Spectroscopy an Emerging Method to Achieve Clean Water

We take the simplest things in life for granted. Like sunshine and the air we breathe. And let’s not forget clean water.

That last item doesn’t happen by accident. Biological, chemical, and environmental activities affect the quality of water that ends up coming out of our faucet.

We are our own worst enemies when we pollute our waterways. But you can also blame nature. Agricultural runoff into streams and rivers feed our drinking water sources. This runoff contains organic materials that affect the purity of that water.

Spectroscopy helps in the purification process.

Many colored dissolved organic matter compounds are present in water. It’s important to know over time how these compounds change and may affect water quality.

Water treatment plants must measure what comes into its facility and what goes out. Spectroscopy is a powerful tool that can facilitate the measurement of these changes. These facilities must track how these materials change over time when it either physically binds with particles or reacts with natural organic bodies in water. Compounds may materialize in the form of bacteria, like in the interaction of a decomposing leaf in runoff. Scientists are interested in looking at the fate and transport of these compounds, controlling its concentration, and seeing the byproducts of the compounds.

Large water treatment facilities have analytical labs and many of them are starting to use spectroscopy to detect these changes. Fluorescence spectroscopy helps identify the concentrations of substances in the water. Undesirable substances can be eliminated downline in the treatment process.

HORIBA’s groundbreaking Aqualog A-TEEM (Absorbance–Transmission and Excitation-Emission Matrices) fluorescene and absorbance spectrometer measures both absorbance spectra and fluorescence Excitation-Emission Matrices (EEM) to detect colored dissolved organic matter. It’s the only true simultaneous absorbance-fluorescence system available. It’s a faster and more economical method for monitoring organics, making its measurements in a matter of seconds.

Aqualog can analyze what compounds are coming from the natural environment or even industrial effluent for water treatment plants. Plant engineers can control the treatment process by looking at what the water contains. Engineers can adjust the treatment process by adding or reducing chemicals or changing the pH downline. Aqualog helps in their decision making.