OHAUS Measurement Devices Used To Enhance Protection of Watersheds Without Impacting Taxpayers Wallets
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It is not enough for companies today to just think
about minimizing their liabilities from an environmental
standpoint. Organizations today consider the natural
resources they use and materials they release back into the
environment beyond traditional concepts of reduce, reuse, and
recycle. |
In short, there is a shift from a "green" focus to a
"sustainable" focus - innovatively identifying solutions that both
reduce the environmental footprint and improve business
performance.
One such industry making strides in this area are wastewater and
treatment facilities. Wastewater and treatment facilities release
regulated amounts of treated wastewater containing nitrogen and
phosphorous into neighboring bodies of water. The amounts are
regulated in order to minimize impact on the fragile ecosystems
where the elements are distributed.
In nature, every output or byproduct is fuel for another natural
process and over the years, other factors, such as urban runoff and
air pollution, have raised levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in
bodies of water resulting in large amounts of algae growth.
In many cases, the growth is so severe that the Algae suck the
oxygen out of the water, starving wildlife and destroying the
system.
Today, more attention has been placed on protecting watersheds
with much of the burden to do so falling on the local wastewater
and treatment facilities. Municipalities strive to be more
conscious of actions and meet ever increasingly stringent
government standards and regulations without spending billions of
dollars.
Cost Effective Solutions To New Government
Standards
Since 1992, the EPA has continued to modify the Clean Water Act,
placing more stringent regulations on wastewater and treatment
facilities in the disposal of sludge. To ensure compliance with
these myriad regulations, those involved with wastewater/sewage
treatment must rely on the tools of their trade to deliver the
precision, accuracy, and efficiency that are mandated by law.
To date, large and inefficient laboratory ovens have typically
been used to determine the solids content of wastewater/sewage and
to ensure compliance with all relevant regulations before releasing
treated wastewater back into the environment. By today's standards,
these ovens are both time consuming and highly inefficient to
operate.
Industrial ovens for sample testing - Large, not
energy efficient and expensive
Recently, Product Engineers at OHAUS Corporation, a leading
manufacturer of weighing equipment for laboratory, industrial and
other applications, came up with a win-win solution for the
environment and municipalities' budgets in the form of a moisture
analyzer that would improve the measurement accuracy of released
wastewater and reduce the costs of the treatment process.
The product is the OHAUS MB Series Moisture Analyzer, which
combines state-of-the-art halogen heating with highly accurate
weighing technology to revolutionize the process of determining
solids content and ensuring compliance with regulations. With a
minimal investment, the moisture analyzers have helped several
wastewater and treatment facilities in New York and New Jersey by
vastly improving speed, accuracy and reliability.
"What the moisture analyzer does is better enable treatment
facilities to get total solids analysis of sludge during the
dewatering process," explained Purina Dixit, director at the
Environmental Protection Agency. "Accuracy is essential and
because the moisture analyzers are easier to use than traditional
methods, we can reduce human error."
The MB45 is easy to use, and
compact enough to fit easily on a work bench
How The Process Works
During the treatment process, wastewater is tested numerous times
for solids percentage. When using traditional heating ovens, solids
percentage testing can be incredibly time consuming and
inefficient, taking up to several hours to complete a single test.
At the facilities in New York and New Jersey where the traditional
ovens were replaced with OHAUS MB Series Moisture Analyzers, the
process for testing a sample is now accomplished in less than 30
minutes.
"Along with the benefits of speed, we can lock programs in the
moisture analyzer which eliminates the concern of people not
correctly changing settings. They just need to hit the start
button," Ms. Dixit added.
The MB series can be easily and efficiently used at numerous
points throughout the testing process to determine the
effectiveness of the thickening process and dewatering of the
sludge. Testing can be completed in batch processing before the
wastewater/sludge is moved to each of the next steps.
In the overall treatment process, this kind of continuous process
testing enabled by the MB Series ensures the most accurate readings
and safe levels of solids content for digestion by plant and animal
life throughout the environment. Testing during the dewatering
process ensures the sludge will meet the solids content minimums
for landfill disposal or use as a fertilizer.
To optimize accuracy, all testing and weighing occurs inside the
heating chamber of the MB Series, which is protected from cross
drafts and other outside factors.
The MB45 efficiently heats samples with a built-in
voltage regulated halogen light source
Unlike conventional ovens that force the user to remove the sample
to be weighed, the end result when using the MB Series is
immediately recorded so that environmental moisture does not
re-enter the sample, skewing the results.
The MB Series also provides uniformed infrared halogen heating up
to 200°C, readability up to 1mg, 0.01% moisture and a 45g capacity.
The ability to measure smaller samples also increases the MB
Series' effectiveness in providing more accurate results of test
samples.
Additional Benefit of Cost Savings
By incorporating the MB Series into their treatment process,
Wastewater Treatment Plants also have been able to significantly
reduce their bottom lines. In addition to costing less and
needing less repair and service than traditional ovens, the
increased accuracy provided by the MB Series enables wastewater and
treatment facilities to better remove unneeded, excess water from
the dry solid waste they transport.
The reduction in water lessens the weight of the load thereby
reducing the cost of transportation.
The OHAUS MB Series Moisture Analyzers also
reduce costs through its portability
Unlike large laboratory ovens, the MB Series can escape the
confines of the lab and be used throughout the plant or facility
and essentially take up significantly less space then an oven or
conventional microwave heating chamber.
Most importantly; however, the MB Series Moisture Analyzers
optimize the efficiency of the treatment process, even during
significant flow events.