Instrumentation In The New Era

Measuring dissolved oxygen (DO) in the aeration process has gone from a helpful, if vague, step for information gathering to a precise imperative for increased efficiency and reduced costs.

The path to modern DO measuring began in 1956, with Dr. Leland Clark’s invention of the first membrane-covered Polargraphic electrode. The device made open heart surgery possible for the first time and its immediate DO reading capabilities were quickly put to use for measuring water quality in the environment. This analog device allowed water professionals to get an approximate reading from streams and aeration basins, but now that it’s gone digital, much more detailed information is available.

“Now [water professionals are] looking for repeatable measurements down to the hundredths place, and a lot of times that’s achievable when the instrumentation is used in the correct way,” Laura St. Pierre, senior product manager with YSI, told Water Online Radio.

With the advent of digital DO monitoring and the newfound ability to continuously monitor online, significant energy savings are now possible where they weren’t before.

“The easy step for most wastewater treatment plants when they move to online monitoring is to control their aeration of dissolved oxygen,” said St. Pierre. “If we monitor DO and control our blowers to feed oxygen to the bugs just to the limit they need, as opposed to over-aerating, we can really reduce energy use.”

For more on the new era of water instrumentation, tune in below.