The Silco® Sensor for analyzing copper and silver ions in the drinking water or cooling water is increasingly used by Holland Water clients in various countries. The sensor measures, with the same precision as advanced laboratory equipment, the exact amounts of copper and silver ions added to the water. Silco® sensors are now operational in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Poland and the United Arab Emirates.
The sensor is in most cases used as a ‘handheld’ and can therefore serve as a control instrument. But the sensor can also be installed in a so-called ‘flow cell’. In this way, it is possible to determine at any desired location in a drinking or cooling water installation which quantities of copper and / or silver ions are in the water.
“It took many years to develop the sensor and to make it measure as accurately as it does now,” says Conrad Chapman, head of research and development at Holland Water. “Especially in situations such as in the United Arab Emirates, where water is pumped around a building and ends up in tanks again, or at cooling towers, the sensor is crucial. It is also suitable for measuring other metals and substances – such as phosphate and nitrate – “explains Chapman. “It is great that we have managed this as an SME, where the CEW, the Center of Expertise of Water Technology in Leeuwarden, has helped us enormously.”
Holland Water is proud of this innovation, which will further contribute to the even more efficient use of the Bifipro® systems against biofilm and legionella development, according to the company.
