Wastewater Treatment Facilities May Play Important Role in Tracking Coronavirus

New studies show that SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, is shed in human feces and is collecting in our city sewers.  If the pandemic continues in waves as the latest estimates believe, wastewater treatment plants could provide early warnings to prevent ICUs and hospitals from being swarmed.

Environmental microbiologists have studied pathogens in sewage for decades. In 1989, Israel set up a Polio virus sewage surveillance system. The use of sewage pathogen monitoring in wastewater treatment facilities as a public health surveillance tool, however, is a fairly new area of study.

Biobot, Somerville, MA company who specializes in wastewater epidemiology, is establishing protocols to test sewage for SARS-CoV-2. If successful, this data will give communities a dynamic map of the virus as it spreads to new places.

Data from sewage will enable communities to:

• Measure the scope of the outbreak independent from patient testing or hospital reporting, and include data on asymptomatic individuals,
• Provide decision support for officials determining the timing and severity of public health interventions to mitigate the overall spread of the disease,
• Better anticipate likely impact on hospital capacity in order to inform hospital readiness and the necessity of public health interventions,
• Track the effectiveness of interventions and measure the wind-down period of the outbreak, and
• Provide an early warning for reemergence of the coronavirus (if it does indeed have a seasonal cycle).

It needs to be mentioned that experts believe, based on previous coronavirus research, that SARS-COVID-2 is effectively removed through traditional water treatment processes. The focus on these public health surveillance efforts track virus levels prior to treatment.

Wastewater treatment facilities interested in participating should visit this site - https://www.biobot.io/covid19.

Other useful links about the effort to use wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 tracking:
https://news.stanford.edu/2020/03/26/understanding-spread-covid-19/
https://news.engin.umich.edu/2020/03/a-sewage-surveillance-effort-to-track-covid-19/

Maintenance Procedures - Yokogawa ADMAG TI Series AXW Magnetic Flowmeter

The AXW series of magnetic flow meters is available in
a range of sizes with corrosion resistant lining.
Image courtesy Yokogawa

The ADMAG AXW™ series of magnetic flow meters has been developed based on Yokogawa's decades of experience in the design and manufacture of magnetic flowmeters. The AXW series continues the tradition of high quality and reliability that has become synonymous with the Yokogawa name.

The AXW series is ideal for industrial process lines, and water supply and sewage applications. With outstanding reliability and ease of operation, developed on decades of field-proven experience, the AXW will increase user benefits while reducing total cost of ownership.

Magnetic flow meters, also called electromagnetic flow meters or "magmeters", operate on a very simple principal. An electrically conductive liquid moving through a magnetic field will generate a voltage that is related to the velocity of the liquid. Magnetic flow meters have no moving parts and present little to no pressure drop to the piping system into which they are installed.

Sizes are available from 500 to 1800 mm (20 to 72 inch.) with a wide liner selection such as PTFE, natural hard rubber, natural soft rubber, and polyurethane rubber. The line accommodates industry standard process connections such as ASME, AWWA, EN, JIS, and AS flange standards. A submersible version is also available.

Care and maintenance for magnetic flow measurement devices is simple and minimal. The manual included below provides basic guidelines for maintenance procedures of ADMAG TI (Total Insight) Series AXW magnetic flowmeters. Share your flow measurement challenges with process instrument specialists, leveraging your own knowledge and experience with their product application expertise.

Maintenance Procedures for Yokogawa ADMAG TI Series AXW Magnetic Flow Meter from Miller Energy, Inc.

Water Quality Analysis – Constituent Survey (Part 2)

Water can contain many contaminants

It would be difficult to understate the role and importance of water in industrial processing, even our own biological existence. In the first installment of this series, the roles of dissolved oxygen and chlorides were covered.

Continuing the examination of water quality monitoring in municipal and industrial processes, another key variable which requires monitoring for industrial water use is sulfate. Sulfate is a combination of sulfur and oxygen, salts of sulfuric acid. Similarly to chlorides, they can impact water utilization processes due to their capability for corrosion. The power generation industry is particularly attuned to the role of sulfates in their steam cycle, as should be any boiler operator. Minerals can concentrate in steam drums and accelerate corrosion. Thanks to advancements in monitoring technology, instruments are available which monitor for both chlorides (covered in the previous installment in this series) and sulfates with minimal supervision needed by the operator, ensuring accurate detection of constituent levels outside of an acceptable range. Ionic separation technologies precisely appraise the amount of sulfate ions in the stream, allowing for continuous evaluation and for corrective action to be taken early-on, avoiding expensive repairs and downtime.

Another substance worthy of measurement and monitoring in process water is sodium. Pure water production equipment, specifically cation exchange units, can be performance monitored with an online sodium analyzer. Output from the cation bed containing sodium, an indication of deteriorating performance, can be diverted and the bed regenerated. Steam production and power generation operations also benefit from sodium monitoring in an effort to combat corrosion in turbines, steam tubes, and other components. Sodium analyzers are very sensitive, able to detect trace levels.

Ammonia is comprised of nitrogen and hydrogen and, while colorless, carries a distinct odor. Industries such as agriculture utilize ammonia for fertilizing purposes, and many other specializations, including food processing, chemical synthesis, and metal finishing, utilize ammonia for their procedural and product-oriented needs. An essential understanding of ammonia, however, includes the fact that the chemical is deadly to many forms of aquatic life. Removing ammonia from industrial wastewater is a processing burden of many industries due to the environmental toxicity.

Methods for removing ammonia from wastewater include a biological treatment method called ‘conventional activated sludge’, aeration, sequencing batch reactor, and ion exchange. Several methods exist for in-line or sample based measurement of ammonia concentration in water. Each has particular procedures, dependencies, and limitations which must be considered for each application in order to put the most useful measurement method into operation.

As water is an essential part of almost every facet of human endeavor and the environment in which we all dwell, the study and application of related analytics is an important component of many water based processes. The variety of compounds which can be considered contaminants or harmful elements when dissolved or contained in water presents multiple challenges for engineers and process operators.

The detection and measurement of water constituents can pose challenges to plant operators. Share your requirements with instrumentation experts, and combine your own process knowledge and experience with their product application expertise to formulate an effective solution.

Water Quality Analysis – Constituent Survey (Part 1)

Water quality analysis is utilized at sewage treatment plants,
but at many other industrial facilities, too.

Of all the raw materials available for human consumption – aside from the air we breathe – the most vital component of life on earth is water. In addition to the global need for humans to drink water in order to survive, the use of water is essential in a myriad of industries relating to process control. Whether the goal is the production or monitoring of pure water for industrial use, or the processing of wastewater, the ability to measure the presence and level of certain chemical constituents of water is necessary for success.

In order to use water properly, industrial professionals combine state of the art analyzers with technical expertise to evaluate water quality for use or disposal. Two essential values of process control are ensuring elements of a control system are accurate and secure, and, furthermore, that they are accurate and secure for each product every time. By properly vetting water in industry, engineers and other personnel in fields such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, food & beverage, brewing, power, and microelectronics are able to maintain standards of production excellence and conform with regulatory requirements related to water quality.

The amount of dissolved oxygen present in water can correlate with the degree of movement at an air-water interface, also being impacted by pressure, temperature, and salinity. Excessive or deficient dissolved oxygen levels in industrial process waters may have an impact on process performance or end product quality. Likely, the most common application for dissolved oxygen measurement is in the evaluation of wastewater for biological oxygen demand. The primary function of dissolved oxygen in wastewater is to enable and enhance the oxidation of organic material by aerobic bacteria, a necessary step in treatment.

To measure dissolved oxygen, specialized sensors and companion instruments are employed that require careful maintenance and trained technical operators. The level of measurement precision varies depending on the industry employing the technology, with numerous applications also being found in the food & beverage and pharmaceutical industries. In-line continuous measurement is used in wastewater processing to determine if the dissolved oxygen remains in a range that supports the bacteria necessary for biodegradation.

Chloride concentration in wastewater is strictly regulated. Industrial and commercial operation effluent can be regulated with respect to allowable chloride content. While commonly found in both streams and wastewater, chlorides, in large amounts, can present challenges to water utilization or processing facilities. Chloride levels impact corrosion, conductivity, and taste (for industries in which such a variable is paramount). In a process system, having an essential component marred due to elevated quantities of a substance could reverberate into any end-product being manufactured. Chloride analyzers, some of which can also detect and monitor other water characteristics, serve as important tools for water consuming facilities to meet regulatory standards for effluent discharge or internal quality standards for recycling.

There are other constituents of what we refer to as “water” that are subject to measurement and monitoring for a range of institutional, industrial, and municipal applications. Those will be explored in the next part of this article series.