GFO studies

[rayjay]

Are there any proper studies on what the GFO capabilities are for the various products?
I have available locally, Rowaphos and Aquaforest Phosphate Minus, but all I seem to find about them is that while APM is cheaper, Rowaphos is anecdotally said to be better as it lasts longer.

 

[Jon Warner]

A better question... are they different compounds?

http://bfy.tw/JtYX

Siemens sold their water treatment assets to AEA in 2014 who in turn named the new company EVOQUA...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I've seen some studies, but none that I would rely on to give good guidance between brands, and bear in mind that such companies may change suppliers without telling you so an older study may have no bear on teh current product sold.

 

[rayjay]

OK, I guess it will be best to do my own comparison between the two available to me. But, as you say, even if I do declare a "winner" of the two, that could change at any given time.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OK, I guess it will be best to do my own comparison between the two available to me. But, as you say, even if I do declare a "winner" of the two, that could change at any given time.

How to do such a test is very important. Most people don't really understand how binders work or what a useful comparison would be. I tried to generate useful binding curves myself and I found it took more time and effort than it was worth, but in the time I did that testing, it was clear to me that some manufacturer claims about the binding being irreversible (which I thought were highly unlikely based on decades of making such measurements in my day job) were clearly not true.

The amount bound is a function of the amount of phosphate that remains in solution. At 1 ppm, all types of GFO will bind more phosphate than at 0.01 ppm. That is true for nearly any material binding to any surface, but it makes it important to make measurements at phosphate concentrations you actually intend the material to function in.