FAQ

IMCHLO Stab-15 is a non-biocidal, halogen-stabilizing solution designed to optimize the performance of active chlorine sources, such as hypochlorite, in industrial process water systems with high chlorine demands. It significantly improves the biocidal effect while reducing costs and environmental impact.

IMCHLO Stab-15 is standardly packed in IBC containers with a net weight of 980 kg.
Other packaging options are available upon request.

Yes, we can relabel IMCHLO Stab-15 with the tag of your choice or your brand.

DMH has a very favourable eco-toxicity profile and breaks down easily and completely in the environment. The environmentally friendly nature of DMH is documented in the 'Environmental Fate & Pathways' profile of ECHA (European Chemicals Agency). Details on DMH's eco-toxicity and degradation can be found in the REACH database.

The use of DMH as a chlorine stabilizer has been known for a long time and is utilized in various forms. Halo-hydantoins, such as BCDHM (Bromine-Chlorine DMH) and DCDMH (Di-Chlorine DMH), have been used in industrial water treatment as biocides for 50 years. Separate mixing and dosing of DMH and bleach have been employed in the paper industry and cooling towers since 2000, leading to a significant reduction in chlorine consumption, better control of slime formation on the paper machine, and much lower AOX emissions to the environment. This technology was patented for use in cooling water until June 2023. With the expiration of this patent, this approach is now accessible to everyone.

Biological control in a cooling system is the most important requirement for a safe, energy-efficient, and sustainably operated system.

Insufficiently controlled microbiological growth causes:

• Lower energy efficiency due to insulating biofilm (resulting in more CO₂ emissions).
• An increased health risk arising from amoeba hosting Legionella pneumophila bacteria, which grow in the biofilm.
• Increased corrosion (leading to higher material replacement costs).
• Increased consumption of cooling water treatment products (such as corrosion inhibitors, scale inhibitors, and dispersants), which are destroyed by the highly oxidant hypochlorite.

Controlling biological growth and the associated biofilm in an industrial cooling system is therefore essential for its sustainable operation. IMCHLO has a structured approach for determining the cost of biofilm in your cooling system.

The use of DMH allows for up to 50% less chlorine bleach dosage while simultaneously increasing biocontrol effectiveness. Because less chlorine bleach is dosed, unwanted side reactions are greatly reduced. The formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs), such as AOX (absorbable halogenated organics), can be reduced almost to zero when used correctly and depending on the system.

The lower dosage of chlorine also significantly reduces corrosion in the cooling system, prevents the breakdown and therefore loss of expensive water treatment chemicals, and often makes the use of dispersants unnecessary.

The DMH-based chlorine bleach approach, unlike chlorine bleach alone — which does not penetrate biofilm — is very effective in removing and controlling biofilm in the process or cooling system. Therefore, DMH offers various advantages:

• Reduces bleach consumption by up to 50%.
• Prevents AOX formation and emissions into the environment.
• Significantly reduces the destruction of corrosion, scale, and deposition treatment chemicals, resulting in lower chemical dosages and costs.
• Spectacularly increases biofilm control.
• Significantly reduces the risk of Legionella.
• Improves energy transfer in heat exchangers.
• Reduces CO₂ emission
• Reduces corrosion.

Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and hypochlorite (OCl⁻) are very reactive. Due to this high and non-selective reactivity, hypochlorite reacts with almost all substances, not just bacteria, resulting in a significant portion reacting without a biocidal effect.

Because of this, an 'excess' must be dosed in the cooling water to ensure effective biological control. The bacterial effect is only guaranteed if there is sufficient biocidal active material remaining in the water.

This overdose leads to undesirable reactions, causing the formation of so-called Disinfection By-Products (DBPs). These DBPs are often chlorinated hydrocarbons that are unwanted in the environment.

Furthermore, the overdose of chlorine bleach in the cooling water creates a very corrosive environment, leading to significant corrosion of steel pipes and heat exchangers in the cooling system. Finally, due to the high reactivity, the biofilm penetration of chlorine bleach is very low. As a result, despite its high biocidal properties, the effect on biofilm control is often insufficient and allows for Legionella pneumophila bacteria to grow in amoeba living in the biofilm.

DiMethylHydantoin (DMH) has no biocidal properties. The biocidal active substance remains hypochlorous acid, which is released from sodium hypochlorite. Therefore, DMH is not a biocide.

DMH stabilizes any hypochlorite molecule, regardless of its origin. Thus it is also effective with hypochlorite generated from electro-chlorination, also known as ECA (Electro-Chemical Activated) water. Therefore, DMH can be used perfectly with electro-chlorination equipment.

In principle, the DMH/hypochlorite approach is applicable to any industrial cooling system that uses sodium hypochlorite (commonly referred to as javel or bleach). In almost all cases, a significant reduction in sodium hypochlorite consumption is possible, along with associated benefits, including a reduction in AOX formation and lower corrosion.

Whether the results for a specific system are sufficient or satisfactory depends on the predetermined success criteria.

In any case, before considering more complex or expensive programs like chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) or monochloramine (MCA), it is wise to evaluate and consider what the DMH/hypochlorite approach could offer.

Using a structured approach, IMCHLO collaborates with the customer to determine whether the DMH approach is a viable option. This is done through the following steps:

1. Understand your goals and clarify them using KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
2. Perform a MOC (Mechanical, Operational, and Chemical) audit of the cooling system.
3. Focus on the three top goals (KPIs) and make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, and Time-bound).
4. Determine in advance for each KPI when it will be considered a success, neutral, or failure.
5. Financially quantify “success” for each KPI.
6. Based on the above steps, estimate the returns/investments of the DMH approach.
7. If the previous step is evaluated positively, draw up a site-specific validation protocol.
8. Execute an on-site validation using the validation protocol as a manual.

Mixing DMH with chlorine bleach (hypochlorite solution) quickly leads to the formation of MonoChloroDiMethylHydantoin (MCDMH). This MCDMH, a “stabilized” form of chlorine, is, unlike hypochlorite, non-reactive and is distributed throughout the cooling water system.

Because of its non-reactive nature, the MCDMH molecule also migrates and penetrates into biofilms. Once it reaches the biofilm, the molecule decomposes back into DMH and hypochlorous acid (HOCl). This HOCl molecule is the same as that found in chlorine bleach and is a very effective biocide. At the heart of the biofilm, this HOCl molecule, even in very low concentrations, can attack and kill bacteria much more effectively because it is not consumed by unwanted side reactions.

The technique can be compared to "The Trojan Horse" and imitates the formation of HOCl by white blood cells in low concentrations, close to the germs in the human body (this is referred to as “bio-mimicry" technology).

This largely depends on how it is dosed, used, and monitored. In general, it can be stated that the traditional method of dosage and monitoring in industrial cooling systems is not very sustainable, as in many cases an excess of hypochlorous acid is being dosed.

Due to this overdosage, side reactions occur that produce unwanted AOXs (absorbable halogenated hydrocarbons), which can be released into the environment.

However, if overdosage can be avoided by eliminating the unwanted side reactions and using the active material, hypochlorite, primarily for killing bacteria, the formation of these AOXs would be greatly reduced and could even disappear completely. This would give chlorine a significant sustainability boost. That is exactly what DMH accomplishes.

DMH (DiMethylHydantoin) is a ring-shaped organic compound belonging to the “hydantoin” family. The hydantoin (hydrogenated allantoin) fraction is part of biological substances that commonly occur in nature.

DMH is produced synthetically and is used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, industrial water treatment, epoxy resins, and metal coatings. Due to its specific structure, the molecule is resistant to chemical stress but is still quite easily and completely biodegradable.