Abstract
Abstract. Organic measurements, such as biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were developed decades ago in order to measure organics in water. Today, these time-consuming measurements are still used as parameters to check the water treatment quality; however, the time required to generate a result, ranging from hours to days, does not allow COD or BOD to be useful process control parameters – see (1) Standard Method 5210 B; 5-day BOD Test, 1997, and (2) ASTM D1252; COD Test, 2012. Online organic carbon monitoring allows for effective process control because results are generated every few minutes. Though it does not replace BOD or COD measurements still required for compliance reporting, it allows for smart, data-driven and rapid decision-making to improve process control and optimization or meet compliances. Thanks to the smart interpretation of generated data and the capability to now take real-time actions, municipal drinking water and wastewater treatment facility operators can positively impact their OPEX (operational expenditure) efficiencies and their capabilities to meet regulatory requirements. This paper describes how three municipal wastewater and drinking water plants gained process insights, and determined optimization opportunities thanks to the implementation of online total organic carbon (TOC) monitoring.
Highlights
Growing populations and expanding industries are pulling on water resources while adding nutrients and pollutants to water sources
The City of Boulder 75th Street Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF), USA, gained insight and determined optimization opportunities through the use of online total organic carbon (TOC) monitoring implemented since March 2015
After implementing online TOC analysis, The City of Boulder WWTF demonstrated that the diurnal patterns of carbon and nitrogen are offset enough to contribute to the WWTF’s carbon limitation
Summary
Growing populations and expanding industries are pulling on water resources while adding nutrients and pollutants to water sources. These facts coupled with heightened public demand for quality water at affordable prices has the water industry under scrutiny. Total organic carbon (TOC) monitoring is one of the most important parameters that drinking water and wastewater facilities can use to make decisions about treatment. TOC is useful in detecting the presence of many organic contaminants including petroleum products, organic acids like humic and fulvic acids, pesticides, pathogens, etc. It is a non-specific, but inclusive parameter for monitoring organics. As opposed to methods like biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), TOC includes all organic compounds and can be achieved in a matter of minutes with instrumentation as opposed to hours or days with reagents in a laboratory
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