Our_Advanced_Technology

The Tristel Chlorine Dioxide Chemistry

All cleaning and disinfection products use chemicals to do
their job. The chemicals in the products that react with dirt,
grime, and microorganisms (or germs) are called the 'active'
ingredient. Tristel refer to their active ingredients as their
'chemistry'.

On this page, we would like to explain the history behind
Tristel's unique chemistry, how it works, and what it is
capable of. This is covered in the following sections:

1. Chlorine dioxide - a history of safety
2. Chlorine dioxide - how it works
3. Chlorine dioxide is not chlorine
4. The biocidal performance of chlorine dioxide

1. Chlorine dioxide - a history of safety

Chlorine dioxide is a well understood and widely researched
chemistry that is used in many applications worldwide. First
used in Sweden in 1943 in the pulp and paper industry, it
established itself as the preference to chlorine as a
bleaching agent. This is also why it should be used on hard
surfaces only, as it may discolour soft furnishings and
clothing for example.

In the food industry, chlorine dioxide is used in fruit and
vegetable washing, meat and poultry disinfection and for
sanitising food process equipment. Chlorine dioxide is
also frequently used in personal hygiene with applications from mouth washes and toothpastes to contact lens cleaners.

Tristel is the only organisation worldwide using the chemistry
at the concentrations required to decontaminate, and disinfect equipment, medical instruments, dental equipment, and critical surface areas in hospitals and laboratories.

Our chlorine dioxide chemistry is unique. We use the same
basic chemical reaction as others (the acidification of sodium chlorite), but our activation process is different, and
patented. A synergistic blend of organic acids combines to generate chlorine dioxide at close to neutral ph. No hydrochloric acid, no chloride ion, no aggressive pH.

Basically, that means that it is very safe to use, yet still
powerful enough to destroy all types of bacterial spores,
bacteria, fungi, mycobacteria, and viruses on surfaces. This
is why hospitals love using Tristel products.

The symbol for chlorine dioxide is ClO2.

2. Chlorine dioxide - how it works

All systems in nature continually move to a position of
equilibrium or balance. Chlorine dioxide is a powerful
oxidising agent - an electron receiver. This means that the
chlorine dioxide molecule is in constant search for an
additional electron. When a bacterial cell comes into contact
with chlorine dioxide, it donates an electron from its cell wall.
This creates a breach in the cell wall through which the cell
contents pass in an attempt to bring the concentrations on
either side of the cell membrane to equilibrium. This causes the cell to die through a process called lysis.

You may have read about harmful microorganisms
becoming resistant to cleaning and disinfection products. If
chlorine dioxide is used, resistance cannot be built up
against it. This is because rather than poisoning the
microorganisms like other disinfectants, our chemistry
destroys the integrity of the cell walls of these nasty bugs so that they cannot survive.

The effectiveness of disinfectants against harmful
microorganisms is called its 'biocidal performance'. Chlorine dioxide is a highly effective biocide, but because the chemical structure at the surface of mammalian cells differs from that of microorganisms, it is non-toxic to human cells.

So this means that our chemistry is deadly to the
microorganisms that we want to destroy but at the same
time it is totally safe for humans and animals to come into
contact with.

3. Chlorine dioxide is not chlorine

While chlorine dioxide has chlorine in its name, their
chemical properties are radically different from each other.
Chlorine dioxide has slightly more than 2.5 times the
oxidizing capacity of chlorine which means it is far more
effective as a disinfectant. Chlorine dioxide works at much
lower parts per million (ppm) concentrations achieving
greater microbiological results.

This means that if an infection control nurse in a hospital
were to disinfect a critical surface, they would need a
sporicidal disinfectant solution. A great many very
unpleasant chlorine tablets would need to be dissolved in a
bucket of water to create a solution powerful enough. In five
litres of water, 50 tablets would need to be diluted! Try
counting that out while breathing in the horrible fumes.

Alternatively, one sachet of Tristel Deeper Clean could be
activated and diluted into a five litre bucket of water. This
would be easy, only take a couple of minutes to do, and the
unpleasant fumes would also not be an issue.

In addition, this high concentration of chlorine required will damage the hard surfaces that it is being used to clean. The chlorine dioxide solution will not.

The health and safety profile of chlorine dioxide based
products is substantially better than chlorine based
products. Chlorine dioxide is friendlier also friendlier to the
environment because it does not form toxic trihalomethanes (THMs) or other chlorinated compounds that are harmful to the environment. These THMs are associated with chlorine, sodium hypochlorite and hypochlorous acid.

4. The biocidal performance of chlorine dioxide

Chlorine dioxide is the active ingredient in Tristel
disinfectants. Multiple publications in peer reviewed journals
like the 'Journal of Hospital Infection' and the 'Journal of
Applied Microbiology' confirm the biocidal activity of
chlorine dioxide. Extensive independent testing has also
confirmed our rapid sporicidal products can do exactly what
we say they can do.

In order to achieve efficacy of the list below, 10 tablets of
chlorine (equating to 10,000ppm NaDCC) would need to be
diluted into one litre of water. One Deeper Clean Sachet,
one squirt of Deeper Clean Gel and one squirt of Protect
Foam will have the same affect against the following
organisms:-

Spores:
• Bacillus cereus
• Bacillus subtilis
• Bacillus subtilis var niger
• Clostridium difficile bacterial spores

Fungi:
• Aspergillus niger
• Candida albicans

Bacteria:
• Acinetobacter baumannii
• Clostridium difficile
• Enterococcus faecium (vancomycin resistant)
• Enterococcus hirae
• Escherichia coli
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa (gentamicin resistant)
• Staphylococcus aureus
• Staphylococcus aureus (methicillin resistant)

Mycobacteria:
• Mycobacterium avium- intracellulare
• Mycobacterium chelonae
• Mycobacterium fortuitum
• Mycobacterium terrae
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis Poli-R

Viruses:
• Canine Parvovirus
• Coxsackivirus B3
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Hepatitis C
• Herpes simplex virus Type 1
• HIV Type 1
• Human Norovirus
• Influenza virus Type A2
• Poliovirus Type 1
• Poliovirus Type 2
• SARS