candida albicans was detected in one patient. There was shown an itchy reddened rash with white flaky places. An infection by skin-body contact during sport was suspected to be the cause as the patient is an active wrestler. Infections of this type occur frequently, for example due to inadequate disinfection of floor mats, as is known in the sphere of martial arts. The infection had already lasted six months, various conventional therapies remained without success.
There occurred a first therapy with 0.25 1 of activated water for drinking daily and also daily washing of the infected place with activated water: After just three days a clear decrease in the redness of the skin and drying of the - pustules was shown. The tingling sensation disappeared. After seven days the skin on the head was completely normal.
- The patient was reinfected twice after this therapy, the therapy here with activated water also leading respectively within one week to a complete healing of the infections.
Example 3 In a further example, beans were watered with normal and with activated water. In otherwise identical growth conditions and with an identical period of growth it can be detected in Fig. 2 that the beans which were watered with activated water have a greater tip length and also the average plant size is increased after the same period of growth. Two plants watered with normal water (plant 7 and plant 8) died in the course of the experiment but in the case of plants watered with activated water there were no losses.
Example 4 Fig. 3 shows the results of a series of tests with bean plants. The first and third bean plant in the row from the left were watered in a conventional manner while the second and the fourth bean plant in the row from the left were watered with activated water. It is shown clearly that the plant growth of the second and fourth plant is significantly greater than that of the first and third plant. As a result a great improvement was produced in plant growth of bean plants by means of watering with activated water.
Example 5 300 ml of drinking water were brought into contact with a formed piece. The formed piece was coated with copper phthalocyanine and provided with an integral light source. For five minutes air was then made to flow around the formed piece and it was irradiated.

In microscopic examination of the drinking water treated thus live bacteria were no longer found but merely a large number of destroyed bacteria.
Example 6 In a further example, the growth behaviour of various plant seedlings was determined over the growth period as an increase in weight. Plant seedlings were thereby compared which were either watered with normal water or with activated water. From the results in Fig. 4, it can be immediately detected that the radish seedlings or the mung bean seedlings, when watered with activated water, have a distinctly increased growth in comparison to the corresponding seedlings which were only watered with normal water.
Example 7 In a further example, two otherwise identical water basins were mixed with organic impurities (urea) and bacterial strains (nitrosomonas, nitrobacter).
These bacterial strains are commonly used for the biological degradation of toxic substances. In the one basin, the water was not treated further while in the other basin the water was activated in situ. The degradation of the toxic substances is thereby effected according to the method illustrated in Fig. 5 (nitrification). First of all decomposition products are thereby produced, by decomposing inter alia proteins via peptides into amino acids. In further degradation stages, ammonium, nitrite and nitrate are produced. Bacteria are thereby involved in all of the degradation steps. The number and the productivity of these bacteria determines essentially the rate of the degradation processes and thus has a great effect on the quantity of nutrient made available per unit of time for use by the plants.
In Fig. 6 the degradation of urea into a nitrate which is available for plants is illustrated according to the diagram according to Fig. S.
The initial high increase in ammonium in the basin with water activation can be clearly detected. This is verified by the higher productivity of the bacteria in the activated water which are responsible for the conversion of urea into ammonium.
After a short while, the nitrate content then also increases in this basin to a clearly higher level than in the reference basin with non-activated water in which very soon stagnation of the nitrate content occurs.
The activity of the bacteria which convert ammonium into nitrate then increases in the basin with activated water to such an extent that the ammonium production cannot keep up. As a result, the ammonium concentration sinks again in the basin with activated water.
Example 8 In order to directly demonstrate the accelerated bacterial growth in the activated water, the integral diffuse dispersion of light on the bacteria was measured in a further example. The results of the corresponding transmission measurements are illustrated in Fig. 7. It can be observed here that the transmission values are in direct ratio to the bacterial concentration. The reference values which were obtained in a bacterial culture with non-activated water are constantly smaller than the transmission values of the culture in which activated water is used. These measured values indicate a clearly higher bacterial count in the basin with water activation.
Consequently the total result is that, by using activated water, the density of bacteria can be increased significantly. A disinfectant effect of activated water, in which the bacterial density should be smaller relative to the usage of normal water could not be observed in the singlet oxygen production for activation of water according to the method according to the invention.

Claims

1. Usage of water which has been activated by producing singlet oxygen and by bringing it into contact with the water for the purpose of wetting, watering, increasing the growth, the health and wellbeing of living organisms.

2. Usage according to claim 1 for increasing the growth of animals, humans and/or plants.

3. Usage according to claim 1 in medicine, chemical process engineering, food technology, agriculture, printing, painting technology and/or cleaning technology .

4. Usage of activated water according to the preceding claim as a supplement to or in aqueously dissolved coating materials such as printing inks, paints, varnishes or the like.

5. Usage of activated water according to one of the two preceding claims as a supplement to, in or as aqueous cleaning liquid or wetting agents.

6. Usage of activated water according to claim 1 or 2 as a supplement to, in or as pouring water or as sprays.

7. Usage according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that singlet oxygen was produced in a gaseous, oxygen-containing medium and the gaseous, oxygen-containing medium was introduced into the water.

8. Usage according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the singlet oxygen, possibly in a gaseous, oxygen-containing medium, was produced and a mixture of the singlet oxygen or the gaseous, oxygen-containing medium and of the water to be activated was produced, possibly by means of an atomiser.

9. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that oxygen was dissolved in the water or was present already dissolved and the oxygen was converted into singlet oxygen.

10. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a mixture of droplets of the water to be activated and of a gaseous, oxygen-containing medium was produced, possibly by means of an atomiser, and this mixture was brought into contact with an illuminated photosensitiser.

11. Method according to claim 9 or 10, characterised in that, in order to produce the singlet oxygen, a photosensitiser was introduced into the gaseous, oxygen-containing medium or the mixture of water to be activated and gaseous, oxygen-containing medium and was irradiated with light.

12. Method according to one of the claims 9 to 10, characterised in that a formed piece which contains a water-insoluble photosensitiser was introduced into the water or into the mixture of water and of the gaseous, oxygen-containing medium and was irradiated with light.

13. Method according to the preceding claim, characterised in that the formed piece contains a polymer matrix.

14. Method according to claim 13, characterised in that the matrix is transparent.

15. Method according to at least one of the claims 12 to 14, characterised in that the formed piece is porous and/or has a rough surface.

16. Method according to at least one of the claims 12 to 15, characterised in that the formed piece contains a polymer or a monomer.

17. Method according to the preceding claim, characterised in that the formed piece contains PTFE.

18. Method according to the preceding claim, characterised in that the formed piece contains the light source.

19. Method according to at least one of the claims 12 to 17, characterised in that the formed piece was subject to a flow by an oxygen-containing gas during irradiation.

20. Method according to at least one of the claims 12 to 19, characterised in that the photosensitiser is located on the surface of the formed piece.

21. Method according to at least one of the claims 10 to 20, characterised in that the photosensitiser is selected from water-insoluble porphyrins, phthalocyanines, chlorins, tetraphenylporphyrins, benzoporphyrin derivatives, purpurins, pheophorbides and the metal complexes thereof.

22. Method according to at least one of the claims 10 to 21, characterised in that the photosensitiser is copper (II) phthalocyanine, rose bengal or 5-amino-levulinic acid.

23. Method according to at least one of the claims 10 to 22, characterised in that irradiation was effected by the sun and/or by an artificial light source.