With the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games now over, it is clear that aquatic sports are dominated by China, the USA and Australia, with Europe close behind. The number of medals won in aquatic sports at the Paris Games is highly correlated with the development of swimming pool technology and standards in the participating countries. This demonstrates that China's swimming pool and equipment technology has gradually reached an advanced global level.

In order to promote the exchange of information and development of the global swimming pool industry, Alipool&Spa would like to introduce five new technologies in the global swimming pool industry: Advanced Oxidation Technology (AOP), The Vacuum Negative Pressure Filtration System, Perlite Filtration Media Filtration, Crystal Filtration Media, and Zero The Energy Swimming Pool to you.

1.Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP)

Advanced Oxidation Technology (AOP) is a method of degrading and removing organic pollutants from water using strong oxidants, such as hydroxyl radicals (-OH). AOP technology has a wide range of applications in water treatment, including the removal of emerging micropollutants and disinfection. It can also solve scaling problems in chillers. AOP technology has the advantages of being highly efficient and rapid, and of not causing secondary contamination. It is one of the most popular research topics in water treatment in recent years.

The hydroxyl radical has the following characteristics:

 (1) It has strong oxidising properties; the standard electrode potential of the hydroxyl radical (-OH) is 2.80 V, making it a strong oxidising agent.

 (2) A large reaction rate constant: the hydroxyl radical is very active and reacts with organic matter at a high rate.

(3) It has small selectivity, independent of the concentration of reactants, and oxidises and decomposes all organic matter, bacteria, viruses, parasites and other microorganisms, ultimately degrading them to CO₂, H₂O, O₂ and inorganic salts with no hazardous residues, thus achieving zero pollution and zero waste emissions.

(4) Hydroxyl radicals are particularly active with an extremely short lifespan. In different environmental media, there is a certain difference in their existence time, which is generally no less than 10⁻⁶ s. (5) High treatment efficiency.

(5) High processing efficiency with no secondary pollution.

(6) Low operating and maintenance costs.

2 . Vacuum negative pressure filtration system

The swimming pool vacuum negative pressure filtration system is an efficient, intelligent and environmentally friendly water treatment system. It combines the advantages of the gravity and pressure filtration principles to provide constant flow filtration treatment for pool water.

The swimming pool vacuum negative pressure filtration system works by first allowing the water to flow into the equipment. Gravity filtration is then used to filter the water, which is discharged using a pump suction method from the bottom of the filtration equipment within the water collection device. This pumps the incoming water from the surface of the filtration layer. This approach allows the water to be filtered through the media layer at a controlled rate, resulting in purification. The system integrates the advantages of existing pressure and gravity filtration systems and is characterised by its high efficiency, energy saving, water saving, land saving and material saving properties.

3.Perlite Filtration Media Filtration

Perlite filter aid is based on perlite ore as the raw material. After crushing, grading, preheating and high-temperature roasting, the material undergoes instantaneous, rapid heating and expansion to create a lightweight, multifunctional, white, honeycomb-like granular structure. The swimming pool perlite filter media filtration system has a powerful application potential and broad market prospects in the field of swimming pool water treatment thanks to its high-precision filtration, automation, energy efficiency, small footprint, low maintenance costs and other advantages. As technology continues to advance and the market expands, the perlite media filtration system is expected to become the mainstream solution for swimming pool water treatment.

4.Crystal Filtration Media

The Waterscape filter medium is a new type of glass filter medium with the following characteristics:

 1) Fine filtration: Crystal filter media is specially manufactured with small, uniform particles and small particle gaps, enabling it to filter out particles as small as 3 microns. Quartz sand filter media cannot achieve such fine filtration.

 2) Excellent purity and strength: Crystal filter media is manufactured from 100% pure glass, providing excellent chemical stability, purity and mechanical strength, and offering finer filtration and greater durability than traditional quartz sand filter media.

 3) It greatly improves the water treatment effect. During the backwashing process, dirt is easily separated and washed away without the filter bed sloughing off, effectively improving water treatment efficiency. Water flowing through the surface of the crystal filter media generates static electricity, which adsorbs small particles and ions. This improves the removal of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in the water by 25%, thereby improving water clarity.

 4) Water saving and improved backwashing efficiency: the water-saving ability of the crystal filter media is due to its rounded, smooth shape with a low coefficient of friction. Pollutants trapped on the crystal filter media can be rinsed away quickly after each backwash.

 5) Reducing the amount of filter media can reduce costs in various ways: the specific gravity of quartz sand is 2.65 g/cm³, whereas that of crystal filter media is 2.40 g/cm³, making the latter 20% lighter. Reducing the amount of backwash water reduces the cost of filtering, chemical treatment, backwash water and heating.

 6) Longer service life: Crystal filter media has a high removal rate of pollutants, and is not easy to be blocked in the filtration process, which improves the ability and effect of backwashing, reduces energy consumption, and extends the service life (quartz sand filter media: 3 years; crystal filter media: 9 years).

 Europe already has a product standard EN 17978:2023 Products used for treatment of water intended for human consumption and swimming pool water - Glass beads and glass granulate.  Glass beads and glass granulate, and the Chinese standard is being drafted.

5.Zero Energy Swimming Pools

 Concepts such as near-zero carbon and energy, and passive buildings, play an important role in driving sustainable development in the swimming pool industry. Together, they point towards a shared objective: the energy-efficient and environmentally friendly operation of swimming pools through technological innovation and optimised design. In practice, these concepts must be applied flexibly and adapted to specific situations to achieve optimal energy efficiency and environmental protection.

 For instance, the Green Zero Carbon Swimming Centre in Xi'an Fenghui New Town, China's first near-zero-energy swimming pool, successfully combined passive building concepts with active technologies to achieve energy-efficient and environmentally friendly goals. Not only did the project obtain the ‘Near Zero Energy Building’ certificate at the design stage, it also maximised the use of renewable energy and reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions through innovative technologies such as non-disruptive clean heating from medium and deep geothermal energy and solar photovoltaic building integration.

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