Simple elixir called a 'miracle liquid'
Electrolyzed water cleans, degreases -- and treats athlete's foot. The
solution is replacing toxic chemicals.
By Marla Dickerson
February 23, 2009
It's a kitchen degreaser. It's a window cleaner. It kills athlete's
foot. Oh, and you can drink it.

Sounds like the old "Saturday Night Live" gag for Shimmer, the faux
floor polish plugged by Gilda Radner. But the elixir is real. It has
been approved by U.S. regulators. And it's starting to replace the
toxic chemicals Americans use at home and on the job.



* Miracle liquid
Photos: Miracle liquid
* Creating magic water.
Creating magic water.

The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions
have been scrambled with an electric current. Researchers have dubbed
it electrolyzed water -- hardly as catchy as Mr. Clean. But at the
Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica, some hotel workers are calling it el
liquido milagroso -- the miracle liquid.

That's as good a name as any for a substance that scientists say is
powerful enough to kill anthrax spores without harming people or the
environment.

Used as a sanitizer for decades in Russia and Japan, it's slowly
winning acceptance in the United States. A New York poultry processor
uses it to kill salmonella on chicken carcasses. Minnesota grocery
clerks spray sticky conveyors in the checkout lanes. Michigan jailers
mop with electrolyzed water to keep potentially lethal cleaners out of
the hands of inmates.

In Santa Monica, the once-skeptical Sheraton housekeeping staff has
ditched skin-chapping bleach and pungent ammonia for spray bottles
filled with electrolyzed water to clean toilets and sinks.

"I didn't believe in it at first because it didn't have foam or any
scent," said housekeeper Flor Corona. "But I can tell you it works. My
rooms are clean."

Management likes it too. The mixture costs less than a penny a gallon.
It cuts down on employee injuries from chemicals. It reduces shipping
costs and waste because hotel staffers prepare the elixir on site. And
it's helping the Sheraton Delfina tout its environmental credentials
to guests.

The hotel's kitchen staff recently began disinfecting produce with
electrolyzed water. They say the lettuce lasts longer. They're hoping
to replace detergent in the dishwasher. Management figures the payback
time for the $10,000 electrolysis machine will be less than a year.

"It's green. It saves money. And it's the right thing to do," said
Glenn Epstein, executive assistant at the Sheraton Delfina. "It's
almost like fantasy."

Actually, it's chemistry. For more than two centuries, scientists have
tinkered with electrolysis, the use of an electric current to bring
about a chemical reaction (not the hair-removal technique of the same
name that's popular in Beverly Hills). That's how we got metal
electroplating and large-scale production of chlorine, used to bleach
and sanitize.

It turns out that zapping salt water with low-voltage electricity
creates a couple of powerful yet nontoxic cleaning agents. Sodium ions
are converted into sodium hydroxide, an alkaline liquid that cleans
and degreases like detergent, but without the scrubbing bubbles.
Chloride ions become hypochlorous acid, a potent disinfectant known as
acid water.

"It's 10 times more effective than bleach in killing bacteria," said
Yen-Con Hung, a professor of food science at the University of Georgia-
Griffin, who has been researching electrolyzed water for more than a
decade. "And it's safe."

There are drawbacks.

Electrolyzed water loses its potency fairly quickly, so it can't be
stored long. Machines are pricey and geared mainly for industrial use.
The process also needs to be monitored frequently for the right
strength.

Then there's the "magic water" hype that has accompanied electrolyzed
drinking water. A number of companies sell so-called ionizers for home
use that can range from about $600 to more than $3,000. The alkaline
water, proponents say, provides health benefits.

But Richard Wullaert, a Santa Barbara consultant, said consumers
should be careful.

"Some of these people are making claims that will get everybody in
trouble," said Wullaert, whose nonprofit Functional Water Society is
spreading the word about electrolyzed water. "It's time for some
serious conferences with serious scientists to give this credibility."

Most of the growth has happened outside the United States.

Russians are putting electrolyzed water down oil wells to kill pesky
microbes. Europeans use it to treat burn victims. Electrolyzing
equipment is helping to sanitize drinking water in parts of Latin
American and Africa.


It's big in Japan. People there spray it on sushi to kill bacteria and
fill their swimming pools with it, eliminating the need for harsh
chlorine. Doctors use it to sterilize equipment and treat foot fungus
and bedsores. It's the secret weapon in Sanyo Electric Corp.'s "soap-
less" washing machine.

Now Sanyo is bent on cleaning up Japan's taxis with a tiny air
purifier that fits into a car's cup holder. The device uses
electrolyzed water to shield passengers from an unwelcome byproduct of
Japan's binge-drinking business cultu vomit.



* Miracle liquid
Photos: Miracle liquid
* Creating magic water.
Creating magic water.

"There was some concern about the spreading of viruses and bacteria
via the taxi, not to mention the . . . stinky smells," Sanyo spokesman
Aaron Fowles said.

Sanyo's taxi air washer isn't yet available in the U.S.; commuters
will have to hold their noses for now. But the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental
Protection Agency have approved electrolyzed water for a variety of
uses.

PuriCore of Malvern, Pa., and Oculus Innovative Sciences of Petaluma,
Calif., have developed treatments for chronic wounds. Albuquerque,
N.M.-based MIOX Corp. sells municipal water-purifying systems. EAU
Technologies Inc. of Kennesaw, Ga., caters to both ends of a dairy
cow, with alkaline water to aid the animal's digestion and acid water
to clean up its manure.

Integrated Environmental Technologies Inc. of Little River, S.C., is
working with oil companies to keep wells free of bacteria and with
high schools to sanitize sweaty wrestling mats and grungy football
equipment that spread skin infections.

Electrolyzer Corp. of Woburn, Mass., is going after the hospitality
market. The Sheraton Delfina purchased one of its machines. So has the
Hyatt Regency Chicago and the Trump International Beach Resort near
Miami.

Patrick Lucci, Electrolyzer's vice president of marketing, likes to
bombard prospects with scientific studies, then give 'em the old
razzle-dazzle. He'll swig the processed salt water before he mops the
floor with it.

"Try that with bleach," he said.

The unit in Santa Monica looks a little like an oversized water
heater, with two tanks side by side -- one for making the hypochlorous
acid sanitizer, the other for the sodium hydroxide cleanser.

Rebecca Jimenez, director of housekeeping, heard grumbling from the
cleaning staff when the hotel brought the machine in last fall.
Housekeepers doubted that the flat, virtually odorless liquids were
really doing the job. Some poured the guest shampoos into their
bottles to work up a lather.

"If it doesn't suds up, it doesn't work," Jimenez said. "That's the
mentality."

Still, she said, most have come around and are enjoying working
without fumes and peeling skin.

Minnesota food scientist Joellen Feirtag said she was similarly
skeptical. So she installed an electrolysis unit in her laboratory and
began researching the technology. She found that the acid water killed
E. coli, salmonella, listeria and other nasty pathogens. Yet it was
gentle enough to soothe her children's sunburns and acne.

She's now encouraging food processors to take a look at electrolyzed
water to help combat the disease outbreaks that have roiled the
industry. Most are dubious.

"This sounds too good to be true, which is really the biggest
problem," said Feirtag, an associate professor at the University of
Minnesota. "But it's only a matter of time before this becomes
mainstream."

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...,4364552.story