Determination of Temperature Dependence of Electrical Conductivity and Its Relationship with Ionic Strength of Anaerobic Digester Supernatant, for Struvite Formation
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 11
Abstract
Electrical conductivity (EC) is used for monitoring different types of aqueous systems. The measured EC value at any temperature needs to be corrected for a standard temperature, for reporting or comparison, since EC is dependent on temperature. A temperature compensation factor has been derived for conductivity correction from anaerobic digester supernatant/centrate samples of five different wastewater treatment plants in western Canada. For a temperature compensation factor of , corresponding to the standard temperature at , the estimated values were found to be reasonably accurate, with a maximum error of 2.01%. The estimated EC values, based on any standard temperature, were found to be statistically similar to each other. Considering the temperature dependence of EC, a relationship between EC and ionic strength was developed in this study for anaerobic digester supernatant/centrate samples. This relationship can be used to estimate the ionic strength of the solution in a system associated with struvite formation from anaerobic digester supernatant/centrate and effectively monitor the system performance.
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Acknowledgments
This research was primarily supported by an NSERC (Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada) Grant, awarded to the second writer. The writers are also grateful to the excellent technical assistance supplied by personnel in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory, University of British Columbia.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 11 • November 2009
Pages: 1221 - 1226
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 3, 2007
Accepted: Jun 18, 2009
Published online: Oct 15, 2009
Published in print: Nov 2009
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