Industrial Wastewater Monitoring System for Chromate

A system for online monitoring of chromate in industrial wastewater has been launched by Metrohm Process Analytics.

The turn-key product uses titration with subsequent photometric detection and is based on the ICON Analyzer, a dedicated online photometer for water and wastewater analysis, the company says.

Chromate is useful in many industries – in the production of pigments and dyes for textiles, paints and colored glass, anodized or plated onto metals for surface finishing applications, as an oxidizing agent to tan and process leather, and as a corrosion inhibitor in industrial cooling towers.

Chromate easily leaches from soil to ground and surface waters and can enter the air through evaporation and combustion processes. Monitoring waste streams containing chromate is important because chromate is highly toxic even in minute concentrations; a property which is enhanced by the high solubility of chromate and its affinity for leaching.

In the method concerned, the target analyte is mixed with reagents in a fully automated procedure, resulting in a soluble product, which can be measured photometrically at a wavelength of 560 nm.