ONLINE AUTOMATIC SAMPLING FOR REAL-TIME MONITORING OF WASTEWATERS

An on-line automatic sample collection system for real time monitoring of wastewater treatment has been built and tested at a sewage treatme nt plant. The system consists of an effluent filtration cell, a sample collection and discharge unit and a control system. It automatically provides a clear sample, which is free of particulates larger than 0.4 5 mu m in size, at predetermined sampling frequency and sample quantit y. On-site trials have shown that this system has high transmission (> 90%) for species to be analysed, namely nitrogen and phosphorus, and r easonable transmission (>70%) for dissolved organic carbon, and has th e potential to be utilised for real time sampling. Thirteen days of co ntinuous operation of the system without supervision have been achieve d. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd