Turbidity Monitoring | Fluidquip for sale from Fluidquip Australia

Turbidity Monitoring | Fluidquip

Supplier: Fluidquip Australia

Fluidquip Self Cleaning Sensors

Fluidquip Turbidity Monitoring - Monitoring final effluent suspended solids or turbidity is a key parameter for assessing the quality of the effluent in respect of meeting discharge consent and permitting levels.

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Fluidquip Turbidity Monitoring

It is also an excellent indicator of the basic performance of the treatment works. An increase in the level of turbidity is an indicator to plant operators that sludge blanket breakthrough is occurring, either through a failure in the treatment process or excessive flow producing poor settlement.

The monitoring is also of major significance in applications where the measurement is taken prior to treatment or discharge to sewer as any rise in the level of turbidity will warn of a process problem upstream of the effluent point. This will allow the operator to avoid causing problems in the effluent treatment plant receiving the flow. This can reduce treatment charges and avoid fines and bad publicity.

The terms Suspended Solids and Turbidity are widely used and interchanged without full consideration for the actual measurement being taken. The vast majority of the instruments available for these applications use an infrared light source that emits light into the sample with a detector placed at 90º to the light source. This internationally recognised principle of operation produces a linear response to increasing levels of turbidity.

When setting the instrument up, the user needs to consider the correct units of measurement, the calibration method to be used, and how the data will be reported. If the measurement is being made for regulatory reasons the 7300w² Monitor should be set up to use the same units as the regulator is using. For EPR sites this is likely to be FTU, and therefore the instrument should be set up to measure turbidity.

The calibration standard would then be Formazin. Most standard discharge consents use mg/l which implies that suspended solids measurement is required and calibration will be carried out using reference to a laboratory solids analysis.

Calibration of the system in suspended solids units is based on the assumption that the solids present in the sample analysed by the laboratory are representative of the normal process conditions and that the distribution of particle size, density and colour do not change between calibrations. This is a reasonable assumption when monitoring solids at the outlet of a treatment plant where the effluent is thoroughly mixed by the process, becoming fairly homogeneous.

Using turbidity as the measurement provides a straight forward calibration process, that is easy to reproduce and make traceable, for trend monitoring this is the preferred option. Care needs to be taken interpreting the information from the system when relating the Turbidity value to suspended solid.

Self Cleaning Sensors

The TurbiTechw² LS Sensor is designed to monitor the levels of suspended solids or turbidity typically found in final effluent from municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants. It is also great at monitoring solids in the intake to both effluent and drinking water treatment processes.

Monitoring of these key parameters requires sensors that are reliable and accurate, the TurbiTechw² LS meets this requirement perfectly. The large optical surfaces and sample volume ensure that the information provided by the sensor is both representative of the process and tolerant of fouling.

In addition, the sensor incorporates a self cleaning mechanism that ensures that the optical surfaces are kept clean at all times, the cleaning system is designed to avoid problems with ragging and does not smear the optical system.

The sensor employs infrared light at 860 nm using the 90º light scatter principle in accordance with ISO 7027. The TurbiTechw² LS sensor incorporates a self cleaning mechanism that has repeatedly been proven to be market leading.

The cleaning process takes only 90 seconds, which means that the sensor is available for 99.5 per cent of the time with a 5 hourly cleaning cycle.

Monitor

The user can configure the sensor and it's accompanying 7300w² Monitor to measure either suspended solids or turbidity, depending on the requirements of the application. The 7300w² Monitor is designed to interface with all of the sensors in the WaterWatch² range. The monitor specification provides all the connections required for 1 or 2 sensors, systems can be created by the use of expansion boxes to include multiple sensors.

The maximum number of sensors will be limited by the practicalities of most sites. We anticipate 8 being a sensible maximum although many more can be accommodated.

Combining sensors provides a very cost effective way of simultaneously monitoring parameters such as dissolved oxygen and suspended solids in an activated sludge plant, or pH and turbidity at a treatment works outfall where the sensors can be located close together.