Working closely with a major municipality in the southeast, Chemtrac, Inc. compared their new line of coagulation control instrumentation against their tried and proven Streaming Current Controller (which has been in use at this specific plant for the past couple of years).  Utilizing a Chemtrac HydroACT multi-parameter analyzer, they monitored streaming current, as well as key aspects of the raw water: turbidity, pH, and UV 254 organics.

With the new system, Chemtrac was able to illustrate how changes in those raw water characteristics had an impact on the streaming current values. Observations ranged from detecting the presence of natural organics and recognizing the relative impact on the streaming current values, and the subsequent need for a higher alum dosage… to realize the effect that turbidity had on UV 254 absorbance measurement. And the plant operators especially liked the onboard data logging features in case of SCADA failure, as well as the remote modem alerts that prompted actions to avoid any plant hiccups.

During the comparison study, the new streaming current sensor, and the existing unit tracked very closely. The graph below shows a period where the two streaming current units simultaneously responded to an increase in coagulant demand, which coincided with a temporary spike in turbidity. This resulted in a reactionary change in the output to the coagulant pump.

Chemtrac utilized the results of their study to make improvements on their new line of HydroACT analyzers, as well as to further refine their new and more rugged DuraTrac 4 Streaming Current Sensor.

One analyzer…multiple measurements. A less expensive solution offering plant personnel peace of mind.