Webinar for revolutionary new real-time nitrate and nitrite analyser provides breakthroughs for water, wastewater and environmental management

Suppliers can sometimes over-enthusiastically describe incremental improvements in performance as revolutionary. But the innovations that Aquamonitrix® brings to real-time nitrate and nitrite monitoring are genuinely ground-breaking.

“One of the biggest wins for the water industry will be in making low-energy/low-carbon emission wastewater treatment processes viable, as part of the drive to Net Zero,” Aquamonitrix CEO Mark Bowkett told Environmental Technology.

Aquamonitrix® is also set to bring game-changing benefits to effluent control and water reuse/ recycling in industry, monitoring for nitrite/nitrate formation in drinking water distribution pipes, protection of ground and surface abstraction sources for drinking water, decision-making in catchment, agriculture and land-use management and environmental regulation and enforcement of nitrate run-off and discharge  

Aquamonitrix® combines rapid ion chromatography and optical detection for the autonomous, real-time measurement of nitrate and nitrite simultaneously in fresh and effluent water.

Nitrite is currently a difficult parameter to measure in real-time, so  Aquamontrix®’s capabilities in this regard alone are innovative. But the analyser also offers other significant advantages for nitrate (and nitrite) measurement. These include calibration that remains stable over the duration of the deployment; long intervals between servicing; lab-quality accuracy and precision; instantaneous data transmission; portability and plug n’ play setup; low requirements for skilled technical personnel; and low reagent costs. These benefits are outlined in more detail in the panel across the page.

The bottom line is that they combine to make real-time, high-frequency nitrate and nitrite monitoring simple, accurate, and affordable. This, in turn, means that it is now realistic and viable to achieve both real-time responses – and big-data-enabled modelling, investigation and optimisation.

Net-zero carbon is the holy grail for the water industry. A major area where Aquamonitrix® can help wastewater operators reduce their carbon footprint is in the aeration basin, where up to half of total WWTP site power consumption can occur.

Here, conventionally, ammonia has been converted to nitrite, nitrate and finally nitrogen gas. But by improving nitrite/nitrate process control, Aquamonitrix® can enable operators to switch to less energy-intensive conversion routes. For example, with ‘shortcut nitrogen removal’, the nitrification process is stopped at nitrite, which is then converted directly to nitrogen gas, by-passing the nitrate step. This reduces the reactor sludge retention time, and the effluent contains lower nitrite, nitrate and total nitrogen concentrations. So, it’s a double win.

Aquamonitrix® can revolutionise monitoring in any industry where nitrate and/or nitrite is of concern in raw, process or effluent water. That includes sectors like intensive agriculture, fertilisers, and explosives, but also in operations where water is a raw material or where nitrogen-containing chemicals are used for cleaning, surface finishing, and so on.

The food and beverage industries are among the largest water consumers globally, and one the best positioned to lead in corporate water stewardship and water security/circular economy initiatives.  Dairy and meat processors use massive water volumes for process cleaning and are chief amongst the sectors that can benefit from Aquamonitrix®’s real-time capabilities, simple operation and high-accuracy nitrate and nitrite monitoring. The big-ticket opportunities include optimisation of water reuse and recycling – and control of effluent concentrations.

Excess fertiliser, along with animal manure and untreated sewage, have been entering surface- and ground-water for generations. This has left drinking water providers and, in some cases, individual well owners facing raw water supplies with nitrate and nitrite levels above recommended limits for human consumption. Rather than picking up the tab for expensive end-of-pipe treatment, increasingly, preventing nitrogen from entering drinking water sources is seen as a more sustainable, and also a more cost-effective, solution.

By enabling affordable and simple nitrate and nitrite monitoring, Aquamonitrix® offers catchment and groundwater resource managers the high-frequency data they need to investigate nitrate and nitrite movement in the environment, better understanding the impact of parameters such as soil types, ground cover, pH, microbiology and weather conditions. This, in turn, can pave the way for evidence-based mitigation strategies for agriculture and land-use planning.

For drinking water providers using chloramine for disinfection, Aquamonitrix® can also help monitor for the formation of nitrite and nitrate on the journey along pipes to customers’ taps.

Environmental regulators are all too well aware of the impact of nitrate pollution, and at a macro level, the sources. But having to rely on monthly, weekly, or even daily grab sampling and laboratory analysis makes it extremely difficult to see the full picture. Sporadic or episodic pollution incidents can easily be missed – or only identified after the event, when it is too late to investigate or take action.

By enabling real-time, near-continuous nitrate monitoring, Aquamonitrix® means that regulators need never miss a pollution event. They have a practical and usable tool to investigate persistent polluters and take enforcement action. At the same time, by making nitrate issues quantifiable and visible, they can increase awareness and engage stakeholder responsibility.

Aquamonitrix® combines rapid ion chromatography and optical detection for the autonomous, real-time measurement of nitrate and nitrite simultaneously, in situ. Calibration remains stable for the duration of the deployment. Compared with ISEs, this eliminates the need for constant fiddley re-sets and recalibration, which makes for less hassle and reduced reliance on skilled technicians.  Aquamonitrix® can be used in cloudy and sediment-rich effluent/wastewater matrices – as well as in freshwater environments. The device provides laboratory-quality results in the field This has been verified in ISO EVT trials co-ordinated by the US EPA. In fact, the accuracy is arguably better for remote sites where in situ testing with Aquamonitrix® avoids loss of accuracy due to sample decay on the journey to the laboratory.

Aquamonitrix® can sample as frequently as every 15 minutes – with data being transmitted instantaneously either via SCADA to centralised plant control infrastructure or by IoT to the customised Datamonitrix platform supplied with Aquamonitrix®. Datamonitrix can be used to store, retrieve and trend nitrate and nitrite data, set alarms, and receive instant alerts, direct to a PC.

The Aquamonitrix® analyser is lightweight and portable. The only site connections required are power and sample in/out.  No site preparation works are needed, so the unit can be up and running in a matter of hours.

Aquamonitrix® can be deployed for over 600 sampling runs before requiring servicing to empty the sample waste and refill the reagent. Based on a monitoring regime of six samples per day, that’s an interval of over three months between servicing.  The servicing procedure is straight-forward and can be carried out by an agnostic service company (with video training). Compared with chemical sensors, with Aquamonitrix®, the use of hazardous reagents is minimised – and compared with UV detectors, maintenance and servicing costs are low. Combined with the autonomous operation and lower cost-cost reagents, all of this adds up to a low total/lifetime cost of ownership for Aquamonitrix®, making real-time near-continuous nitrate and nitrite monitoring both practical and affordable.

‘Revolutionising Water, Wastewater and Environmental Management with Better Nitrate and Nitrite Monitoring’ is a 40-minute educational webinar that will highlight some of the breakthroughs achievable with real-time, high-frequency nitrate and nitrite monitoring and explain how Aquamonitrix® makes this practical and affordable for end-users.

Participation is free for water and environmental industry professionals, but to secure your place, you must at register here.