Final Report Summary - LEGIOTEX (Continuous bactericide water filtration for the prevention of Legionella contamination in large public and industrial facilities) The general objective of LEGIOTEX is the development and validation of LegioTexWater filtering system, a novel, cheap and certifiable prototype of filter and control system for continuous bactericide filtration and control to inhibit the growth and proliferation of the bacteria belonging to the Legionella pneumophila family in water in close-circuit cooling towers and drinking water distribution systems which accumulate water and spread it as an aerosol in risk of becoming a source for legionnaire's disease outbreaks in large public and industrial facilities. For developing the aimed filter, environmental-friendly bactericides have been appropriately fixed onto nonwoven textiles, assuring a long lasting biocide effect and optimum mechanical properties. The filter has been mounted onto reusable cartridges for its easy installation in different equipments, optimum fluid-dynamic behaviour and successful commercialisation. The control system is able to detect if the bactericide rate and head loss are being kept at constant levels in order to run the appropriate alarm or action if reaching safety risks in relation to Legionella concentration or impacting the mechanical behaviour of the water system being treated. Legionella is present in all aqueous media. However it becomes a threat for human health when appropriate conditions for its growth and proliferation are met, which frequently happens in large in-doors facilities using systems for climate control: cooling systems, sanitary water distribution equipment (tanks, boilers, heaters pipes and point-of use) and other equipment subject to similar conditions (irrigation, fountains, etc.). During the period 2003 and 2004, a total of 9166 cases of legionnaire's disease were reported by 35 countries in the European geographical context. The overall mortality rate was 8.2 %, increasing to a 40 % for immunocompromised patients (i.e. in hospitals). Within this scenery, increasing regulation for the installation, operation and maintenance of climate control equipment and water distribution systems in relation to Legionella has lead to the requirement for more effective bactericide systems. LEGIOTEX is an opportunity for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the sector to improve their competitive position by developing an innovative product able to prevent Legionella outbreaks, which complies with applicable normative and minimises installation and maintenance costs. LEGIOTEX will also be an opportunity for SMEs in the textile sector, allowing for a high-tech application of nonwoven fabrics and finally SMEs in the bacterial detection sector, by developing a real time biofilm monitoring system for LEGIOTEX. Project context and objectives: LEGIOTEX project has gone through the design, manufacturing, assemblage and preliminary testing of five LegioTexWater filtering system prototypes looking for to reach a bactericide rate of 75 % in relation to Legionella concentration and a life span of six months. LegioTexWater system consists of two main components: the filter and the control system. The filter is composed by the nonwoven filtering fabric and by the cartridge geometry where the fabric is housed. The control system integrates the real-time biofilm and head loss monitoring system, the control of the backwashing mechanism to clean the filter and the wireless communication device to transmit data remotely. For the main part of LegioTexWater, the nonwoven fabric with treated fibres, a deeply research work and laboratory testing on fibres and filter fabrics has been performed by TI, Minerva, Stellini and Logrotex. The best composition of materials, geometry for the fibres and the optimal nonwoven fabric structure were deeply analysed. In addition, the best functioning of the filter in terms of bactericide and mechanical behaviours have been fully analysed and reported. The research work and conclusions has been fully described on the project confidential reports. Concerning the cartridges prototypes to house the fabric and compose the filter, different concepts and prototypes of geometries have been generated by ITAV with the support of Idrodepurazione and deeply described on the confidential reports, always looking for housing the nonwoven fabric in the most efficient way to obtain the best filtering performance. It includes minimising the pressure drop to not disturb the normal operation of the water system, maximising the effective filtration area to ensure a uniform use of the filter volume and a release of the maximum effective quantity of biocide, avoiding dead zones and premature waste of the fabric, achieving the longest resident time or contact time between the biocide and the water to allow the correct inactivation of bacteria and finally, taking into account the complexity of manufacture and price / availability of materials. Regarding the technological objectives of the project, we can asset that the limits of filter porosity has been clearly established to ensure the 75 % bactericide effect or reduction in Legionella concentration. The filter is a self-cleaning device due to the automatic backwashing mechanism controlled by the control board that removes the particles trapped into the fibres using a backwashing mechanism. A two stage filtration using hydro-cyclonic is required to lower the solids load to the final low porosity treated filter for long time operation between backwashes. The nonwoven filter is formed by solid fibres treated with environmental-friendly Legionella biocides. The best composition in terms of efficiency and manufacturing price has been established eliminating 100 % of Legionella/ml after 30 minutes treatment. It can also eliminate other types of bacteria, fungus, etc. Leakage of biocides from the treated filters into water is relatively low and all below the World Health Organisation (WHO) drinking water maximum concentrations for these materials. The final sheets of nonwoven fabric (PL686 and PL687) are within the range of thickness of 0.1 to 15 cm. The fabric is chemically inert, non-noxious and recyclable. The resin is not biodegradable; however it can be moulded and reused many times or used as a fuel burning without pollution. Several prototypes of filter cartridge have been simulated and five of them manufactured for testing. Head losses depend mostly on the nonwoven fabric thickness (increasing it and lowering the porosity will increase the head loss of a filter) however the designs are always keeping the head losses lower than 30kPa (at around 13kPa). Each prototype develops a different engineering design or geometry, adapted to optimise the filter behaviour to the different systems addressed. Each one is using a different filtering concept: four of them using hydrocyclonic and cylindrical concepts for pipes and tanks filtering on cooling towers (hydrocyclonic) and drinking distribution systems (cylindrical) and the last one a bactericide filter for hand showers on sanitary water systems. All them are scalable so can be adapted to any kind of water flow by just adapting their dimensions, number and position of filters. The filter and control system are mounted allowing for the reusability of the cartridge after the life span of these components. The nonwoven filter is easily removable and exchangeable from the cartridge. The control system has been developed as a modular component to allow a total flexibility for use of LegioTexWater, optimum maintenance practices and maximum market opportunities for the SME partners. The sensors helps to control the biocide and mechanical functioning of the filter by the detection of a biofilm growing and head loss increasing and by activating the backwashing mechanism if necessary. However, the filter could be installed and work without these elements by using some external and periodical control measures. The control system is a real-time biofilm detection system, with a head loss monitoring device with a minimum accuracy of ±10 Pa and a wireless device, to transmit data remotely. Project results: LegioTexWater is a filtering system capable to inhibit the growth and proliferation of the bacteria belonging to the Legionella Pneumophila family in water-based systems for large public and industrial facilities. For this purpose, environmental-friendly bactericides have been fixed onto nonwoven textiles assuring a long lasting biocide effect and optimum mechanical properties. The filter has been mounted onto a reusable cartridge for its easy installation in different equipment, optimum fluid-dynamic behaviour and successful commercialisation. And an electronics control system has been developed in order to monitor in-situ the efficacy of the filter in relation to bactericide efficacy and mechanical behaviour and run real-time alarms or actions. LegioTexWater filtering system is a novel, cheap, cleaner to operate, easier to be installed on-site on broad range of water-based systems (i.e. cooling systems and water distribution systems), with scientifically validated reliability and complying with applicable legislation and standards. Potential impact: The LEGIOTEX project is of great relevance to the SME partners in order to improve their competitiveness in the world arena and face the main market trends described for the sectors in which they are present. It will be an opportunity for SMEs in the water treatment sector to improve their competitive position by developing an innovative product able to prevent Legionella outbreaks, which complies with applicable normative and minimises installation and maintenance costs. It will be an opportunity for SMEs in the fibres / fabrics manufacturing textile sector, allowing for a high-tech application of nonwoven fabrics using an environmental-friendly biocide for LEGIOTEX. And finally, it will be an opportunity for SMEs in the Legionella detection sector, allowing for a high-tech electronics control system development. Related to the target or primary market the project is addressing: close-circuit cooling towers and sanitary hot water distribution equipment (pipes, boilers, heaters, tanks and endpoint of use) for climate control in large public and industrial facilities (hospitals, hotels, spas, agro-food industrial plants, etc.), Logrotex and IDRO estimate a total 30 % market share after the first five years commercialising LegioTexWater. A 10 % profit margin has been considered by SME providers along the value chain (Stellini and Minerva), in accordance with production costs foreseen in relation to the price of raw materials and manufacturing costs derived from other products in the partners' portfolios. Logrotex estimates a 20 % profit margin and IDRO a 30 %. The successful exploitation LEGIOTEX will have an important impact on health and safety at European level by a yearly reduction of 1500 legionnaires' disease cases and 150 potential deaths, which will mean savings of up to EUR 300 million to the European economy. For operational monitoring and risk management, regulations for control of Legionella rely on measuring parameters that show whether systems are working properly. LegioTexWater will strengthen this approach being a preventive continuous system with real-time monitoring of bactericide efficacy. Finally, LegioTexWater will help reducing the environmental pollution related to water treatment systems from the use of biodegradable biocides and reducing the generation of industrial waste by being developed as a recyclable filtering fabric and reusable cartridges structures. Consortium members 1. Logrotex S.A (Spain) 2. Tessitura Stellini S.n.c. (Italy) 3. Minerva Biolabs GmbH (Germany) 4. Idrodepurazione S.r.l. (Italy) 5. Tecnologías Avanzadas Inspiralia S.L. (Spain) 6. Teknologisk Institut AS (Norway) 7. Elkede Technology and Design Center S.A. (Greece) Coordinator contact details: Carlota Espuelas Azofra (Manager Assistant), Logrotex S.A. C/ Camino Viejo de Alberite 11-17 26006 Logroño, Spain Tel: +34-941-211211 Fax: +34-941-210347 E-mail: carlota.espuelas@logrotex.com Project website address: http://www.legiotex.eu Documenti correlati Final Report - LEGIOTEX (Continuous bactericide water filtration for the prevention of Legionella contamination in large public and industrial facilities)
