The world is becoming more serious about guarding and treating its finite water resources. As part of the larger environmental agenda set by governments, wastewater treatment is an ongoing challenge and where the online ammonia analyzer plays a critical role.
The average Canadian may not think about the vast infrastructure, treatment, and analysis needs of wastewater and how it plays a role in their daily lives. But the reduction and analysis of ammonia levels in wastewater goes well beyond its impact on treatment plants. The online ammonia monitor, which in various forms is far from new, is a major component of proposed outcomes required by environmental protocols.
These precision devices verify compliance to the lowest possible levels of ammonia in treated water that will rejoin our natural ecosystem in various ways. Their efficacy hinges on factors such as uncompromising accuracy, precision, repeatability and affordability as regulations become more stringent.
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and organic nitrogen are forms of nitrogen in wastewater, which is among life’s building blocks. Online ammonia analyzers ensure that treatment processes have help to track nutrient levels to avoid over enrichment which has dangerous ecological and health ramifications. This ensures that treated wastewater for crop irrigation and other uses has no harmful effects in lakes, oceans and the wildlife within them.
Wastewater treatment plants use the online ammonia analyzer to optimize activated sludge and biological nutrient removal (BNR) processes. Operators must be able to manage and monitor these devices to ensure process repeatability and auditing requirements are met.
We know one type of online ammonia analyzer as the Colorimetric Ammonia Analyzer. These systems use a colorimeter which measures light intensity at specific wavelengths. The analyzer pulls and measures two simultaneous samples at predetermined time frames measured in 15- minute intervals. Chemical reagents are then added to the water samples that cause chemical reactions to the ammonia present and ultimately produce a specific color in proportion to its concentration. This color then determines the measured value. For post-treatment samples, this measurement can be used to compare to the regulatory requirements.
This basic summary of the process only hints at the high level of interaction between technology and chemical processes within these sophisticated devices. By operating at the highest level of functionality, these devices must be capable of many functions and options. While each online ammonia analyzer for wastewater must meet regulatory standards, the best of these will deliver the highest accuracy, and lowest operational costs.
Analyzer capabilities should include everything from EPA-approved measurement methods, automatic range switching, to high IP rating, intuitive menu/interface options, compact size and rugged design. Other factors like low reagent consumption, self-calibration, and many others are part of what operators should find in an ideal online ammonia analyzer.
These are all critical functions needed by municipal entities from wastewater treatment plants to public and large private water system operators. There are countless organizations that are guided by Environment Canada, the EPA, and their partners monitoring waterways and other public water sources to meet increasingly critical monitoring and management regulations. They all benefit from an online ammonia analyzer to enable consistent, accurate measurement as well as remote sharing of operational and process data by various technicians and process administrators.
The recent introduction of the 8010cX Thermo Scientific™ Orion™ Ammonia Analyzer bridges the gaps in current testing accuracy and functionality by an online ammonia analyzer for wastewater. To see how the 8010cX accomplishes those various goals and changes the game for wastewater analysis, learn more by contacting IC Controls.
