Analytical Instrumentation & Environmental Monitoring


Automated cleaning of pH-electrodes

May 2006 Analytical Instrumentation & Environmental Monitoring

With the installation of the EC 150 cleaning system, pH electrodes are cleaned quarterly, not daily, and the stability and reliability of the measurement is greatly enhanced.

Holmen Paper - long tradition and highly experienced

Holmen Paper is a Swedish forestry group manufacturing paper, paperboard and wood products. Raw materials come from the group's own forests (just over a million hectares in size) and from recycled paper. The group has an impressive history dating back to 1609 and the opening of an armaments factory, which began to manufacture hand-made paper in 1633. The factory was situated in Norrkoping in central Sweden, which at that time was second only to the capital, Stockholm.

Business was turbulent at times, with fires, outbreaks of plague and devastation during the Russian invasion of 1719. Holmen suffered the loss of three ships during the Second World War. The company we see today is a result of a strategy adopted in 1999 with its focus on printing paper and paperboard, which now comprise 80% of net turnover.

Blocked pH electrodes problem and solution

Hallsta Paper Mill, one of the factories in the Holmen group, has been measuring the pH of its incoming untreated water and wastewater basin for some time using Mettler Toledo's measurement system EasyClean. "We bring in about 35 m³ of untreated water a minute," says Hallsta's instrument foreman Tommy Asenbrygg. "This used to cause a lot of problems with blocked pH-electrodes, and it took a lot of time and energy to clean them."

For the troubleshooting, Mettler Toledo suggested the installation of EasyClean 150, for automatic cleaning of the pH-electrodes. After this successful installation, Asenbrygg confirmed: "We do not have to clean the electrodes by hand now because EasyClean cleans them automatically." Hallsta's process engineer Tommy Kindblom agrees. "We have been able to make big cuts in our maintenance time," he says, and describes how they used to have to maintain the electrodes on a daily basis, but now only need do so once a quarter.

Another benefit is that measurement values are now much more stable. "Since the electrodes used to get blocked so fast, we could not rely on the values being exact unless we had manually cleaned them just before measuring," says Kindblom. "The more stable values that we obtain now allow us to correct factors like chemical consumption, which of course is good for the environment."

"At Hallsta Paper Mill, it is clear that Easy-Clean has made the business more efficient and eco-friendly." More Mettler Toledo products are on their way into applications that cover some of the factory's other 25 measurement points.

For more information contact Chris de Jager, Microsep, 011 386 8300, [email protected], www.microsep.co.za



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