HoCl, the forgotten sanitizer

Disclaimer: Whatever follows is my observations and experiments with HoCl. I am no way advising the use of HoCl nor recommending that it replace whatever you believe and have been using. Use the information mentioned below at your own risk. I am no way responsible for any harm caused by using the information below.

Thanks to all the independent researchers and particularly, the public network, which made the activities mentioned below possible in the first place.

This post is not about belittling any company/organization, but when a product is released in the time of a pandemic and is marketed using the situation, the customer should be given enough knowledge not only about theory but also the practical data points. It is the responsibility of the company. If there is anything wrong in the post, Kindly post it in the comments and I will take it up in the right spirit and if found wrong will update the post.

Ok. after the Disclaimer, let me bring out the experiments and research carried out to arrive on a sanitizer which is not alcohol based.

Alcohol based sanitizers are new entrants to our country. When their advertising started, the ads showed where you could spray the sanitizer on your hands when you are at a hotel/fast food joint, wherein you cannot waste some time to wash your hands. Later the ads vanished as it was proved that the alcohol based sanitizers are not safe and there will be residual from the usage and will get mixed with your food. The details and the homework to do the same is left to the reader and the various search engines are your friends.But, be aware that the time you search for sanitizers all your feeds/social networks will start bombarding you with ads and ads disguised as articles down your throat. Kindly use ad-blockers and script blockers while doing general purpose web browsing and allowing ads on websites/blogs whom you know well and are ethical and depend on ad revenue.

The pandemic on our hand has brought back the alcohol based sanitizer on our hands. My skin is very dry and all my efforts at moisturizing them have failed terribly. Now, I rub the sanitizer on my hands, I know what is going to happen. My hands are akin to to a dried up tree branch and leads to other skin complications. You are now telling me to buy sanitizers with moisturizers. Yes, the alcohol has to do its bit, then the other contents of the concoction comes into play. Once I understood that there is no other option than to start using the sanitizers, I started a hunt for alternatives. It is in my blood that I always look for alternatives. The alternatives cannot stand on their feet just being clones, there should be something which makes them stand apart. This process of differentiation is a blessing in disguise for the customer. When the alternate is suggested by nature itself, then you have to standup and take notice. That is what I did.


Let us talk about the things against HoCl and why it is not being mentioned/produced by the capitalist companies

1. The viral killing power of the solution decreases over its storage time.
2. The solution has to be avoided from direct sunlight.
3. The solution has to be kept in opaque containers.
4. The active life is varied based on varied studies from 04 weeks to 04 months.

The effectiveness of the HoCl solution is left to the reader to find it out for himself by going through the research articles on the public network.

After all this, it is now time to generate HoCl. After searching for generators, zeroed in on Cuckoo generator, from a Korean company, available in our country. This can be ordered on the company website as well as on amazon.

Read through the website and without going into depth of the technicalities ordered the unit. Started using it and replaced the sanitizer used by me and my family. This continued for a couple of weeks. The reliability of the solution was questioned by one of my colleague. Came back home and hit the public network for data. Because data speaks.

Now, there are three data points for a HoCl solution.

1. The Ph of the solution
2. The free chlorine available in the solution in ppm.
3. Percentage HoCl

The points 1 & 3 are connected. The Ph of the solution is what tells us about the "acidity" of the solution. Pure water has Ph of 7.0. Less than that is classified as acidic and more than that will be basic. Further prodding can be taken up on the public network or turn back your pre-university chemistry books.

When the Ph of the solution is at 5 to 5.5 99% of the free chlorine available in the solution is in the form of HoCl. This is the most desirable end result. This will be the perfect solution. Perfect for sanitizing and cleaning of fruits, vegetables and meat. Solutions within this range are corrosive and cannot be used on rusting surfaces. It can be used on other surfaces but has to be cleaned off after its application. It can be used as a sanitizer, but after spraying on to the hands, it is better to wash it off after 10 -15 seconds. Solutions with Ph less than 5 will react with the sprayed surfaces and produce chlorine gases, totally undesirable.  But, when the Ph of the solution is around 6 then 90% of the freely available chlorine is in the form of HoCl. Solutions at this Ph have a lesser degree of corrosion. It is still better to clean off the solution from the surface after 10 -15 seconds.

The action of HoCl in the range of 5 - 6 is that the solution kills the virus almost immediately. If the solution is left to linger, it will not have any effect on the further virus which might come and settle on the solution. The summary is the solution will kill the virus on the surface which was there before the spraying started. This is the reason that in hospitals this process of spraying and cleaning happens at regular intervals.

Now let us come to the other parameter, free chlorine available in the solution. The amount of free chlorine available in any solution is measure by ppm. 1ppm will be 1mg of chlorine/litre. For an effective sanitizer this measure should be a minimum of 200ppm. Th studies have shown that the solution with a Ph between 5 to 6 an ppm between 100 to 200 will kill the virus almost immediately on application. With the same Ph range and a ppm of 80, it would take 0.5 to 1.0 minute for killing all the virus on the surface. A ppm of 50 would take 10 minutes. Many commercial generators with proprietary procedures produce a ppm of around 400 - 500 ppm, Just to be on the safer side.

So, now we know the final properties of our solution. The Ph should be in the range of 5 - 6 and should have a ppm of around 200 - 300 ppm, the safest bet.

Well now we know the data points. How about measuring them. This was the most trickiest task.

1. Measuring Ph with strips was not intuitive. I tried with a variety of strips and I found it very difficult to compare the colors. This was compounded by the fact that I am not that good with colors. But, again, I am not color blind. I then went ahead an purchased a digital Ph meter for the task. It is very easy to read and very handy.
2. Measuring the ppm was more tricky. We dont have any companies which make any apparatus to measure a ppm of above 10 which is normally used to test the amount of free chlorine in the swimming pools. After a through search ordered a set of strip on amazon from an Indian company which imports it from US. Tragedy. The color map on the box and the colors the strips produced never matched except for 10 ppm. So search started again and then it ended at desertcart.in. Here I was able to purchase the best in the business. The strips were capable of showing a ppm of 50 to 1000!!!. The wait took exactly 1.5 months after placing the order. The strips were awesome and the colors after testing were very intuitive.

Ok. So now we have the measuring apparatus. Let us now get the ingredients to prepare the solution

1. Tap water
2. Kosher salt(Rock salt)- Un-iodized
3. Vinegar (Distilled white, 5% acidity)
4. Distilled water( for cleaning the digital Ph meter and also the generator at regular intervals to keep the electrodes carrying out the electrolysis. More about this later)
5. Weighing scale to measure a minimum of 0.01gm

The generator from cuckoo does not mention anything regarding all these technicalities. Which is a big fail. And a very risky proposition. The solution generated was at 10 ppm. I really dont know what can that be used for. After a couple of months there was a call from a customer care exec and once I started belting out ppm's and Ph's, the call was cut. That was that. I am on my own.

The cuckooo generator is capable of producing 250ml of the solution at one go.

1. Fill up the generator with 250ml of tap water
2. Fire up the weighing machine and measure 0.8 gms of kosher salt and 1.3 gms of vinegar and add it to the 250ml of water. Mix it thoroughly so that the salt is completely dissolved. Lumps of salt can damage the electrodes of the generator
3. Check the Ph of this water. It should be around 4.5 - 4.6
4. Run the generator for 3 cycles(9 minutes)
5. Check the Ph of the final solution. It should be around 5.5 to 6.0
6. Check the free chlorine ppm. It should be around 250 - 300 ppm


Thats it. you now have one of the safest to use sanitizer. Pour it to spray bottles and share it with your loved ones. The effectiveness of the solution decreases based on its exposure to sunlight. Pour the solution in opaque spray bottles. Anyhow, it will not last beyond a week because of the present usage. So, we have not crossed the threshold. You can always keep a bottle of the solution for a week and check the Ph and the ppm to ensure that it definitely lasts a week.

The proportions of the salt and vinegar was arrived at after a lot of permutations and combinations. Try your combinations. It is better to use less salt and run more cycles(Just my hunch. I dont have anything to back this claim).

The applications are numerous. No smell when you spray it in your office premises. The solution can be use on clothes, gloves, sofas, tables, door knobs, toilet seats, car, office, handles, drawers, refrigerators, washing machines, kitchen gadgets, floors, walls, windows and of course cleaning veggies and meats. Use it to deodorize your trash can, kitchen sinks and what not. Jump on to the public network for more applications.

I also use it to disinfect my masks and can be easily used on the N95 masks and the hang them to dry(Again, I dont know the effectiveness. But, I have believed in the process)