Electrochemical Sensor Manufacturer Awarded Prestigious Framework Agreement

Specialist electrochemical sensor manufacturer Analytical Technology (UK) announces that it has been awarded a framework agreement to supply and install bufferless chlorine monitoring systems to English water utility company, Yorkshire Water. An in-depth technical evaluation was carried out by Yorkshire Water, in which Analytical Technology’s products were compared with a competitor’s against benchmark buffered units. Following this extensive process, Analytical Technology secured the agreement and commenced an asset replacement scheme for over 450 chlorine monitors.

The evaluation period lasted eight months and Analytical Technology’s bufferless chlorine monitors were tested using a wide variety of water types at four different water treatment works. During this time, the Analytical Technology monitors required very little maintenance and calibration, reflecting the company’s vast experience with membrane technology. This trial established that the monitor’s membranes would not need replacing for at least six months at all but a small minority of sites with high manganese levels.

Yorkshire Water continually monitors water from its 59 treatment plants with samples taken from 363 reservoirs where treated water is stored. In a typical year, more than 500,000 tests are carried out on water samples to ensure it meets exacting standards. The first phase of Analytical Technology’s framework agreement has been successfully completed with 75 chlorine monitors installed at 12 Yorkshire Water sites in the North and Dales areas. This includes a mixture of buffered, bufferless and pH corrected units, which are deployed depending on water quality and expected pH range. Additionally, funding for the second phase has recently been approved, in which a region wide asset replacement of chlorine monitors will be completed. This will include the installation of 377 chlorine monitors into an additional 31 water treatment plants and 20 secondary chlorination sites.

Rod Black, Asset Reliability Manager at Yorkshire Water said: “The instruments have performed well with little or no issues; chlorine control has been good and has not contributed to any call outs. It is nice to have standard instruments which can be calibrated and cleaned easily.” Alan Henson, Project Manager at Yorkshire Water commented: “Analytical Technology came out comfortably the best performer in our rigorous selection process, and the company’s vast experience with membrane technology places them ahead of most of their competitors who are only just adopting the technology. Once the roll-out has been completed, the scheme will have realised around £335K of OPEX savings per annum for Yorkshire Water and operators will no longer have to manhandle 25 litre containers of buffer around our sites. Analytical Technology has provided an excellent service and it is a pleasure working with a company who are very customer focussed.”

Dr. Michael Strahand, General Manager Europe at Analytical Technology added: “This agreement confirms that Analytical Technology’s chlorine monitors are unrivalled in the market, maintaining our position as one of the leading suppliers of water monitoring systems in the UK. Our top quality instrumentation is backed up by our commitment to delivering industry leading customer service and this new framework agreement is a great reward for our hard-working and dedicated team.”