Oksihlorogen from Kula in trial phase - Sigma already produces three devices for removing humus from drinking water

This year eKapija web portal will again present the Aurea Award for the best investment in 2012 in late March. While waiting to see who the new winners will be, we have paid a visit to the companies whose projects were shortlisted for last year's awards to check how far they have gone with the development of their businesses.

Sigma from Kula has patented and developed a device called Hlorogen, thus becoming the only manufacturer of that chlorine generator in southeast Europe, which was a reason big enough to shortlist that company for the Aurea Award. Namely, Sigma opened a factory for producing Hlorogen - a device using electrolysis to generate chlorine in the form of sodium hypochlorite solution at the water consumption site - in February 2011 in Crvenka. Production of this water disinfectant is simple because it requires only salt, softened water and electric energy. The system is automated, requires minimum maintenance, and is easy to operate.

This device is installed within a water supply system, swimming pools, or wherever it is necessary to maintain the bacteriological quality of water. Its price ranges between 20 and 30 thousand euros, but it can also be higher, depending on the capacity.

In the meantime, as it was announced to eKapija, they have built the prototype of a new device, which should open the door for the Kula-based factory to begin exports to a number of markets.

(Dragan Kapicic and eKapija CEO Zdravko Loncar)

The new device, called Oksihlorogen, produces a mixed disinfectant that has the combined characteristics of individual disinfectants.

- A result of this combining process is a preparation that simplifies technological process for treating such water while increasing the efficiency of the very process of disinfection and facilitating efficient and cost-effective removal of these matters from the water - Sigma CEO Dragan Kapicic says to eKapija.

Sigma has built the prototype of Oksihlorogen and is testing it now. As Kapicic explains, they are now producing three Oksihlorogen devices for small water supply systems that experience problems with humus in water and have no capacity to carry out complex water treatments or build a water treatment plant.

A consequence of conventional chlorination of such waters is the creation of organochlorine compounds such as trihalomethanes (THM), which are toxic to people, and chloroform, which is potentially cancerogenic.

When it comes to the potential for selling these devices, Sigma CEO says that Serbia and neighboring countries (Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) have a big problem with the quality of their drinking water as the presence of humus in water is evident across the entire retion.

- Therefore, the market for Oksihlorogen devices is not limited only to Vojvodina, Serbia and neighboring countries, but also stretches beyond this area and covers all the places where hydrogeological conditions are similar to those in our region and conventional water disinfection technologies cannot solve the problem of the presence of humus in water – says Kapicic.

Implementation of this project was backed by the Provincial Secretariat for Science and Technological Development, which lent RSD 20 million to the Sigma company for that purpose.

J.Dj.