Ammonium and Phosphate Quantification in Wastewater by Using a Voltammetric Electronic Tongue

Abstract

Ammonia (NH4N) and orthophosphate (PO4P) quantification in wastewater treatment plants is important due to their implication in the eutrophication process. A voltammetric electronic tongue as a tool for the prediction of ammonia and orthophosphate concentrations from influent and effluent wastewater is proposed herein. An electrochemical study of the response of the ammonium and orthophosphate ions was performed in order to design a suitable waveform for each electrode. Partial Least Squares analysis was used to obtain a correlation between the data from the tongue and the concentrations of ammonia and orthophosphate measured in the laboratory showing good predictive power.