New SuperCritical Water Oxidation Technique Optimizes TOC Analysis  

Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analyzers measure organic carbon to indicate water quality. The new Sievers InnovOx On-Line TOC Analyzer from GE Analytical Instruments, part of GE Water & Process Technologies, measures organic carbon in industrial process, environmental, and wastewater samples for a wide range of industries. The InnovOx TOC Analyzer represents the most significant breakthrough in commercial laboratory TOC analysis in the last 25 years. It replaces the widely-used combustion method with an innovative Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) technique. SCWO enables the InnovOx to perform highly accurate and precise TOC measurements with unprecedented uptime and reduced costs. Compared to competitive technologies, the InnovOx significantly reduces hazardous waste, CO2 emissions, maintenance, labor requirements, safety hazards for operators, and overall cost of ownership. SWCO is especially effective with brine, humic acid, cellulose and other challenging sample matrices.

SCWO technology

GE Water’s patent-pending SCWO technique brings water to a supercritical state by heating a water sample inside a sealed reactor module to 375 degrees C and raising the pressure to 3200 psi. Under these conditions, water is neither a gas nor a liquid, but exhibits beneficial properties of both. SCWO allows the InnovOx to achieve greater than 99% efficient oxidation — regardless of organic compounds and impurities in the water. The result is greater TOC measurement accuracy and precision. This new SCWO process also removes oxidation byproducts and sample contamination between each analytical run, eliminating frequent maintenance and expensive parts replacement.

Although SCWO was originally developed to treat large volumes of aqueous waste streams, sludges and contaminated soils. GE Water is the first company to use the SCWO technique in a commercial laboratory TOC instrument.

Other Key Features and Benefits

Like the Sievers InnovOx Laboratory model, the InnovOx On-Line uses an enhanced Non-Dispersive Infra Red (NDIR) design with a dynamic detection range of 0.5 to 50,000 ppm. It measures Total Carbon (TC), Total Inorganic Carbon (TIC), Total Organic Carbon (TOC) by TC-TIC, and Non-Purgeable Organic Carbon (NPOC). It has user-configurable alarms and outputs, offers 6-month calibration stability, and requires minimal operator intervention and maintenance.

For more information, visit www.geinstruments.com