Automating Better Water: The TGA and Water Treatment

Automating Better Water: The TGA and Water Treatment. Clean, safe water is essential to life, and the ability to properly process and treat wastewater is critical to environmental preservation. As a result, water treatment plants like Veritas S. p. A (Veneziiana Energia Risorse Idriche Territorio Ambiente e Servizi) are an important part of water infrastructure, and the analytical methods they employ are an important part of water treatment. 

Veritas is one of Italy’s largest multi-utility water treatment facilities, performing waste collection and treatment as well as an integrated water cycle. According to international standards, their analysis laboratory monitors the drinking water quality (78 million cubic metres distributed through their water service annually) that runs through their treatment facility. One method is to use thermogravimetric analysis on the sludge residue left over from the water treatment process.

Automating Better Water: The TGA and Water Treatment
Automating Better Water: The TGA and Water Treatment

Veritas employs three TGA701s and one TGA801 for this analysis. Each instrument can analyse up to 19 samples at the same time to determine the moisture, ash, and volatile matter of the sludge samples, which are important parameters for calculating process control metrics. This lab’s reference method for determining total solids (TS) in this sludge is: CNR IRSA 2 Q 64 Vol 2 1984 / Newsletter of Analytical Methods IRSA CNR n.2: 2008. Accredia (Accredia – L’Ente Italiano di Accredditamento – the Italian accreditation authority) has approved the adaptation of an automated method to meet the regulations.

By using automated instruments such as the TGA to handle this analysis, Veritas is able to analyze around 6,000 samples annually, improving the precision of the process. Handling errors are reduced, and the automated software controls the software to a higher accuracy than manual testing would have allowed.  Automating Better Water: The TGA and Water Treatment

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