Relating to water treatment

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method treats an aqueous system to inhibit growth of one or more micro-organisms therein and/or to reduce the number of live micro-organisms therein. The method includes adding treatment agents to the aqueous system, where the treatment agents include a phosphonium compound and a stabilised halogen containing composition. In one embodiment, an aqueous system incorporates a combination of a phosphonium compound and a stabilising halogen containing composition.

1 . A method of treating an aqueous system to inhibit growth of one or more micro-organisms therein and/or to reduce the number of live micro-organisms therein, wherein the method comprises adding treatment agents to said aqueous system and wherein said treatment agents comprise:
 (a) a phosphonium compound; and   (b) a stabilised halogen containing composition.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the stabilised halogen containing composition (b) comprises a bromine containing composition. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the stabilised halogen containing composition (b) comprises bromosulfamate. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the phosphonium compound (a) comprises tri n-butyl n-tetradecyl phosphonium chloride (TTPC). 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the stabilised halogen containing composition (b) comprises a stabiliser (c) and a halogen containing compound (d) and/or wherein the stabilised halogen containing composition (b) comprises a stabilised halogen containing compound (e). 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 5 , wherein the halogen containing compound (d) comprises sodium bromide and wherein the stabiliser comprises sulfamic acid and wherein the halogen containing compound (e) comprises bromosulfamate. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises treating said aqueous system to inhibit growth of facultative anaerobic bacteria and/or to reduce the number of live facultative anaerobic bacteria therein. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises treating an aqueous system having a total dissolved solids (TDS) of 1000 mg l −1  or greater. 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises adding a phosphonium compound to said aqueous system in an amount of at least 0.1 ppm. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises adding the composition (b) to provide a treated aqueous system comprising halogen containing compound (d) and/or stabilised halogen containing compound (e) in an amount of at least 0.1 ppm. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises adding stabilised halogen containing composition (b) to said aqueous system in an amount of at least 10 ppm. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises adding a phosphonium compound (a) and a stabilised halogen containing composition (b) to an aqueous system in a weight ratio, expressed as active compound composition, respectively, of phosphonium compound:stabilised halogen containing composition of from 1.0:0.5 to 1.0:100.0. 
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein said phosphonium compound comprises tri n-butyl n-tetradecyl phosphonium chloride (TTPC), and wherein said stabilised halogen containing composition comprises bromosulfamate. 
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the method comprises treating an aqueous system having a total dissolved solids (TDS) of 1000 mg l −1  or greater and wherein the method comprises adding TTPC to said aqueous system in an amount of at least 0.1 ppm and adding bromosulfamate to said aqueous system in an amount of at least 0.1 ppm. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the method comprises treating an aqueous system to inhibit growth of facultative anaerobic bacteria and/or to reduce the number of live facultative anaerobic bacteria therein. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein said phosphonium compound comprises tri n-butyl n-tetradecyl phosphonium chloride (TTPC), and wherein said stabilised halogen containing composition comprises stabilised sodium bromide. 
     
     
         17 . A method of according to  claim 1 , wherein said phosphonium compound and said stabilised halogen containing composition are at a weight ratio, expressed as active compound composition, of from 1.0:5.0 to 1.0:50.0; and wherein the amount of phosphonium compound is from 1.0 to 20 parts by weight per one million parts by weight of said aqueous system (ppm) and the amount of stabilised halogen containing composition is from 10 ppm to 500 ppm. 
     
     
         18 . An aqueous system incorporating a combination of:
 (a) a phosphonium compound; and   (b) a stabilised halogen containing composition.   
     
     
         19 . An aqueous system according to  claim 18 , wherein said aqueous system is an aqueous media further comprising dissolved solids. 
     
     
         20 . An aqueous system according to  claim 18 , wherein said aqueous system is a biocidal composition. 
     
     
         21 . A method of inhibiting or preventing the growth of one or more micro-organisms in an aqueous media, wherein the method comprises adding treatment agents to an aqueous media comprising dissolved solids and wherein said treatment agents comprise:
 (a) a phosphonium compound; and   (b) a stabilised halogen containing composition.