Measuring total organic carbon in wastewater

The continuous TOC analysis of industrial waste water is known to be problematic especially, when the TOC analyser is used as a spill monitor for heavily polluted waste water containing a high-load of particles. Thus, most operators require analysers that enable accurate TOC (total organic carbon) measurements. But do they really get those? Common analysers suffer from clogging and blockages due to their measuring techniques using tubes and valves. They require pre-treatment and/ or even filtration of the sample. However, any pre-treatment or filtration will affect the analysers` measuring results. Removing particles means removing carbons and, hence, an inaccurate measurement. In stead of total organic carbon the analyser determines only some organic carbon.