I received more information from Ben, the guy who requested information on combating Mother of vinegar in his process piping.

Thank you for posting an article for me on the Mother of Vinegar. I may have some potential further information. See below from one of my suppliers. It involved trying to find a UV wavelength that would combat my issue:

• Although not common, due to the low pH typically associated with waters in anolyte systems, certain strains of bacteria can proliferate in such an environment…

• What is very common, when the presence of biological activity is detected, is Fungus… I have been taught that the most-commonly found fungus is called Mother of Vinegar or paecilomyces varioti (I had to look up to see exactly how this one is spelled)…

• Unless an anode membrane is ruptured and paint solids are introduced to the anolyte system accidentally, Trojan should not be concerned about blinding of the UV light… Please note that, if paint were allowed to circulate in said system while the light was functioning, it is highly likely that the paint would kick out and “coat” the light, rendering it useless…

• Lastly and probably most importantly, the conversation that I had with someone within Trojan about 3 years ago had me convinced that the best course of action was for Trojan to be sent a sample of live biologicals in actual anolyte from the facility in question… Trojan would then test to determine what wavelength of light was required to kill whatever is living in Brose’s anolyte system (bacteria and/or fungus)…

• Once determined, calculations are rather simple for Trojan for the required “residence time” and light size, if provided: ( i ) flow rate and ( ii ) pipe i.d.  …

Have you ever dealt with the Paecilomyces variotii, or at least heard of it? I really appreciate the effort you made for me last time because I am so uneducated on this type of issue. I don’t mean to impose too much on your time, and if I could just have someone who could point me in the right direction I would be so grateful.

Thanks,
Ben

I for one, am not familiar with Paecilomyces variotii. But, there is some information on it out there and there is a Wikipedia page for it.