Water analyzers for Pure water and highly purified water - Water and Wastewater
Pure water and highly purified water are crucial factors to production in numerous processes and industries and can be used as a raw material, auxiliary and/or for process operation. It is very important to pay particular attention to the quality of the water used as it is crucial to product quality and the safe operation of the production facilities. Therefore, continuous monitoring is essential - from an ecological as well as an economic point of view.
Boiler Feed Water
Feed water / boiler feed water is used for theoperation of boiler plants. In general feed water systems supply steam generators which drive turbines, thus generating electricity, after which the generated steam condenses in a downstream condenser.
In the case that there is not enough water in the feed water system it is then fed with fresh make-up water. Hence, boiler feed water is a mixture of make-up water and condensate return.
Pollutions in water can affect the whole system, e.g. it canlead to deposits, corrosions, frequent blowdowns and a higher consumption of chemicals. To ensure a safe and economic operation of the boiler plant it is essential to monitor the steam-water-circuit at different points. Organic pollutants especially are dangerous. At high pressure in the boiler organics produce acidic products that can damage the piping or the boiler itself. Even a small pollution can lead to failure of the entire production facility.
A prerequisite for reliable TOCmeasurements are application-specific instrumentations. LAR's QuickTOCpurity is the TOC analyzer for pure water applications, that fulfils the requirements of the application.
Condensate Return / Steam
In steam-water-cycles feed water is heated up and the steam produced is fed into a steam generator driving a turbine and resulting in electricity being generated. Downstream from the turbine the remaining high-pressure steam or low-pressure steam is then used for other production processes. The thermal energy of this high-pressure steam is also used for heat transfer to another material flows. This transfer usually takes place by way of heat exchangers. Should these heat exchangers suffer leakages then the condensate would affect the product quality and vice versa.
In the event of a leak condensate can be polluted by organic contaminants, which form under pressurecarbonic acid or acidic products. Acidic products and carbonic acid lead to increased formation of deposits, foam and corrosion. This should be avoided.
If the hot steam is not used in further production process then it is cooled down in the condenser, in which case the resulting condensate collects, rejoins the fresh make-up water and the mixture is then fed back into the steam-water-cycle.
Online TOC analyzers provide the fast determination of pollutants in steam and condensate so that in the case of a pollution only contaminated water and not the clean water will be drained off. Additionally, the processing of raw water to pure water is very costly and energy intensive. Therefore the detection of a shock load is just as important as the degradation. Otherwise expensive, clean condensate is drained off.
LAR's QuickTOCpurity is an application-specific TOC analyzer, that is designed specifically for this application. Thus, even samples with up to 90°C can be measured easily and safely.
Pharmaceutical Water
In the pharmaceutical industry pure water is used for various production processes. Distinctions are made betweenPurified Water (PW / Aqua Purificata),Highly Purified Water (HPW / Aqua Valde Purificata) andWater for Injection (WFI / Aqua Ad Iniectabilia). These pharmaceutical waters differ in respect of their concentration of conductivity or TOC content.
The monitoring of total organic carbon (TOC) is standardized in international regulations, such as the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), the European Pharmacopoeia (EP). The TOC limit is defined at 500 ppb C.
Mainly TOC analyzers are used to monitor pure water preparation, the distribution system itself, as well as the sampling points. LAR's QuickTOCpharma is the online TOC analyzer for the pharmaceutical industry, as it meets the demands of the industry. For instance it is equipped with a software according to FDA 21 CRF Part 11. Furthermore, it provides the monitoring oftwo sample streams, enabling the monitoring of the inlet as well as the outlet of the pharmaceutical pure water cycle.
Groundwater
Ground water is theaccumulation of rainwater and leachate, that is accumulatedin the soil. Its usage is regulated in the German Federal Water Act (WHG), as well as it being additionally protected through the European Water Framework Directive.
Ground water is an importantsource of drinking and service water.Therefore the protection of ground water reservoirs is of great importance. The objective is toensure water purity,to allow subsequent processing into drinking or service water. Especially in urban areas, the protection of this water represents a challenge.
Drinking Water
Drinking water isessentialfor human life. Hence, water quality is internationally standardized and has defined limits in its specification. In Germany drinking water limits for specification are given by the drinking water ordinance (TrinkwV).
Often surface water is taken and prepared for drinking water in drinking water treatment plants. However, this allows for the possibility that already contaminated water is fed into the treatment plants. For this reason thecontinuous monitoringof the influent is essential to ensure good quality drinking water.
During the treatment process water is disinfected, through which the formation of disinfection by-products (DBP) can pose a risk and is dependent on the concentration of chlorine andTOCin the water. Hence, the control of the disinfection dosage is possible through TOC monitoring.
For a reliable monitoring of drinking and surface water LAR provides its online toximeter ToxAlarm. Furthermore, LAR's QuickTOCpurity and QuickTOCuv suits best for TOC monitoring in lowest ppb ranges.
