Ferrate also can be made on-site--say, next to a factory kicking off dirty water--avoiding additional transportation costs.

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Under the agreement Ferrate will sell its machines to Green Planet, which will collect ongoing fees for operating the equipment.

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According to an analysis by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, disinfecting with ferrate required onehalf the capital investment of an ultraviolet- light-based system and onethird that of an ozone-based system.

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Small enough to fit in the bed of a large pickup truck, the Ferrator strips electrons from iron atoms to make ferrate--an unstable molecule that bonds to and neutralizes heavy metals, phosphates and bacteria.

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When a high school classmate mentioned the wonders of ferrate, Daly (who turned down a bid to medical school at the University of Minnesota) decided to pour part of his fortune into tackling the clean water problem.

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The machine blends iron, bleach and sodium hydroxide to form a dark purple liquid mixture of ferrate, salt and water that gets metered into the water supply. (The color disappears instantly as it reacts with the water.) Common disinfectants ozone and chlorine can turn the water cloudy or, worse, leave behind harmful chemical by-products.

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