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.
Claims21
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 each sample to a vessel and heating the transferred 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;
- passing 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;
- 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 at least one DBP is formed in the water from the water supply in dependence on water age and residual presence of a disinfecting agent, 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 transferred 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;
- pass 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;
- 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
- estimate the future build-up dependent on the at least one result;
- wherein the at least one DBP is formed in water from the water supply in dependence on water age and residual presence of a disinfecting agent.
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 transferred 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;
- 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 estimate the future build-up dependent on the at least one result;
- wherein the at least one DBP is formed in water from the water supply in dependence on water age and residual presence of a disinfecting agent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.