Forecasting of disinfection byproducts
AssigneeAMS Trace Metals, Inc.
InventorMichael J. West
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Formation potential for disinfection by-products (DBPs) is determined in-situ using one or more automated sample extraction and measurement mechanisms. In one embodiment, such an in-situ mechanism is used to take periodic water samples and measure trihalomethane (THM) concentration in near real-time (i.e., less than two hours), using a measurement process based on modified Fujiwara chemistry. During the extraction and measurement process, water samples can be heated according to a specific temperature/time profile in order to artificially accelerate age of the water sample, so as to cause DBPs to form prematurely. A water monitoring network can monitor detected DBP levels and take automated response actions according to predefined computer policies or rules.
Claims26
A method of estimating future build-up of at least one disinfection by-product (DBP) in water from a water supply, said method comprising:
- controlling an actuator on an intermittent basis to automatically draw a sample of water from the water supply;
- automatically transferring the sample to a vessel and heating the sample for a period of time, where both a temperature of the heating and the period of time of the heating are selected so as to simulate aging of the sample according to a selective age that has been correlated in advance with expected formation of the at least one DBP, given a normative amount of disinfection agent present in the water, and where the heating of the sample is to cause deliberate formation of the at least one DBP in the sampled water from un-neutralized disinfection agent present in the sampled water;
- following heating, passing the sample through a transfer mechanism to extract the at least one DBP and to transfer the extracted at least one DBP to a second medium of known volume;
- transferring the second medium of known volume to a measurement device, and measuring concentration of the at least one DBP in the second medium with the measurement device to generate at least one result;
- and
- estimating the future build-up dependent on the at least one result;
- wherein
- the measuring of the concentration comprises initiating a reaction in which a pyridine-based substance is added to the second medium of known volume, measuring a color that is dependent on the concentration, and identifying the concentration dependent on the measured color, and
- the controlling, the automatically transferring and heating, the passing, the transferring to the second medium and measuring and the estimating are each automated steps of a sequence for each sample performed on the intermittent basis under the control of one or more processors.
An apparatus to estimate future build-up of at least one disinfection by-product (DBP) in water from a water supply, said apparatus comprising instructions stored on non-transitory machine-readable media, said instructions when executed to cause one or more processors to:
- control an actuator to, on an intermittent basis, automatically draw a sample of water from the water supply;
- automatically transfer each sample to a vessel and heat the sample for a period of time, where both a temperature of the heating and the period of time of the heating are selected so as to simulate aging of the sample according to a selective age that has been correlated in advance with expected formation of the at least one DBP, given a normative amount of disinfection agent present in the water, and where the heating of the sample is to cause deliberate formation of the at least one DBP in the sampled water from un-neutralized disinfection agent present in the sampled water;
- cause passage of the sample following heating through a transfer mechanism to extract the at least one DBP and to transfer the extracted at least one DBP to a second medium of known volume;
- cause transfer of the second medium of known volume to a measurement device, and cause measurement of concentration of the at least one DBP in the second medium, with the measurement device, to generate at least one result;
- and
- calculate an estimate of the future build-up dependent on the at least one result;
- wherein the one or more processors are to cause measurement of the concentration by initiating a reaction in which a pyridine-based substance is added to the second medium of known volume, by controlling the measurement device so as to measure a color that is dependent on the concentration, and by identifying the concentration dependent on the measured color.
An apparatus to estimate future build-up of at least one disinfection by-product (DBP) in water from a water supply, said apparatus comprising circuitry, including one or more processors, to:
- automatically control an actuator, on an intermittent basis, to automatically draw a sample of water from the water supply;
- automatically cause transfer each sample to a vessel and heat the sample for a period of time, where both a temperature of the heating and the period of time of the heating are selected so as to simulate aging of the sample according to a selective age that has been correlated in advance with expected DBP formation given a normative amount of disinfection agent present in the water, and where the heating of the sample is to cause deliberate formation of the at least one DBP in the sampled water from un-neutralized disinfection agent present in the sampled water;
- automatically cause passage of the sample following heating through a transfer mechanism to extract the at least one DBP and to transfer the extracted at least one DBP to a second medium of known volume;
- automatically cause transfer the second medium of known volume to a measurement device, and measure concentration of the at least one DBP in the second medium with the measurement device to generate at least one result;
- and
- automatically calculate an estimate the future build-up dependent on the at least one result;
- wherein the circuitry is to cause measurement of the concentration by initiating a reaction in which a pyridine-based substance is added to the second medium of known volume, by controlling the measurement device so as to measure a color that is dependent on the concentration, and by identifying the concentration dependent on the measured color.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.