Monitoring pH of Pulp Mill Wastewater
Case Study

Controlling pH of Pulp Mill Wastewater

Case Study

Intelligent pH Sensors Reduce Maintenance by 40%

Monitoring pH of Pulp Mill Wastewater
Monitoring pH of Pulp Mill Wastewater

For a large, multi-national company that produces personal care and tissue products, measuring and controlling pH of pulp mill wastewater is critical at several stages during the treatment process. This case study explains the challenges that they have in controlling pH in their wastewater treatment process, and how intelligent pH sensors have helped them to overcome maintenance challenges.

Measuring and controlling pH of pulp mill wastewater can be a challenging operation. Because of the properties of the water used in pulp production, they can quickly and easily damage pH sensors. This causes pH probes to require additional maintenance or replacement more often than is desired. Both of these problems increase maintenance and inventory costs for the pulp mill.

During the early stages of treatment, the water has ha high level of pulp solids. These pulp solids can damage pH sensors used to dose reagents into the wastewater because the abrasive pulp solids can cause mechanical damage to the sensor, clog the sensor diaphragm and coat the pH-sensitive glass membrane. All of these issues need to mitigated or they will cause inaccurate measurement which will lead to higher reagent dosing costs.

The pulp mill in this case study was dealing with these challenges in monitoring pH in their pulp mill's wastewater. They were looking for a solution that helped meet several goals:

  • They wanted to extend the life of the pH sensors in their process to reduce the overall cost of equipment.
  • They wanted to know when a sensor was damaged or would need cleaned to prevent the likelihood of an inaccurate measurement.
  • They wanted to reduce the regularity of maintenance interventions so that their maintenance efforts could be focused on more important tasks.

See how this multi-national company implemented a METTLER TOLEDO pH analyzer loop to help achieve these goals by downloading this case study.