ProCleanse Earns Innovation Award for Developing-World Water Filter

BUFFALO GROVE, Ill., April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- ProCleanse LLC announced today that its next-generation home water filtration device has been selected as one of 28 Exemplar U.S. Water Technologies by an independent review panel evaluating solutions that address global water challenges. The ProCleanse filter also was named one of the six most innovative solutions in the group, reflecting its ability to produce safe drinking water on the first day of use without the need for frequent maintenance, chemical additions, component replacement or other drawbacks associated with alternative products.

The honors were announced last month in Washington, D.C., at USTech H2.0, an event convened by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Water Partnership and others to coincide with World Water Day. The public-private U.S. Water Partnership expects to contribute more than $650 million to water-related projects around the world over the next five years.

The patent-pending ProCleanse filtration process exceeds the World Health Organization (WHO) "protective" classification for household water treatment and offers a practical solution for the more than 1 billion people around the world who are vulnerable to diarrhea, cholera and other life-threatening illnesses because they lack access to clean drinking water.

Each unit processes enough water to support a family of six, includes built-in safe storage for up to 18 liters of clean water, and lasts more than 10 years at a cost of less than $0.001 cents per liter of water over the life of the system. That is more than twice as long and a fraction of the lifetime cost of many other point-of-use (POU) water filtration options. Maintenance is generally required only three to four times a year and involves a simple 10-minute skimming process, eliminating daily, weekly, semi-monthly or monthly upkeep required by other systems.

Users simply pour dirty water into the ProCleanse device's filtration chamber. It then passes through a proprietary blend of porous ceramic particles along with a special mix of silver, zinc and copper. The ceramic particles trap more microorganisms than sand-based systems, while metal ions released into the water attach to the cell walls of smaller pathogens like bacteria and cause them to die.

This combination of porous granular media filtration and biocidal (pathogen-killing) ion exchange is a first in household water filtration systems, promoting maximum pathogen removal and producing up to 8 liters of clean water per hour.

The ProCleanse system has gained support from some of the largest charitable organizations doing work in the water sector. It is currently in use at select sites in Latin America and is undergoing a 600-unit field test in Ghana under the auspices of World Vision, International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) and other agencies.

ProCleanse LLC is a subsidiary of Profile Products LLC, a leading provider of soil modification, erosion and sediment control, and water management solutions for six decades. More information is available at www.procleansefilters.com.

SOURCE ProCleanse LLC