Article | March 11, 2019

How To Be More Industrious About Water-Quality Measurement

Source: Myron L Company

Precise water quality is critical for municipal water treatment operations, but many
industrial applications have even more rigorous requirements, regulations, and
guidelines to follow. The energy, pharmaceutical, food processing, and other industrial
fields require exact water quality in order to function efficiently.

To stay on top of these critical measurements, industrial operators need to have a clear
understanding of how to measure quality — both the tools they should leverage and the
best practices to employ.

Understanding The Measurements

“As part of raw materials, processes, cleaning, and discharge, monitoring water quality
is critical for maintaining consistent and uncontaminated product,” said James Peterson, a product manager at Crystal IS, a manufacturer of
LED lights that are utilized for UV disinfection in industrial water treatment settings. “Real-time monitoring of water in these systems can
optimize process efficiency, prevent contamination events, and predict equipment maintenance needs by reacting to changes in water
quality.”

Of course, gaining precise understandings of water quality is no easy task, particularly in industrial settings. Just as the specific industrial
environments and requirements can vary, so too can the numerous pitfalls that water-quality managers must overcome. For those creating
products like pharmaceuticals or beverages, purity is a primary obstacle. Some operations will have cost-effective boiler water and cooler
water conditioning at top of mind. Others will be focused on additive balancing and organic content levels.
Here are a few of the major water-quality measurement parameters involved in industrial applications and key points to remember when
testing for them:

pH: Possibly the most frequently used and critical measurement criteria for industrial water-quality monitoring, pH levels are windows
into the acidity and alkalinity of solutions. These levels are critical because of the impact that they have on chemical reactions and an
operation’s ability to maintain the conditions of their influent and effluent.
TDS/TSS: The level of total dissolved solids (TDS) and total suspended solids (TSS) are vital to industrial operations, particularly for
operations that require cooling water. Dissolved ionized solids, like salts and minerals, are also frequent parameters at the forefront for
industrial applications, as these increase the electrical conductivity of a solution.
Conductivity: Another quality indicator tied to TDS, the conductivity of a solution increases as dissolved solids increase. Many
industrial applications consider conductivity to be a critical measure and they will want to leverage instrumentation that is capable of
matching the “true” TDS of a solution, rather than a measurement that estimates electrical conductivity.
Resistivity: Electrical resistivity (or electrical resistance) indicates how strongly a solution opposes the flow of an electric current — a
low resistivity means that the solution easily allows for electric currents to flow.
ORP: Oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) is an indicator of how capable a given solution is to oxidize constituents. A high ORP means
that, for instance, wastewater is more capable of oxidizing bacteria and pathogens within it because it will be able to absorb electrons
from these bacteria and pathogens. In industrial applications that leverage reverse osmosis (RO), ORP is a good parameter to determine
how well this RO is performing — a high ORP rating means that oxidizers in the solution may adversely affect the RO and a low ORP
rating is a sign that biological activity could foul the RO membranes.

Temperature: As one of the most straightforward water measurements, solution temperature may not get the credit it deserves for the
ramifications it has on other instrumentation readings. Fluctuations in temperature can affect the readings for a wide range of other
quality parameters.

Understanding The Applications

It might be impossible to list all of the potential applications for water-quality monitoring in industrial settings, as there are so many. But
breaking down a few can offer a sense of just how important real-time monitoring is in any industrial application.

Contamination Monitoring: Solution contamination is the number one concern for water-quality managers, whether in industrial or
municipal settings. Real-time monitoring of solution parameters like UV transmission and conductivity will immediately alert operators
to any potentially harmful contamination or unforeseen changes in quality that may endanger a final product.
 Process Efficiency: Real-time monitoring allows operations to oversee continuous process flows and adjust their procedures
immediately, thus improving final products.
Discharge Monitoring: At the end of a process, from effluent outflows to clean-in-place procedures, real-time monitoring is a critical
tool that allows operators to avoid source water contamination or regulatory fines.

Understanding The Instrumentation

When it comes to monitoring the water and wastewater-quality parameters listed above, industrial operations will have two main avenues to
choose from: inline instrumentation and handheld or “pen” instrumentation.

For the large processes that involve continuous process flows, operations will want to go with inline instrumentation, embedded directly into
the flow, to continuously monitor and maintain the proper solution balances.

For smaller applications that do fluctuate in production and flow, handheld instrumentation would be a better option. These devices can
provide multiple compatible readings and allow operators more nimble control over how and when industrial water-quality data is collected.
Some digital handheld measurement devices can determine conductivity, resistivity, TDS, pH, ORP, temperature, and more. Meanwhile,
customized pen solutions are tailor-made to measure pH and temperature; ORP and temperature; conductivity, TDS, salinity and
temperature; or other combinations of a handful of industrial water parameters.

Regardless of the avenue they take, industrial operators should always choose an electronic sensing option.

“With either discharge permits or on-site wastewater treatment systems, industrial sites have strict requirements to maintain and costs to
control,” said Peterson. “[With electronic sensing] at discharge, operators can have instant tracking of agreed water quality and defensible
data for compliance… On site, operators can closely optimize treatment costs internally by monitoring exact dosing needs in real time.”

With a full grasp of the most important industrial water-quality parameters and the general options for instrumentation to measure them,
water-quality overseers at industrial operations should have the starting tools they need to become more industrial about water-quality
measurement.

Image credit: "Plant HDR," Scott Wilton © 2008, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/