The advantages of AgXX® compared
to classic sterilization technologies
Microbial contamination continues to cause great problems and commercial losses in many areas that have to do with the quality of water and aqueous solutions or hygiene in general. Such areas are hospitals, retirement homes, nursery schools and hygienic institutes, food technology, in production, air conditioning technology or simply in households.
Therefore there are many different anti-microbial decontamination solutions with aggressive chemical substances against microorganisms, e.g. formaldehyde, alcohols, phenols, sodium hypochlorite and other strongly oxidizing agents.
The disadvantages of these solutions and methods are the highly corrosive and toxic potential of the applied aggressive chemicals used in decontamination and disinfection. They normally cause water and aqueous solutions to be inedible by man. Used appliances or surfaces can be badly damaged by corrosion.
Comparison of the basic characteristics
of classic silver technologies and AgXX®
| Biocides | Classic silver technologies | AgXX® |
 |
 |
 |
| Complex mixtures of substances | only Ag+ ions | contact catalyst |
| Selective actions | broadband (slow) | broadband (fast) |
| Highly toxic, allergen | cytotoxic ( > 100 µg/L) | not toxic |
| Multi-resistance | Inhibition | no Inhibition |
| High consumption | consumption in Ag+ | next to no consumption |
| Extensive maintenance service | nearly no maintenance, no regeneration |
nearly no maintenance, regeneration |
Implementation of silver technology gradually improved this problem. The oligodynamic action of silver makes decontamination of water and aqueous solutions possible and is therefore used for its production, conditioning and quality control. Disadvantages of existing methods of silver technology are retarded beginning of action after contact of silver and water and the only selective antimicrobial efficacy.
Normally it would take several hours after contaminated water has come into contact with silver before enough silver ions have been released to reach a sufficient level of water decontamination and for effective killing micro-organisms. To solve this problem, new methods have been developed that use the special characteristics of nano particles to achieve a faster release of silver ions.
Advantages of AgXX® technology compared to classic silver technologies
| Classic silver technology | AgXX® |
|
|
| Long-distance action by Ag+ | optimized short- and long-distance action |
| Slow buildup of effective Ag+ concentrations | rapid antimicrobial protection (by contact action) |
| Increase of action only possible by means of Ag+ | low Ag+ concentration (< 100µg /L) |
| Important Ag+ concentrations are problematic, possibly toxic | antimicrobial action even if water is heavily contaminated |
| Ag+ is rapidly inactivated by microorganisms | long-time and storage (depot) action (3-5 Years) |
Summary of the most important advantages of AgXX®:
- Innovative micro-porous coating with high antimicrobial efficacy
- Production and application of coating at room temperature
- Accelerated antimicrobial action in contact with aqueous solutions
- No dependence on and release of significant amounts of silver ions
- High efficacy for aqueous solutions with exchange or flow-through
- Resistance development almost impossible
- Almost no maintenance
- Long durability of the surface
- No further addition of biocides needed
- No interference by additional substances e.g. corrosion protection, emulsifiers...
- No increase of corrosion potential of aqueous solutions
- Simple refitting of industrial plants
- No generation of AOX
- No additional need of energy (as in UV, ozone and decontamination by electrolysis procedures)
- No storage, handling and disposing of biocide-contaminated solutions
- No handling of dangerous/critical chemicals e.g. chlorine and chlordioxyd
- Used AgXX systems can be recycled.
