Creating Cost-Efficient Online P, N & O Measurements to Prevent Nutrient Emissions to Baltic Sea

Organisation: Langis Oy

Time: 9/23/2015 – 10/2/2017

Description:

Utilization of online water analysis technologies enables identification of sources of nutrients and pollutants. The technologies also improve the performance of water treatment. If online technologies were utilized more commonly, nutrient and pollutant emissions could be prevented much more efficiently than nowadays and the restoration of the Baltic Sea to a good ecological state could be achieved. An obstacle for this is the high cost of the technology.

Langis Oy focuses on development of cost efficient technologies for analyzing water quality. We utilize well-known measurement principles, combine them with new product ideas and cost efficient manufacturing methods, and the result will be a cost efficient sensor or other device for water quality analysis. In addition to measurement technology, we utilize common IT technologies and platforms to produce cost efficient service solutions. One of the areas we already work on is the analysis of waters from production of peat. We already have a compact and inexpensive measurement system that can be used to control effluents and emissions (suspended solids and humic substances) from large peat production areas.

Our commitment consists of two parts:

1. Development of on-line measurements for nitrogen, phosphorous and oxygen. Our goal is to develop new types of sensors or other devices. Technologies are based on optical principles (absorbance, fluorescence, refractive index, UV-VIS-IR spectroscopy) as well as on ion-selective electrodes. When sensors as such are available at low enough price, the emissions of nitrogen and phosphorous from agriculture and other sources can be more efficiently monitored, controlled and reduced.

2. Further development of our analyzing methods of waters from peat production. The same approach is practical for other kinds of environmental monitoring purposes. Inclusion of new sensors (P, N and O) will result in a simple and inexpensive system that can be used for monitoring nutrient emissions e.g. from agriculture and fish farming. In addition to development of the monitoring device, we will launch an open source information management system that can be utilized for wide-scale environmental monitoring purposes.