Application field
Waste Water Monitoring
ColiMinder™ is a real-time online wastewater monitoring system.
It is able to monitor faecal contamination level of wastewater, providing a result in 15 minutes.
Efficiency in process control by online e.coli monitoring
Wastewater processes are the largest water treatment processes with disinfection efforts involving a huge amount of chemicals and energy. In wastewater treatment, contamination levels also show extreme diurnal variations.
There is a huge potential of savings through adopting the disinfection intensity to the actual contamination, as monitored by the ColiMinder.
The ColiMinder has proven capability to measure faecal contamination in wastewater treatment processes, providing results within 15 minutes, regardless of the contamination level.
It is installed all over the globe for
- Monitoring fecal contamination of wastewater effluent
- Monitoring contamination level before/after disinfection to control process performance
- Controlling any step of wastewater treatment process, especially during contamination events such as stormwaters or CSOs.
How does it work?
The ColiMinder measures the specific metabolic (enzymatic) activity of the target organisms present in the sample.
The measured value provides information about the energy turnover of living organisms in the sample. Living organisms need energy, which they gain through their metabolism, so the metabolic activity reflects the energetic turnover of the existing microorganisms.
The measured activity directly indicates the faecal contamination level of the water.
How do I Use the ColiMinder?
ColiMinder can automatically monitor various process steps – critical control points – in wastewater water treatment and discharge, providing a direct visualization of microbial dynamics of your processes.
The timeline displays any change in microbial contamination, providing precise and valuable information that was previously unavailable.
Since the results of the ColiMinder are available in near real time, microbiological water quality is now available as a parameter for process control. In addition, real-time alerts can be sent when defined bacterial contamination limits are exceeded.
The ColiMinder has proven its ability to specifically measure any type of fecal indicator bacteria in wastewater. It reliably detects any type of contamination, whether it is E.coli bacteria, enterococci or – available soon – total coliform bacteria.
Different add-on modules are available to ensure stable and reliable sampling and results.
How do I use the results?
The measured enzymatic activity of the sample provides a direct answer to the question: “how high is the faecal contamination of the sample?”.
Depending on the reagent used, the measurement results are specific for the corresponding target organism.
The results not only provide direct quantitative information about the microbial contamination of the product, but shape and course of the measurement timeline also contain valuable information about the dynamics of the microbiological load and thus allow conclusions to be drawn about the causes of changes.
Depending on the reagent used, the measurement results are specific for the corresponding target organism.
Sensitivity
The analytical capability of ColiMinder in waste water measurements is comparable to that of chromogenic coliform agar counts in the case of fecal contamination.
Many different scientific studies have evaluated and validated ColiMinder measurements for monitoring fecal contamination levels in waste water.
Reliability
The reliability of the ColiMinder has been demonstrated in several installations where the devices have been providing reliable measurement results in continuous operation since 2015.
Maintenance:
Thanks to the sophisticated system for fully automatic cleaning and calibration, the maintenance effort is limited to refilling the consumables. Replacement of the silicone hoses is recommended every 2 years, otherwise no maintenance is required.
Stability
The ColiMinder instruments measure absolutely stable, no manual calibration is necessary as the instruments calibrate themselves automatically at regular intervals.
Robustness
The ColiMinder can measure any type of sample without pre-treatment. It has no problem with suspended sediments or turbid samples.
Even fluctuating background fluorescence has no effect on the measurement result due to the measurement approach.
Its robustness towards environmental influences, like temperature, humidity, chemical load etc., is evident in installations like at Stonecutter Island Sewage Treatment Plant in Hong Kong, where it has been monitoring effluent 24/7 since 2017 without any issues.
It has got an IP65 protected housing, and it can measure in the temperature range from 0°C to 40°C.
Can I do compliance testing with the ColiMinder?
The ColiMinder provides operational monitoring as recommended by the WHO, the EU Drinking Water Directive and others.
Real-time measurement of actual microbiological quality enables rapid response and correction, so the ColiMinder helps you to meet specified limits at the lowest cost and with the highest level of safety.
A correlation between standard lab results and ColiMinder results can be established and used internally but the system is not intended to replace compliance testing.
Can ColiMinder results be expressed in CFU ?
In contrast to classical culture-based laboratory methods, which are based on the cultivation of bacteria, the enzymatic measurement method of the ColiMinder is based on the direct measurement of the metabolic activity of the target organisms.
There is therefore no direct and generally valid conversion between the two methods.
In general, however, a correlation table can be created through comparative measurements, which can then be used for conversion.
Benefits
Receive real-time warning
In case of contamination events
Monitor your process performance
In order to increase process efficiency, safety and sustainability
Learn more about your process
The result timelines (enzymatic activity, transmission & intrinsic fluoresence) carry important additional information about the dynamics of your system
Safeguard your water quality
throughout the entire treatment process, from intake to effluent
Scan your treatment process quickly
to identify source of contamination
Controlled disinfection
to avid overdosing and adjust disinfection intensity to actual contamination
References
Since 2017, ColiMinder “Finn” is monitoring faecal contamination level of Stonecutter Island Sewage Treatment Works in Hong Kong.
ColiMinder in Cincinnati (US), monitoring e.coli contamination levels of different wastewater and sewage treatment streams
Sewage Treatment Plant, where the ColiMinder has been evaluated for monitoring process performance in different treatment and disinfection steps.
Savings in Disinfection Costs
Example of timeline produced by the ColiMinder showing daily fluctuation in waste water
ColiMinder use cases
proven by customers!
The ColiMinder bacterial analyzer can be installed at any stage of a wastewater treatment process for real-time monitoring of feacal contamination level.
Ozonation
CEPT (Chemical Enhanced Primary Treatment)
Flocculation
Intake or Effluent
Chlorination
Controlled Discharge Disinfection
MBR plants
Reducing Disinfection By-Products
For more information:
Several White Papers can be found here in the download area to provide further information about waste water measurements with the ColiMinder.
References
The ColiMinder™ has proven reliability, stability, and robustness in various applications world-wide
Austrian municipal drinking water production from groundwater well: the ColiMinder monitoring raw water intake and after activated carbon filtration in alternating mode.