Electro-Chlorination Technology for Disinfection of Drinking Water: A Patent Landscape

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2015, which are defined to achieve improved and more sustainable future, promotes safe and affordable drinking water facilities for all, till 2030. The rural and remotely placed population worldwide face the problem of shortage of pathogen-free drinking water due to the huge capital and maintenance costs involved in water purification. The current chemical disinfection treatment which is widely used for water disinfection has several disadvantages including the formation of Disinfection By-Products (DBPs). Electro-chlorination is one of the best alternatives as per the literature that can be installed as a decentralized system in a remote location and can overcome most of the issues related to chemical disinfection. The present paper provides an overview of the innovations in the area of electro-chlorination as a disinfection technique through a detailed patent analysis. The patenting activity and publications are considered as an indicator of research and innovation in the field. The patent analysis is also supported by literature analysis for understanding the research trends and the extent of research in the area. The patent data from the year 2000 to 2021 is analyzed country-wise and year-wise. The paper also discusses the IPC, CPC codes, assignees, investors, US class codes, patents types, and citations analysis for the patents in the field of electro-chlorination and DBPs. The keywords used for patent analysis are ‘Electro- chlorination’ and ‘Water’ and ‘Disinfection’ and ‘Disinfection by Products’.

Systematic analysis of the scientific-technological production on the use of the UV, H2O2, and/or Cl2 systems in the elimination of bacteria and associated antibiotic resistance genes

“…In general, the ambiguity with which patents refer to causing damage to genetic material can be attributed to two reasons: (i) the removal of ARGs is not the primary goal of proprietary disinfection systems, but rather the inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms and the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases. Therefore, the removal of ARGs may not be considered an important or relevant feature for the commercial use of the disinfection system (Giannakis et al 2021 ; Shinde et al 2023 ; Tansel 2010 ). (ii) As noted in previous lenses, patents may be limited in the amount of information they can provide, as full disclosure may affect the legal protection and exclusivity of the patented technology.…”