Dŵr Cymru Deploys Colorimetry Range Across Nine Sites  

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has become one of the first utilities to upgrade its water treatment monitoring systems to the new Aztec range from ABB (UK). The ABB Aztec 600 colorimetric range combines Aztec’s proven and patented ‘wet technology’ with the advanced electronic platform of ABB’s ScreenMaster data recorders.

Welsh Water has already installed the new systems at nine water treatment works, where the company is monitoring aluminium and iron using ABB’s Aztec 600 series, as well as phosphate, manganese and nitrate levels using Aztec 1000 units. The deployment was part of a contract that also included instrumentation for conductivity and pH measurement.

By combining the Aztec fluid handling systems with ABB’s electronics platform, the ABB Aztec 600 range provides powerful, compact and reliable on-line colorimetric analysis of the main water treatment parameters, enabling companies to control costs by fine-tuning their dosing and treatment systems.

Easy operation and maintenance are two key benefits of the Aztec 600 family.

Front-mounted pushbuttons and a familiar Windows™ environment combine with common operation and commissioning across the range using a menu-based system. The analysers feature a full-colour graphical display, while process data and historical logs are securely archived to a removable SD card. Notification of important events or current measurement status, can be emailed directly to multiple recipients using the built-in SMTP client, through the on-board ethernet communications link.

The Aztec 600 colorimetric range is designed to be as maintenance-free as possible. Each unit uses a single, piston pump to handle all sample and reagent fluids. This reduces the amount of maintenance required for external cleaning of sample lines, changing reagents and annual servicing. Thanks to the modular design of the analysers, operators can also benefit from common spares, consumables and maintenance procedures across the whole range.

Built for reliability, the Aztec 600 colorimetric analysers feature automatic two-point calibration. Various self-cleaning abilities to ensure that the optical cell and analyser tubing used for sample measurements remain free of residual particles between each analysis. A patented mechanical cleaning function uses the piston movement to wipe the optical cell with every measurement.