The Significance of Ammonia Analyzers in Wastewater Treatment Facilities

Monitoring ammonia levels in the wastewater treatment and effluent system is critical to ensure that the nutrient levels are sufficient to allow bacteria to work in the breakdown of waste during the treatment process while minimizing the production of ammonia from the final outfall so that the effluent is safe for wildlife. Ammonia analyzers will document the discharge levels as set by regulatory authorities wherein non-compliance mat result into penalties. Ammonia analyzers are also important for the control of nitrification and denitrification process since the nitrate content will encourage undesirable oxygen-depleting growth in lakes and rivers that can compromise the life of fishes and other aquatic animals.

The demand for high quality ammonia analyzers

In order to successfully monitor wastewater parameters, both industries and local municipalities demand for high quality ammonia analyzers that will ensure regulatory compliance. Continuous online ammonia analyzers have been gaining popularity recently because they reveal most of the ongoing analysis and are able to identify the sources of contaminations which requires a change in the processes. Since the continuous ammonia analyzers operate and calibrate automatically, they reduce the need for human intervention. However, in addition to optimizing and controlling the wastewater treatment process the accuracy of measurements is dependent upon water quality data.

Critical parameters that have to be measured and analyzed

-        Parameters that are essential to the cleaning process like measurement of pH at the inlet and dissolved oxygen at the aeration tank

-        Parameters essential to the measurement of efficiency which includes biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand measured at the inlet and in the treated effluent

-        Parameters that are highly important for plant optimization that includes dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and phosphorus

Factors to consider in the choice for ammonia analyzers

When selecting ammonia analyzers it is important to take into consideration several essential engineering design details that are critical to the proper operation and performance of the instrument. Ensure to specify the range that meets your expected measurements and the type of process being measured since there are many conditions that can affect the accuracy of the instrument. For example, the amount of particulates in wastewater being measured can result into abnormal measurement conditions and may cause a chemical interference in the process of measurement. Think about filtering requirements that may be essential and note if there is any trapped gas in the process water. Each disturbance in the sample water such as pipe bends, valves and pumps must also be clearly identified. It also makes perfect sense to verify manufacturer suggestions on proper installation, calibration and maintenance practices in order to ensure the instrument’s accuracy.

There are several major types of online ammonia analyzers that will measure the levels of ammonia in the water treatment process. Each technology measures ammonia using different analytical methods and each manufacturer uses different methodologies for such functions like sample transport, sample conditioning, chemical addition, primary measurement and secondary signal conditioning and amplification. All of these ammonia analyzers require the addition of chemical reagents to the sample and between 3 to 5 minutes to perform a complete sample analysis.