Innovation Award of the Technology Region Karlsruhe – NEO 2012
Dr. Oliver Happel (Technologiezentrum Wasser), Daniel Coric, Prof. Dr. Gunther Krieg, Markus Walter
(UNISENSOR), and OB Heinz Fenrich (from left to right). Foto: TRK/Fränkle
Within the framework of the ZIM-cooporation project „Development of an analysis
system for the quality control of drinking water” UNISENSOR (Karlsruhe) and TZW
developed an on-line sensor system which opens a new opportunity for water quality
monitoring. This project was funded by the Deutsches Bundesministerium für
Wirtschaft und Technologie (BMWi) (German Federal Ministry of economy and
technology).
In order to detect short-term discharges of pollutants the use of on-line monitoring
seems promising. The presented system ORGANOTRACE 100 is a sensor which
can detect many organic pollutants within various water matrices in the lower
microgram per liter range. The distillation is applied as a sample preparation step
separating volatile organic compounds from spectral disturbing compounds (like
nitrate, humic matters, turbidity). The detection is based on UV-Vis-spectroscopy. By
using long cuvettes trace level contaminants are detectable.
The system is operated automatically by measuring and control technology and can
perform up to four analyses per hour. Due to the used intelligent algorithms the
evaluation is more selective and sensitive. The combined techniques allow a long
maintenance-free operation. Because of the fast measurement within a few minutes
the system is very much qualified to monitor sensitive water resources in real time.