Patent ID: 8491771

Claim:
A method of producing a flow of either acidic or alkaline electrolyzed water, wherein the production of a second flow of a complementary alkaline or acidic electrolyzed water is inhibited, the method comprising: (a) providing a three chamber electrolysis cell with at least two electrolysis chambers and a middle chamber, wherein each of the two electrolysis chambers contain an electrode separated from the middle chamber by an ion exchange membrane and the middle chamber contains an electrode which is bound in part by the ion exchange membranes wherein the ion exchange membranes are selected to exchange either anions or cations; (b) applying a voltage between the electrode in the middle chamber and the electrodes in the two electrolysis chambers wherein the electrodes in the two electrolysis chambers are electronically charged with either positive or negative polarity, and the electrode in the middle chamber is charged with an opposite polarity wherein the ion exchange membranes have negative ion exchange ability when the electrodes have positive polarity and wherein the ion exchange membranes have positive ion exchange ability when the electrodes have negative polarity; and wherein the middle chamber contains a solution comprising at least one of carbonate and bicarbonate anions wherein the carbonate and bicarbonate anions in the middle chamber are more than 90% of the anions in the middle chamber; (c) circulating a solution to be electrolyzed through the electrolysis chambers thereby generating electrolyzed water in the electrolysis chambers, wherein polarity of the electrodes and correlated exchange characteristics of the membranes cause the electrolyzed water to be acidic or alkaline.