Reducing Chlorine and Chloramine for Great Tasting Water

There’s a universal need for high-quality, clean water across all foodservice applications — from beverage stations and ice machines to back-of-house equipment like steamers.

To ensure that the water is clean and ready for consumption, potentially harmful organisms need to be removed.

Chlorine (Cl2) and chloramine (NH2Cl) are chemical disinfectants added to water by municipalities to kill pathogenic organisms in the water. Chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, can also control bacteria growth in long pipe lines due to slower oxidizing action.

Though they kill bacteria, these chemicals add offensive taste and odor to the water, which can ruin foods and beverages. From a potable water perspective, chlorine and chloramine can be tasted and/or smelled in the water if they are not reduced prior to going to the faucet, beverage machine or other piece of equipment. Additionally, they could contribute to pitting and corrosion in steam equipment.

In order to have both safe and great tasting water, carbon filters need to be used to remove the offensive taste and odor from the water. This is where a water filtration system plays a key role.

When chlorine and chloramine interact with activated carbon filters, a chemical reaction occurs and breaks chlorine and chloramine down to remove the taste and odor.

With the VZN water filtration system from Antunes, the ultrafilter is separated from the carbon filter and the backflush function, allowing the carbon filter to be changed just once per year. In traditional filtration systems, the particulate filter and carbon filter are combined, which decreases the effectiveness of the filters and increases the frequency of annual replacements.

Water filtration systems address a number of foodservice operational needs — the reduction of chlorine and chloramine being just one of them.

Learn more about the VZN water filtration system from Antunes in this video.