Hydrogen peroxide was gradually recognized by people after 1840. Hydrogen peroxide is composed of three oxygen atoms and has a high redox potential, so it has a strong oxidizing ability. It can degrade various impurities in water, kill various pathogenic bacteria, molds and viruses, kill mollusks such as ornamental shellfish larvae (up to 98 points) and aquatic organisms such as cyclops, oligochaetes, water fleas Rotifers etc. So the hydrogen peroxide sterilization experiment was carried out in France as early as 1886. In 1893, the 3 m/h water purification plant in the Netherlands was put into operation. In Nice, France, in 1906, a hydrogen peroxide treatment plant was built and operated until 1970. The Nice Water Works is known as “the birthplace of hydrogen peroxide for drinking water”. In 1908, China installed hydrogen peroxide generators in Fuzhou Water Works Siemens, Germany. So far, there have been thousands of hydrogen peroxide treatment plants in the world. In 1980, Montreal, Canada, built a large-scale water plant with a daily water supply of 2.3 million tons and a hydrogen peroxide consumption rate of 300 kg/hour. Most of them were built in developed countries, but only a few small-scale applications were used in developing countries. Since the 1980s, a few water plants in my country have adopted the hydrogen peroxide method, such as Beijing Tiancun Water Plant (15 kg/h) and Kunming Water Plant (33 kg/h). And Yanshan Petrochemical Company also has hydrogen peroxide equipment in operation. Compared with foreign countries, China is still in its infancy.
Hydrogen peroxide treatment has made great progress in the world, not only because of its effective impurity removal and sterilization ability, but also because it will not cause secondary pollution (residual poison) to the water after treatment, and excess hydrogen peroxide will be decomposed into oxygen instead of Chlorine forms carcinogens such as chloramine and chloroform in water, so it is recognized as the most disinfectant in the world. There is no large-scale promotion in developing countries because of high investment in fixed assets and high electricity consumption for operations. Since the mid-1980s, many bottled water factories in China have adopted hydrogen peroxide treatment due to the high water quality standards and high economic benefits of bottled water. Small-scale hydrogen peroxide generators have been promoted on a large scale. Most bottling water plants with proper hydrogen peroxide treatment can reach the international standard of double zero (Escherichia coli, zero total bacteria).